Buteyko breathing

What is the Buteyko method?

It’s a way of retraining how you breathe day to day. Konstantin Buteyko believed that many people habitually over-breathe, and that breathing too much lowers carbon dioxide in the blood and lies behind asthma and a long list of other illnesses. His answer was to breathe less: through the nose, quietly, with smaller breaths and a relaxed pause after each one.

The practice is usually taught over a short course. It has three main parts:

• Nose breathing, all the time, including at night.
• Reduced breathing: relaxing into slightly smaller, quieter breaths, so you feel a mild wish for more air.
• The control pause: a short breath-hold test used to track progress (more below).

The gentle parts are sensible. The big theory is where Buteyko breathing overreaches.

How do you do Buteyko breathing?

Here’s the gentle core of it: quiet, light nose breathing. We leave out the breath-hold drills.

The player is Breathform’s Coherent breath, 5 in and 5 out. Follow it through your nose and keep each breath so light it barely moves the air. That slow, quiet rhythm is close to what a Buteyko teacher would ask for, without any holds.

What is a control pause?

It’s the number of seconds you can comfortably pause after a normal out-breath before you first feel the urge to breathe. It isn’t a test of how long you can hold on. Buteyko taught that a longer control pause means healthier breathing and higher carbon dioxide, and courses use it to track progress.

The theory behind the number hasn’t held up. In 83 adults, breath-holding time measured the Buteyko way didn’t predict their resting carbon dioxide levels (Courtney and Cohen 2008). In people whose lung tests were below normal, it did relate to how they breathed, so it may say something about breathing habits, just not what Buteyko claimed. For more on what carbon dioxide does, see CO2 tolerance.

Does Buteyko breathing work?

In the best-known trial, 90 adults with asthma practised Buteyko breathing, a device that mimicked a yoga breath, or a dummy device twice a day for 6 months. The Buteyko group had fewer symptoms and used their reliever inhaler about two puffs a day less. Their lung function, airway sensitivity and flare-ups didn’t change (Cooper et al. 2003).

A Cochrane review of 22 trials with 2,880 adults found that breathing exercises in general, Buteyko among them, may improve quality of life and over-breathing symptoms in asthma. The evidence was moderate to very low in certainty, and most of the trials were of yoga breathing (Santino et al. 2020).

So: for asthma, a reasonable add-on that may ease symptoms and reliever use. As a theory of illness, it isn’t supported.

Every study on this page (4)

• Courtney and Cohen, 2008: In 83 adults, breath-holding time measured by the Buteyko protocol did not predict resting end-tidal carbon dioxide, contrary to Buteyko’s claims.
• Cooper et al., 2003: In 90 adults with asthma taking inhaled steroids, 6 months of Buteyko breathing reduced symptoms and cut reliever use by two puffs a day, but did not change bronchial responsiveness, lung function, exacerbations or the ability to reduce inhaled steroids.
• Santino et al., 2020: A Cochrane review of 22 trials with 2,880 adults with mild to moderate asthma found breathing exercises (yoga, breathing retraining, Buteyko and others) may improve quality of life, hyperventilation symptoms and lung function, with evidence of moderate to very low certainty.
• Watso et al., 2023: In 20 young adults, breathing through the nose rather than the mouth slightly lowered blood pressure and raised heart-rhythm signs of calm.

Does Buteyko help asthma?

It may help how asthma feels day to day, alongside your usual treatment. The trials point to fewer symptoms and less reliever use, not to healthier airways, so it doesn’t replace your preventer. Keep your inhaler and your asthma plan, and talk to your asthma nurse or doctor before changing any medicine.

Can Buteyko help with mouth breathing?

That’s where it’s most at home. Nose breathing is the foundation of the method, and practising light nasal breathing during the day is a simple way to make it a habit, the first of the three in how to breathe properly. At rest, breathing through the nose rather than the mouth was linked to slightly lower blood pressure and more “rest” activity in heart rhythm in one small study (Watso et al. 2023).

If mouth breathing is what you’re trying to change, how to stop mouth breathing goes step by step, and nose vs mouth breathing sets out the differences.

What is The Oxygen Advantage?

It’s a programme by Patrick McKeown, a Buteyko teacher, that adapts the method for sport and fitness. It uses the same building blocks: nose breathing, lighter breathing and breath-hold measures. Its claims about sport performance go further than the research so far. The light nose breathing at its core is worth having. Long breath holds, and anything done in or near water, are best left out.

Why does it feel hard?

Questions people ask

Is Buteyko breathing safe?

The gentle part, quiet breathing through your nose, is safe for most people. The parts that need care are the long breath holds some courses teach, which can leave you light-headed or strained, so we don’t teach them here. In the asthma trials, people did it alongside their usual inhalers, and that’s how it’s meant to be used.

Is Buteyko the same as box breathing?

They’re quite different. Box breathing is a counted pattern with equal holds: in 4, hold 4, out 4, rest 4. Buteyko isn’t a count at all. It aims to make your everyday breathing smaller, quieter and nasal, all day long, with a natural pause after the out-breath. Box breathing is a tool for a tense moment; Buteyko is a way of retraining habits.

Do I need a Buteyko practitioner?

You don’t need one for the gentle version on this page. Buteyko is usually taught over a short course, in person or online, and a good teacher can tailor it, especially for asthma or snoring. If you take a course, look for one that works alongside your doctor, avoids long breath holds for beginners and doesn’t promise cures.

Why does Buteyko recommend mouth taping?

Because the method wants you breathing through your nose at night too, and some teachers suggest light tape over the lips to stop the mouth falling open. Research on mouth taping is thin, and it isn’t right for everyone, especially with a blocked nose. We look at it honestly in is mouth taping safe?.