Rebecca Adlington is an asthmatic, has won gold medals for her swimming. Why has her asthma helped her do this?
All asthmatics breathe 2 or 3 times more than normal, this lowers carbon dioxide in the body to dangerously low levels (We all need carbon dioxide, like every living thing on the planet,to survive. It is essential for life. ) This is one of the main factors that lead to “asthma attacks” caused by smooth muscle wrapped around airways spasming, tightening and restricting breathing. This can be seen as the body’s way of stopping hyperventilation and further carbon dioxide loss that could be life threatening.
Now let us consider Rebecca ready to win the next medal at the side of the pool. Because she is asthmatic, she has a very low carbon dioxide store in her body before she dives under the water. Whilst swimming half the length under water she cannot breathe so her carbon dioxide levels rise to normal, she surfaces and completes the swim above water now with optimal carbon dioxide and oxygen in her body. This scenario is very similar to a pearl diver who trains himself to purposefully hyperventilate before diving thus giving him much longer under water before needing to surface.
So, what’s the conclusion? should we look for future great swimmers from the population of 5.3 million asthmatics in the UK? Should Rebecca carry on suffering the misery of asthma in order to stay on top?
No. We should all breathe normally during our normal daily lives, this may reduce the risk of succumbing to over a hundred modern diseases and extend our healthy lives. However if you want to replicate Rebecca’s experience try hyperventilating before diving into the water but take care not to over do it as you could pass out! Pearl divers don’t spend their leisure time hyperventilating , they only do this when at work otherwise they would shorten their life expectancy somewhat or suffer asthma, hypertension, hay fever, panic attacks, IBS, ME and a myriad other possible ailments that are treated with drugs in our society.
Posts Tagged ‘Exercise’
Why asthma can help you win a gold medal.
Saturday, August 21st, 2010Asthma & Exercise
Monday, July 26th, 2010Exercise and Asthma
Asthmatics often have a problem with exercise because they either lack stamina and need to slow down or stop sooner than they would like, or they develop breathing difficulties. Why does this happen?
Since at least 1968 it has been well-documented that people who have asthma breathe more air each minute than is considered normal, and this elevated breathing pattern continues when the person sleeps, watches television, and of course while exercising.
During exercise, everyone has to breathe more air, but if you are already breathing more than you really need to before you even start, then the extra burden will cause more problems than usual.
Part of the problem is that while breathing too much air, additional pollen, dust and pollutants are also inhaled. The airways try to restrict the intake of these irritants by narrowing the airways, which makes the breathing muscles work harder to provide sufficient gas exchange for the desired level of activity, creating fatigue sooner rather than later.
The other major part of the problem is that an excessive breathing pattern creates an abnormally high rate of cooling and drying of the airways. Airways function best when they are warm and moist, and so they react in a negative way to this excessive breathing.
To compensate for the drying out, airways increase mucus production, and in an effort to slow down the flow of air, the inner airway lining swells and the outer smooth muscle tightens. These are symptoms of asthma, but instead of recognising that breathing too much air is causing the problem, the person usually just takes a puff of their reliever and continues to breathe badly. The more you breathe the more short of breath and the tighter the airways become…
You seldom see animals with asthma, and you also seldom see them breathing through their mouth, even when they are exercising. So take a leaf out of their book and go a little slower so that you do not become excessively short of breath. By following this rule you will build fitness without distressing yourself. Copy of article by Jenny Stark www.buteykoworks.com
Is asthma cramping your lifestyle & activity?
Monday, May 31st, 2010
In just five days, you can learn safe, simple, but highly effective breathing techniques that will help you to take control of your asthma – and stop it controlling you.
The Buteyko method can dramatically improve your breathing in just five short session. Improve your quality of life and give you the techniques and confidence to better manage your asthma.
It may help you reduce your need for drugs.
Buteyko is suitable for adults and children. It is endorsed by the British Thoracic Society and proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials* Detailed research information HERE
We hope that this site will enable you to understand the basics of our training method and the impact this may have on your health, once you are satisfied you’ve learnt enough and want to take the next step to
train yourself you have a number of options:
1. Download the free book ‘ Escape from Asthma”, this will get you started,
2. If you have Skype video facility contact us for details of the training on Skype,
3. Request our DVD Training Pack for learning at home with telephone and/or e-mail support,
4. If you are within “commuter” distance from Hawkhurst, Kent, UK enquire about enrolling on one of our local courses and finally
5. You could search the internet for “Buteyko” to find a local practitioner or check HERE
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