The Buteyko method: the control pause and reduced breathing, with a free timer

What is the Buteyko method?

The Buteyko method was developed by the Ukrainian physician Konstantin Buteyko in the Soviet Union from the 1950s. It is built on the idea that chronic overbreathing, habitually breathing more air than the body needs, lowers blood carbon dioxide, and that consciously reducing breathing volume toward a calmer, gentler, mostly nasal pattern can help.

The method centres on two practices: measuring a baseline called the control pause, and then practising reduced breathing, deliberately breathing less than usual for a set period.

In practice the Buteyko method is more than one exercise. A 2005 review of the evidence pointed out that the technique is not standardised and that a typical course also includes advice about medication use, nutrition, exercise and general relaxation. That makes it hard to say which part of a course does what, and it is one reason why trial results vary.

What is the control pause, and what does it mean?

The control pause (CP) is the method's own self-measurement: breathe normally for a few breaths, then exhale gently, hold the breath, and time how long it takes until the first clear urge to breathe. That number of seconds is your control pause.

In the Buteyko tradition, a longer control pause is read as a sign of calmer, more efficient breathing. This is the tradition's own interpretation of the number, not an independently validated diagnostic threshold, and it should be read that way rather than as a medical test result.

Buteyko went further: he claimed that the breath-hold time could detect chronic overbreathing and even predict the level of carbon dioxide in the lungs with his own formula. A 2008 study tested this in 83 adults, some healthy and some suspected of dysfunctional breathing. The breath-hold time was measured the Buteyko way, alongside the carbon dioxide in the exhaled breath. The two were weakly linked in the opposite direction to his claim: a longer hold went with slightly lower carbon dioxide, not higher.

The same study did find something useful. People whose lung tests were abnormal had shorter holds, and in that group a shorter hold went with breathing mostly with the upper chest. The authors suggested the control pause may reflect how a person breathes rather than their blood chemistry, and that breathing training may help through better breathing mechanics.

How to measure your control pause, step by step

Do this sitting comfortably, not right after exercise or a large meal:

• Breathe normally for a few breaths.
• Exhale gently, not a deep breath out, and hold.
• Time how long it takes until you feel the first clear urge to breathe, not the point where you are struggling.
• Release and breathe normally again. That number of seconds is your control pause.

The tool above times this for you: press the button when you exhale, and press it again the moment you feel that first urge.

Many Buteyko teachers have you pinch your nose during the hold so that no air slips in. Your first breath after the hold should be calm and through the nose; if you need to gasp, you held too long, and the number is no longer a control pause.

Buteyko control pause chart: how to read your number

Buteyko schools publish charts that link control pause seconds to levels of health, and they are popular online. No study has validated those thresholds, so this page does not give one. The most useful way to read your number is to compare it with your own earlier numbers, measured the same way, at the same time of day.

Researchers do use the control pause to track change. In a 2024 German trial the control pause was the main outcome, and it rose significantly over 3 months in the Buteyko group but not in the group on usual treatment alone. So it is a reasonable personal yardstick, as long as you remember what it does not measure. The table shows what can shift the number without any real change in your breathing.

What is reduced breathing, and how do you practise it?

After measuring a baseline control pause, a reduced-breathing session means deliberately breathing less and more gently than usual, through the nose, and tolerating a light, comfortable air hunger for a set number of minutes.

The tool above offers 2, 3 or 5-minute sessions. Afterward, measure your control pause again and compare it with your starting number.

• Sit upright and relaxed, with your mouth closed and your shoulders loose.
• Breathe in and out through your nose only.
• Make each breath a little smaller and softer than you would like, as if you were trying not to move a feather under your nose.
• Aim for a mild, comfortable wish for more air. If it turns into strain, gasping or tension, take a few normal breaths and start again more gently.
• When the timer ends, breathe normally for a minute, then measure your control pause again.

There is no set rhythm to follow during the session, which is why the tool above shows only the time remaining. Reduced breathing is about less air, not about a count.

