Job Discussion Forums

[stunnershades]

I am thinking about teaching english in china but I am sort of apprehensive because I have heard there is a lot of smog. I wonder if it could be much worse than L.A.. I am willing to ignore the smoke for the sake of a good experience. However, I am an asthmatic and it may be phisically impossible to ignore the bad air, as I am prone to an occasional asthma attack. I really can't just stop by China to check it out so what do you think? Is it that bad? Any asthmatics with insightful experiences?

[Anda]

I am in a city of one million if I follow the stuff below then no problem.

I Want To Slim Down And Stay Healthy. By Anda.
1. Ann: What on earth, are you going to do, with all those green herbs?
2. Nerd: I�m going to dry them, on top of my oil filled electric heater, and use
them to season the vegetables I cook, plus make tea from them.
3. Ann: What, have you turned into a health food crank or something?
4. Nerd: Yeah, I suppose I�m one of them again. You see I was once a vegetarian for five
or so years, and during that time period, I never caught a cold or the flu, or had
asthma, plus I was slim not fat. However I started eating like most people do
again, due to traveling and work locations, where I couldn�t do my own
cooking or buy any fresh food to cook.
5. Ann: Oh, why did you become a vegetarian in the first place, I mean before, not now?
6. Nerd: I got very fat and run down at one stage, and I realized that if I didn�t do
something, that I wouldn�t be able to keep the job that I had at the time, or any
job for that matter. I was about 92 kilos then, but by doing exercisers and
following a vegetarian diet I dropped to 56 kilos in five months. I�m 77 Kilos
now.
7. Ann: Wow that�s overdoing it, I think! You eat a little meat and fish nowadays, don�t
you Nerd?
8. Nerd: Yes, but only when I eat out and then only small serves of about 170 grams,
there�s 1,000 grams in a kilo; at home I only eat small fresh farm eggs that I buy
from the markets. Most country people here in China only eat a little meat also.
It gets a bit more complicated however; if you research the traditional way
people eat here, you will notice that they eat heaps of green herbs and green
vegetables like broccoli. Green herbs and green vegetables plus most beans
contain lots of alkaline minerals. Our bodies try to maintain our blood at a PH
of 7.35 to7.45 which is slightly alkaline, so green foods, especially herbs are
really good for us. Oh, and it�s better to eat things like eggs and meat at
lunchtime, not in the evening. Make your evening meal a vegetarian one.
9. Ann: So you mean that we eat too much food that is deficient in alkaline minerals!
Food like meat, fish, chicken and grains like wheat and rice contain mostly acid
minerals, don�t they? And of course most of the processed food we buy at
supermarkets these days hardly have any minerals contained in them at all,
unless inorganic minerals have been added by the manufacture.
10. Nerd: Yep, supermarket food often contains chemicals however, to stop products
from going off. A lot of these chemicals are no good for our health. We should
be buying fresh food from the markets, not processed rubbish from
supermarkets. It�s no wonder that people are getting sick when they eat nothing
but meat and noodles and other acid forming foods that contain hardly any
alkaline minerals.
11. Ann: Yes, it sounds logical, if our bodies aren�t supplied with enough alkaline
minerals, then our bodies rob calcium and other alkaline minerals like sodium,
potassium and magnesium, from our organs, including our bone structure to
maintain the correct PH of our blood. Say what happens if our bodies can�t
maintain the PH of our blood without robbing our organs and bones.
12. Nerd: Simple, we get sick! From what I can see, we start by getting colds and the flu.
If we don�t realize that is happening to us, and change our diet, then after a
number of years, we end with cancer or having a heart attack or suffering from
diabetes or something similar. Another thing that we should pay attention to
with our diets is, what is called the Glycemic Index of our foods.
13. Ann: Oh no, you�re not going to get more complicated, are you?
14. Nerd: They don�t call me Nerd, for no reason at all!
15. Ann: I was afraid of that!
16. Nerd: Anyway the Glycemic Index gives a guide to what carbohydrate foods make
our blood sugar levels go up quickly. After a number of years of eating sugars
and things like lots of baked potatoes, or large amounts of white rice, especially
if we aren�t getting enough alkaline minerals from our diet, then we can expect
to end up getting things like cancer, heart attacks, diabetes or putting on
excessive weight. Most people wouldn�t realize that baked potatoes are worse
than ordinary white sugar to our blood sugar levels.
17. Ann: So even buying all your food fresh from the markets, you can still get sick?
18. Nerd: Yes I�m afraid so! Once, I was working in Papua New Guinea. That�s a country
above the state of Queensland in Australia. It�s half of a large island. One half
is controlled by Indonesia and is called Irian Jaya, the other half where I worked
was independent. The national people of Papua New Guinea are black people
