What I do

• Cognition and learning
• Working memory
• Slow processing speed
• ADHD/ADD diagnosis

However, simple breathing exercises for sleep can make all the difference. 

A Canadian study found that 70% of children with a diagnosis of ADHD whose breathing was changed to nose-breathing LOST their diagnosis. They did not meet the criteria any more. 

Dr. Guilleminault, a pioneer in modern sleep medicine research from Stanford University Sleep Disorders Clinic, stated that: 

“Restoration of nasal breathing during wake and sleep may be the only valid ‘complete’ correction of paediatric sleep-disordered breathing.” 

Laughter, stress, and physical exercise are common triggers of an asthma attack. Breathing changes from calm, slow breaths, to quick, shallow breaths, as you desperately try to get more air into your lungs. 

This dries the airways out, causing them to constrict and create mucus – which in turn causes wheezing, coughing and a greater urge to breathe more. 

This over-breathing, or hyperventilation, means the levels of gases in the blood can also change, causing hypocapnia (a loss of carbon dioxide – a certain level of carbon dioxide is needed in the blood to enable oxygen to be released from haemoglobin into the tissues and organs). 

So it is a vicious circle where you increase breathing volume in order to get more oxygen, but doing so causes your airways to narrow and thereby REDUCE oxygen uptake.

In cystic fibrosis too, mucus lines the airways. 

Recent information from Ohio State University shows Buteyko Breathing can help to regulate the CFTR gene and in an article entitled CFTR Gene Expression: Controlled by Cell Hypoxia, Dr Artour Rakhimov states,"...reduced oxygenation of cells caused by chronic hyperventilation plays the crucial role in triggering CFTR mutation gene abnormalities and the development and pathogenesis of cystic fibrosis." 

We have mechanisms which cope with short periods of stress, namely the fight/flight/freeze response to danger which enabled our ancestors to survive. 

Our hearts beat quickly, our blood flows faster, adrenaline kicks in, our pupils dilate, and our breathing is faster and harder; our digestion stops, tissue repair is suspended, and growth and reproductive hormone production are put on the back burner. 

Survival is paramount. 

For whatever reason your body has activated its sympathetic nervous system. Your heart is pounding, blood pressure is high, and you're breathing fast and hard (hyperventilating). Nevertheless, you feel starved of air. 

You breathe through the mouth into your upper chest area, faster and harder, and yet you don't get relief. Hyperventilation is changing the balance of gases in the blood and reduces the level of arterial CO2 (the Bohr Effect). 

This reduces oxygen uptake causes more breathlessness, which causes further panic, which causes more hyperventilation. It's a vicious circle and can reduce oxygen to the brain by half (Timmons B.H., Ley R., Behavioural and Psychological Approaches to Breathing Disorders. 1994). 

Couple this with cold, unfiltered air hitting the airways directly from the mouth, causing the smooth muscle of the airways to constrict, and you have a recipe for disaster. 

By contrast, the person who has changed their default breathing patterns can control their breathing by preventing hyperventilation and maintaining nasal breathing. 

They can stay in control when anxious, experiencing milder symptoms, or avoiding a panic attack altogether.