Surprising results with asthmatics have shown that you can also get lower blood pressure with buteyko. The Buteyko method is a breathing technique developed in Russia that’s had a lot of success treating asthma. But it looks like it could be just as helpful for all sorts of breathing-related conditions, including high blood pressure.

The people behind the Buteyko believe that we over-breathe, or hyperventilate. This hyperventilation means we get an excess of oxygen and not enough carbon dioxide. Oxygen has to be balanced with carbon dioxide to be beneficial in the body and an imbalance is what causes many health problems such as asthma, sleep apnoea and hypertension.

The Buteyko method of breathing reduces oxygen intake by inhaling through the nose and breathing slow and shallowly. Research with other therapeutic breathing methods like slow breathing shows that this strategy really is effective at reducing blood pressure.