The Buteyko Breakthrough

Peter Kolb BSc, MSc

Peter Kolb, BSc, MSc and Juan Manuel Martínez Méndez, MD

Abstract

Chronic hyperventilation is a multi-pathogenic condition characterized by low carbon dioxide and bicarbonate in the body. It results from habitually breathing more air than the body needs for it to function properly. Since its discovery in all patients with Da Costa’s syndrome by Sir Thomas Lewis in 1916, it has remained ignored by mainstream medicine. The profound biochemical disruptions caused by chronically low carbon dioxide in the body can result in, or contribute to, an array of apparently unrelated symptoms and disorders. Around 50 years ago, Buteyko joined the movement to have this condition placed firmly on the medical map by developing a regimen for reversing it. The success of recent clinical trials using Buteyko’s therapy for asthma has given the hyperventilationists a much needed boost and has shown that even they may have underestimated the significance of chronic hyperventilation as a cause of disease.

Juan Manuel Martínez Méndez

Keywords: hyperventilation, asthma, Buteyko