During the last 20 years, there have been numerous medical publications on various chronic diseases present in very young children. We had clinical cases of babies, 4 to 8 months old, who had severe asthma and were given cortisol. Other publications revealed that children between the ages of 2 and 4 developed cancer, malignant forms of heart disease and other chronic conditions with a very low life expectancy. Such cases were not known to medical science 30-50 years ago.

To understand the reasons for this epidemic of pediatric diseases, we must realize that all chronic conditions have one characteristic in common: low oxygenation of the body. It is always present in cancer, heart disease, asthma, diabetes, and many other disorders. To measure the child’s oxygenation, you can gently touch the child’s nose and observe how long it would take for him to open his mouth to breathe. Typical breath-holding time for young children (up to 5-7 years) is around 5 seconds. These children usually breathe through their mouths and this is another definite factor of poor health.

Healthy children can easily hold their breath for up to 40-60 seconds. They can have long dives under water and this is another indicator of poor oxygenation of the body. Low oxygenation of the body occurs due to chronic over-breathing. Normally, the breathing of sick children is audible and visible.

Dr. Buteyko, a leading Soviet physiologist, trained some 200 medical professionals on how to apply respiratory retraining therapy to increase tissue oxygenation and treat chronic conditions. These doctors revealed that chronic diseases disappeared quickly when the oxygenation of the body is about 40-60 seconds. Many of his doctors were pediatricians. They found that the following factors cause health problems in modern children;

1) Women hyperventilate during pregnancy without realizing it and this is as dangerous for the health of the fetus as smoking or drinking alcohol.
2) Many hospitals no longer use diapers. If a child is not wrapped until such time as he can exercise, then this child develops excessive breathing.
3) Mouth breathing, as mentioned above, is another factor.
4) As noted by Dr. Lapa, who was practicing the Buteyko breathing method in Russia for children:

“The most serious damaging factors leading to the uncontrollable growth of the depth of respiration are children’s overfeeding, overheating and lack of physical activity. The development of children largely depends on their environment. The younger they are , the greater the dependence. That is why they often copy the character, opinions, habits of their parents, including their attitude to health. A restriction. The best encouraging motivation for children is an example from parents, a competition with them. That means rehab must be a family business.”

Lapa NA, Some characteristics of the use of DVBM [the Buteyko method] for children, published conference proceedings, The Buteyko Method. Its application in medical practice, ed. by KP Buteyko, 2nd ed., 1991, Titul, Odessa.