like Africans.
19. Ann. It must have been interesting to live there. Jungles and snakes and stuff!
20. Nerd: Yes it was, but what I wanted to say is that the local people despite eating
heaps of vegetables and fresh meat, also eat lots of greens. When I asked some
of them, why they ate so many greens, I always got the same answer. They told
me that if they stopped eating greens, that within a few weeks they got sick.
21. Ann: So despite eating fresh vegetables and fresh meat they still got sick, why?
22. Nerd: Most greens especially dark green ones have lots of alkaline minerals in them.
But sweet potatoes and potatoes and many kinds of fruit are low in alkaline
minerals especially if you skin them. You must have enough greens or else you
are in trouble.
23. Ann: What�s the advantage of drying greens, Nerd?
24. Nerd: Well most greens are about 80% to 95% water, so unless we dry them we tend
to not eat a lot of them. When you dry them you don�t loose the minerals. If
you powder them afterwards, you make it easy to leach the minerals out of the
leaves so that your stomach can absorb the minerals. For breakfast I cook some
rolled oats and add powdered greens after I turn off the heat. When I steam or
boil vegetables I also add powdered greens after I finish cooking. You can
throw in stuff like peppers and garlic for added taste, if you like, even some
black sugar (dry molasses) that is recommended for pregnant women here in
China.
25. Ann: Celery is full of minerals isn�t it Nerd?
26. Nerd: Yep, but it�s better to put it into a food blender and add it fresh to soups as it�s
slow to dry. Seaweed is also very good for minerals especially magnesium and
trace elements. I buy fresh seaweed and dry it and use it to season the food I
cook. The dried seaweed sold here in a lot of the supermarkets has hardly any
mineral content. You can tell this easily from taste, or should I say lack of it.
27. Ann: Why don�t you just buy salt, its alkaline, isn�t it.
28. Nerd: Well table salt is made up of the two minerals sodium and chlorine and it�s
neutral in PH. Our bodies require five times more potassium than sodium. In
fact excess sodium in the diet can cause a heart attack by blocking HERG
channels that potassium uses. Supermarket food often contains added sodium.
Most animal meat contains plenty of sodium and seaweed has some also, along
with some green herbs and vegetables. So if you eat seaweed or meat then you
shouldn�t need extra sea salt. Excess potassium however can also be a problem
as well so we should try to maintain a balanced diet.
29. Ann: Um, interesting. I see you drinking fresh sugar cane juice and putting a little of
that black sugar that is recommended for pregnant women into the rolled oats
that you have for breakfast. Isn�t that very acid?
30. Nerd: No, just a little acid perhaps, but it has lots of potassium and other good
minerals in it in it. White sugar however is very acid and no good for your
health at all, as it has no minerals in it at all.
31. Ann: Yeah, Um, by the way, I�ve seen special salt mixes being sold, that are said to
maintain the PH of the blood. Do they work?
32. Nerd: A little bit but many minerals need cofactors like vitamins to be properly
absorbed and used. Taking a multi mineral, vitamin supplement just before a
meal or during a meal can help to supply some minerals. However greens and
seaweed are much better to rely on. Freshly ground black sesame seeds are
very high in calcium. I grind some up in a coffee grinder most days to eat.
33. Ann: I�ve also seen expensive colloidal mineral advertisements on the internet for
providing trace elements and other minerals. Are they good for you?
34. Nerd: When you put any mineral salt into water it dissolves into an ionic state much
the same as a colloidal state. You are being tricked into paying a lot of
money for what you can get cheaply from seaweed. In other words it�s a con
job to make money off you.
35. Ann: Yeah many business people are decent enough people, but some will do
anything to make money.
36. Nerd: Yes, that�s life! Oh, I forgot to mention, the first trip I had to Korea in 1990
there were hardly any fat people about on the streets. School children were
also slim and fairly healthy but these days since they have started to eat a more
westernized diet. There are lots of fat people to be seen on the streets along
with fat kids in the schools these days as a result of their diet change.
37. Ann: It�s starting to happen here in China in the cities also, I�m afraid!
38. Nerd: Oh one last thing, most of us need about 2.5 liters of clean water a day to stay
healthy. Tap water very often is not that safe for drinking long term, so it�s
worth while to buy bottled water from a good supplier.
39. Ann: Well Nerd, I�m off before you remember something more.
40. Nerd: Oh, I was just going to get started on the food calories that we use for energy!
41. Ann: Next time Nerd! I�ve got a date now so I�m off, bye!
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Interesting Information
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Some acid minerals: phosphorus, sulphur, silicon, chlorine, fluorine, iodine.
Some alkaline minerals: Potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

