Hayfever Season is Here Again! Practicing Breathing Exercises Could Bring Relief.

Burning, itchy eyes! Sneezing! Wheezing and coughing! The dreaded hay fever season is here again.

It’s a time of misery and suffering for some who are robbed of enjoying what otherwise could be pleasant, long awaited months of spring, summer and fall, after the cold and gloom of winter.

If you agonize every year from seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever), you may be interested in the Buteyko method.

The Buteyko technique is a breathing exercise; a therapy mainly used for asthma, bronchitis and emphysema, which was discovered by a Russian doctor named Konstantin Buteyko. According to Dr. Buteyko, what we class as normal breathing has come about through bad habits and ignorance.

Breathing through our mouths instead of our nose, taking deep breaths to get over dizzy spells or to regain our breath after running, apparently causes a carbon dioxide (CO2) deficiency. This idea, although strange to our way of thinking, may sound feasible after you ponder over the fact that it used to be common practice for asthma sufferers to use a paper bag to breath, taking back into their lungs the carbon dioxide that they had just exhaled. Carbon dioxide is known to be a natural bronchodilator.

So, one would not be too wrong in saying this therapy isn’t really new, but the paper bag method did have its drawbacks. First and foremost, it was only a quick fix solution. A patient was not relieved long enough before another, asthma attack was imminent.

Secondly, it was a blanket method covering a few respiratory diseases, which really, are so diverse in nature they deserve to have individually, specific breathing techniques.

Breathing exercises using the Buteyko method, addresses all respiratory diseases as far as I know, and hence it’s offered as a hay fever treatment, but it requires specialized timing of Pause Control, a practice of `pausing` the breathing after exhaling and counting seconds until you reach your comfort threshold. After the pause, breathing is resumed at a shallow level for a specific period of time and another Pause Control begins. This is done several times and the practice sessions are 3 times to 6 times a day.

During hay fever season, there are two ways in which hay fever can be induced through hyperventilating (over breathing). One way is through using the mouth to breath, rather than through the nose.

Our nose acts as an air conditioning system. The blood vessels in the nose help regulate the air temperature. Also, here is where the air is also filtered of particles and humidified before it enters our lungs and brain. When we breathe through our mouths rather than our nose, this process is bypassed, the irritants (pollution, dust and pollen), enter into our internal air passages along with the rapid air exchange, reducing the carbon dioxide level needed to keep the muscles of the airways relaxed. The bodies own mechanism kicks in by producing mucus to try and stave off the loss of carbon dioxide. All of this and the added problem of restricted airwaves, results in a bunged up nose, swollen and itchy eyes, wheezing and coughing. Hay fever!

Hyperventilating can also cause hay fever by weakening the immune system which governs the reactions to irritants. When the body is seriously lacking carbon dioxide, it becomes unstable, because carbon dioxide, which is slightly acidic, has also a part to play in keeping the pH regulated. When the breathing is deep and fast, the more acidic the blood becomes and the weaker our immune system becomes. When the immune system is weak, it overreacts to irritants causing an allergic reaction. Hay fever!

Looking into the Buteyko method of breathing exercises revealed a whole menagerie of other diseases it can help. Some of these are high blood pressure, far sightedness, eczema, concentration problems, loss of smell, irritable bowel syndrome and many more.

If it sounds too good to be true, why not try it out for yourself. Breathing is free, something not to be "sniffed" at, and you can probably find a book in your local library. The one I read was `Breathing Free` by Teresa Hale, which included a 5 day program of breathing exercises for hay fever and other respiratory complaints.

I’ve already started the practice, although I only suffer very mildly from hay fever. What concerned me was that I only manage 15 seconds of Pause Control out of the 45 seconds needed to be classed as fit!

Jamesina Goulbourne

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