Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea comes in two varieties – central and obstructive.
Both cause you to stop breathing for periods during sleep. Both are serious and both can be helped by the Buteyko Method.
Central sleep apnea occurs because the breathing center in your brain doesn't send proper signals to the muscles that control your breathing. (For more information….???)
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the muscles around the airway relax during sleep, causing soft tissue in the back of the throat to collapse and block the upper airway. (For more information…???)
Both can be helped by the Buteyko Method which, when practiced, does 2 things:
- The sleep center in the brain stem is reset to breathe “normally” – in other words, to trigger to breathe at the appropriate times.
- The volume and inspiratory speed of air is reduced significantly, thus creating less “drag” on the airways.
Breathing Retraining
By learning to breathe using the muscles that nature intended and at your physiological appropriate level, your body begins to function at its optimal level, maximizing tissue oxygenation.
There are many approaches to teaching the Buteyko Method. Some educators teach once a day for 5 days with follow up. Others teach once a week for 4-6 weeks. It really doesn’t matter which way you learn – what matters is that you follow the program as prescribed and contact your educator when you feel you are not making progress.