When You Are Ill

Better Breathing Means Better Health Episode # 12 When You Are Ill

With the best will in the world and despite your greatest care, it is still possible that you might fall ill at some stage, with a bad dose of a cold, some random infection or just be run down.
When you are ill you are more liable to over-breathe and your Control Pause may fall & your pulse rate may rise. All infections are stressors, whether flu, a common cold or viral infection. So how can you combat the adverse effect on your breathing and how can you recover more quickly?
There are many ways you can help yourself, some may be common sense but others may be new to you.

Firstly don’t add more stress during these times;

1. Don’t over-eat, avoid foods on the problem food list, eat less and even cut out a meal.
2. Don’t over-sleep, try sleeping 1 to 11/2 hours less, since sleep is the body’s time for repair the ravages of the day, and if you have been inactive you will need less sleep. If your control pause is still low it makes sense to wake your-self up after four hours.
3. Don’t do extra physical exercises, try to conserve your energy.
4. Drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. Water is best, and according to a world leading expert on hydration most of us do not drink enough water. The rough guide to your ideal daily water consumption is equivalent to your weight in kilograms as fluid ounces, or divide your weight in pounds by two to give you the number of fluid ounces you need to drink per day.
5. Rest more but don’t sleep more.
6. Avoid extremes of hot or cold rooms, as both extremes will encourage over-breathing.
7. Make sure you breathe through your nose, even use a nasal spray if your
   nose clearing exercises are not enough.
8. Do more Buteyko exercises, up to nine a day, especially if you are resting in bed you will have the time.
9. Do Mini Pauses, 100 a day will help keep your breathing in order and will also boost your immune system as discussed in episode six.
10. Avoid the usual cold remedies that dry up mucus, they don’t deal with the underlying infection problem.

Now you are skilled at measuring your Control Pause and Pulse you have an early warning system that can forecast if you are heading for a cold or other infection.

Be aware of some of the warning signs

You will notice early warning signs before getting ill, they may include:

1. Your Control Pause starts falling and pulse starts rising.
2. You start using upper chest for breathing rather than your diaphragm
3. The nose starts getting blocked more frequently.
4. You start feeling extra tired for no good reason.
5. You may start pressing under your nose.
6. You may get glassy red eyes.
7. You begin breathing through your mouth more.
8. You may start getting disturbed sleep patterns.
9. You may find yourself yawning excessively throughout the day.
10. You may get dark rings around your eyes.
11. A persistent dry cough may be noticed, there are three exercises that can help.

The first exercise to try is as follows: after a normal breath out, hold your breath for a count of ten. Then take twenty small, silent breaths through your nose, about one second in then one second out. Then breathe normally in and out through your nose once and repeat from the start.

The second exercise is as follows:
At the first sign of a tickling feeling of a dry cough.
Stop.
Put your hand over your mouth
Take a small breath in and out through your nose, pinch your nose and hold your breath for as long as comfortable.
Release your nose but keep your hand over your mouth.
Breathe small careful breaths through your nose for thirty seconds, all the time resisting the urge to cough.
Take a slow steady quiet breath in and out through y