Buteyko breathing exercises: how often and for how long

The trials give a rough idea of what people actually practised. In a 2013 trial in India, adults with asthma were trained for 3 to 5 days and then practised for 15 minutes twice a day for 3 months. In a 2000 Australian trial, people learned from a video they watched at home twice a day for 4 weeks. In a 2021 German pilot study, children had an intensive 5-day training followed by 3 months of home practice.

No study has compared doses, so there is no proven best schedule. A practical start is the measure, practise, measure routine of the tool above, once or twice a day, for a few weeks, keeping a note of your control pause each time. Learning from a trained teacher, as in most trials, also helps you avoid the common mistake of straining.

Nasal breathing and mouth taping in the Buteyko method

Breathing through the nose, by day and at night, is a core habit in the Buteyko method, and many teachers recommend taping the mouth during sleep. The research on mouth taping is thin. A 2025 scoping review found 177 studies on the topic, but only 9 that actually tested taping during sleep. Two found improvements in sleep apnoea measures, one found less snoring when taping was combined with other measures, and the one study in asthma found no benefit. The authors concluded that there is little agreement on any benefit.

A 2026 meta-analysis showed why the nose matters: when the nose was blocked, sleep apnoea measures got clearly worse, with about 14 more breathing interruptions an hour. For mouth taping itself it found only 2 studies, both in mild sleep apnoea, too few to pool.

The practical message: nasal breathing is worth practising, but do not tape your mouth if your nose is blocked, if you have a cold, or if you might have sleep apnoea, such as loud snoring with pauses in breathing, without asking a doctor first.

Does the Buteyko method actually work? What the research found

Three randomised controlled trials in asthma patients have tested the Buteyko technique directly. Cooper et al. (Thorax, 2003, UK) compared Buteyko breathing, a pranayama breathing technique and a placebo device over 6 months: the Buteyko group significantly reduced their use of reliever inhalers and their response to a hyperventilation provocation test, with no significant change in objective lung function. Bowler et al. (Medical Journal of Australia, 1998, Australia) found a similar pattern over 6 months, with bronchodilator use cut by roughly 90%, again without a significant lung-function change. McHugh et al. (New Zealand Medical Journal, 2003) found reduced inhaled corticosteroid use and improved quality-of-life scores.

Taken together, the honest summary is: Buteyko-style reduced breathing has repeatedly reduced how much rescue and steroid medication asthma patients used, without a matching improvement on objective lung-function measurements. This evidence is specific to asthma and should not be extended into a general claim about the method's effects on other conditions or on healthy people.

Later trials added to this picture. In a 2008 trial the Buteyko group was compared with a group trained by a physiotherapist in breathing and relaxation: both improved a lot and by a similar amount, with asthma control rising from 40% to 79% of people in the Buteyko group and from 44% to 72% in the other, and only the Buteyko group cut its inhaled steroids significantly more. In a 2024 German trial of 60 adults, 3 months of Buteyko practice improved asthma control and breathing symptom scores and cut both reliever and steroid inhaler use by about 20%, again with no change in lung function.

A 2026 meta-analysis pooled 7 randomised trials that added Buteyko to standard care. Asthma control improved, with a small effect, in both adults and children; quality of life did not improve overall, only in children. No adverse events were reported. The authors still call the evidence limited. A broader 2020 Cochrane review of all breathing exercises for adult asthma, 22 trials with 2,880 people, mostly yoga and only 2 with Buteyko, found that breathing exercises may improve quality of life and hyperventilation symptoms, with evidence of moderate to very low certainty.

Buteyko breathing for asthma: the trials at a glance

The table lists the main controlled trials. The pattern is consistent: less medication, better symptoms or quality of life in several trials, and almost never a change in lung function measured by a spirometer.

