| Currently we require about 7.5 hours per day for sleep. | | | | average person has only about 20-25 s of oxygen |
| This time, among adults, varies from 6 to 9 hours. With | | | | these days, almost twice less than a century ago. This |
| advance of chronic diseases (asthma, cancer, | | | | explains longer sleep for a modern man.) |
| diabetes, cardiovascular problems, COPD, etc.), people | | | | However, hundreds of Russians continued to progress |
| generally sleep longer. Practical experience and clinical | | | | further and their GPs were monitoring their health. |
| studies showed that voluntary sleep restrictions (e.g., | | | | When these patients increased their body oxygenation |
| only 3-5 hours) are impossible to maintain. Sleep | | | | up to 2.5-3 minutes (here again we are talking about |
| deprivation experiments, conducted on animals, | | | | stress-free breath holding test after usual exhalation), it |
| demonstrated loss of appetite, loss of weight, and | | | | was found that their sleep gets reduced, again without |
| gradual death. | | | | trying (!), down to 2 hours only. Doctor Buteyko and |
| Currently we require about 7.5 hours per day for sleep. | | | | many his medical colleagues were among those who |
| This time, among adults, varies from 6 to 9 hours. With | | | | practically experienced this effect. |
| advance of chronic diseases (asthma, cancer, | | | | Remarkably, the same observation (about 2 hours of |
| diabetes, cardiovascular problems, COPD, etc.), people | | | | sleep in perfect health) can be found in old books |
| generally sleep longer. Practical experience and clinical | | | | about another breathing retraining technique hatha |
| studies showed that voluntary sleep restrictions (e.g., | | | | yoga (hatha yoga means master of |
| only 3-5 hours) are impossible to maintain. Sleep | | | | breath). In fact, hatha yoga master were supposed |
| deprivation experiments, conducted on animals, | | | | to have about 3-5 minutes of oxygen in the body with |
| demonstrated loss of appetite and gradual death. | | | | 2 hours of natural sleep. |
| Meanwhile, clinical observations of 200 Russian medical | | | | For both systems, hatha yoga and the Buteyko |
| doctors, who practice the Buteyko self-oxygenation | | | | method, the goal is to reduce/restrain breathing using |
| therapy, revealed that humans can naturally sleep for | | | | special breathing exercises and natural means. |
| 2 hours only, if they achieve superior body | | | | Physiologically, this goal makes perfect sense since |
| oxygenation. How and why? | | | | thousands of medical studies proved that the more |
| Virtually all chronic conditions have tissue hypoxia (low | | | | we breathe (at rest), the less oxygen our tissues get. |
| body oxygenation) as a normal feature. In cases of | | | | Hyperventilation, or deep breathing, or any |
| cancer, heart disease, and COPD poor cellular | | | | over-breathing, reduces body oxygenation. (Note that |
| oxygenation is the central factor that defines | | | | we are talking about unconscious breathing patterns or |
| progression of the disease and the treatment methods | | | | our breathing 24/7, not about some exercises that |
| used. At the same time, the unconscious breathing | | | | produce short-term changes.) |
| pattern of people relates or even defines body | | | | However, in comparison with hatha yoga, the Buteyko |
| oxygenation. | | | | method is more specific and scientific. It was |
| In order to measure body oxygenation, after your | | | | developed by Doctor Buteyko during the 1960s when |
| usual exhalation, count your breath holding time in | | | | he was the chief of the physiological laboratory and |
| seconds, but only until the first signs of discomfort or | | | | led the classified project funded by the Soviet Ministry |
| first desire to breathe. What is the link between | | | | of Aviation and Space Exploration. The project was |
| oxygenation and sleep? | | | | devoted to study of optimum air composition in |
| Severely sick and critically ill people usually have less | | | | spaceships for maximum oxygenation of first Soviet |
| than 10 s of oxygen in the body. Most of these | | | | astronauts. For almost a decade Dr. Buteyko studied |
| patients have long sleep (up to 10-12 hours) of very | | | | interactions between breathing patterns, exercises, |
| poor quality. The breathing pattern of these people is | | | | tissue oxygenation, and the work of the human body. |
| often visible and audible. It is deep and heavy. Minute | | | | He realised that over- breathing reduces body |
| ventilation is about 3-5 times more than the medical | | | | oxygenation and causes dozens of other physiological |
| norm. | | | | abnormalities. |
| When these sick people practice the Buteyko | | | | There are several different mechanisms how |
| oxygenation therapy (learning how to breathe for | | | | breathing and body oxygenation influence our sleep. |
| maximum body oxygenation), they achieve about | | | | They involve oxygenation and relaxation of our brain |
| 35-40 s of oxygen in the body and naturally spend | | | | and muscles, stability of the central nervous system |
| only about 6 hours for refreshing and quiet sleep. Most | | | | (over-breathing destabilizes the nerve cells), blood flow, |
| people are satisfied with this level of health since they | | | | work of the immune system, activity of hormones, |
| do not experience symptoms of their diseases and do | | | | parasympathetic-sympathetic balance, and many other |
| not require medication at this stage. (Note that an | | | | processes. |