Why might Buteyko breathing help? The carbon dioxide theory

Buteyko's explanation was that asthma patients overbreathe, lose too much carbon dioxide, and that carbon dioxide relaxes the airways, so breathing less should open them. A 2005 review called the theory attractive and noted some support from experimental studies, but said it is not known whether changing breathing patterns can raise carbon dioxide levels significantly.

Direct tests have not supported it. In a 2001 double-blind crossover study, 10 adults with exercise-induced asthma breathed air enriched with 3% carbon dioxide during and after exercise: it did not prevent the asthma reaction, and the authors concluded that raised airway carbon dioxide alone is an unlikely explanation for the benefits of Buteyko training. The 2008 control pause study, described above, also found no link between the hold time and carbon dioxide.

So why do people use less medication? The trials cannot say for sure. Possible reasons include calmer, more efficient breathing mechanics, less breathing-related anxiety and the advice on medication use that comes with a course. What is clear is that the benefit, where it appears, shows up in symptoms and medication use, not in the spirometer.

Buteyko breathing for children with asthma

Evidence in children is smaller than in adults. In a 2021 German pilot trial, 32 children aged 6 to 15 with partly controlled asthma were randomised to usual treatment or usual treatment plus Buteyko training. The main goal, using less reliever medication, was not reached, but the Buteyko children improved more in lung function at rest and after exercise, and their parents' emotional quality of life improved too. In the 2026 meta-analysis, asthma control and quality of life both improved in the children and teenagers subgroup.

A child should learn the method with an adult who knows it, never stop or reduce prescribed medication on their own, and stop any hold that causes distress. Breathing exercises for children are an addition to their asthma plan, not part of it unless the doctor agrees.

Buteyko method beyond asthma: the list of diseases

Buteyko and his followers proposed that overbreathing lies behind a long list of conditions well beyond asthma, and lists of such diseases still circulate. Outside asthma, the evidence is thin and mixed.

A 2019 Chinese randomised trial in 51 patients with a blocked Eustachian tube, the tube between the middle ear and the throat, found that adding Buteyko breathing to a nasal steroid doubled the share of patients whose symptoms returned to normal at 12 weeks, 50% against 24%. A 2026 Iranian trial in 92 patients after acute coronary syndrome compared Buteyko with diaphragmatic breathing for 6 weeks: both groups improved a little in sleep, fatigue and oxygen levels, with no difference between them, and the authors said the method cannot be recommended over standard care.

For hyperventilation syndrome, the condition the method seems built for, a 2013 Cochrane review of all breathing exercises found only one small, poorly reported trial and concluded that there is no credible evidence either way. That does not mean breathing exercises do not help; it means they have not been properly tested.

The Buteyko control pause vs other breath-holds

The control pause hold is done after a normal, gentle exhale, not a deep one, and it is meant to stop at the first urge to breathe, not to be pushed for the longest possible time. This is a different goal from the Wim Hof method's recovery hold, on its own page, which follows a deep inhale and is timed for a fixed duration.

The two methods pull in opposite directions. Wim Hof breathing starts with deliberate overbreathing, which lowers carbon dioxide and makes the following hold long and easy. Buteyko trains you to breathe less than usual, so the hold is short and honest. Slow techniques such as coherent breathing sit in between: they change the pace, not the amount of air you aim for.

Is the Buteyko method safe?

The control pause and reduced-breathing practice are generally gentle: no forced deep breathing and no breath-hold pushed to a maximum. Stop and breathe normally if you feel strong discomfort during either.

Anyone with severe asthma or another diagnosed respiratory condition should treat this as a complement to, not a replacement for, their prescribed treatment, and check with a doctor before adopting it as a regular practice.

Breathing exercises are not a treatment for an asthma attack. During an attack, use your reliever inhaler and follow your asthma action plan; get urgent help if the reliever does not work. The trials showed lower medication use over months, under medical care, not that the method can stop an attack.

Anyone pregnant, or with a heart condition, epilepsy, high or low blood pressure, or a panic or anxiety disorder, should talk to a doctor before starting breath-holding practices, even gentle ones like the control pause.