What Do Body Builders And Weight Lifters Realize About Diet?
It might come as a shock to some that body building is about building a big impressive body not strength. Two men of equal size can train on weights but follow a different diet.
After a time, one can have a big impressive body, but the other will look strong but be much leaner. Both can lift the same amount of weight, however the difference is diet. A body builder usually has six or eight meals a day but the weight lifter has only a few.

Some body builders when training will eat nothing but chicken and broccoli for months on end. Broccoli is a high fiber complex carbohydrate that is high in alkaline minerals. High fiber complex carbohydrates are the best carbohydrates for health. Low fiber complex hydrates are dangerous if eaten too often or in large amounts. White rice and potatoes are foods that body builders avoid. They use brown rice or wild rice not white rice, to fill out; put on weight just prior to competitions.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Kelp
Obesity is rare among the Polynesians and other races that incorporate seaweeds as a regular part of their daily diet. This plant influences the mucous membranes and lymphatic system. It is a slow, persistent agent, but it will accomplish the desired weight loss results. It is stimulating to the absorbents and especially influences the fatty globules. Its best action is observed in individuals having a cold, torpid, clammy skin and loose flabby rolls of fat. It is an agent that gives better results in sick, overweight people than in cases of healthy, fat people (Luc:50). Instead of being simply a weight loss agent, it normalizes, as thin people can put on weight while taking Kelp. Kelp is also an antacid and can greatly help with chronic indigestion.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::What is Proper Nutrition?
Proper nutrition includes drinking plenty of water, preferably distilled or ionized. It includes eating foods that allow for disposal of body acids. It includes foods with enough enzymes, minerals and vitamins to allow all body processes to function efficiently.
It doesn't include microwave cooking, eating processed, denatured foods and drinking sodas or caffeinated drinks. It also doesn't include eating refined sugars and white flour products. It definitely doesn't include using hydrogenated fats, margarine and artificial food additives and colorings. And I can assure you it doesn't include the use of artificial sweeteners like aspartame or refined table salt. Nor does it include eating the flesh of an animal that is pumped with hormones and antibiotics.
DECREASE IN NUTRITIONAL VALUE: MICROWAVE COOKING
Russian researchers also reported a marked acceleration of structural degradation leading to a decreased food value of 60 to 90% in all foods tested. Among the changes observed were:
Deceased bio-availability of vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics factors in all food tested.
Various kinds of damaged to many plant substances, such as alkaloids, glycosides, galactosides and nitrilosides.
The degradation of nucleo-proteins in meats.

[Anda]

This story is only partly finished:

Do You Want To Gain or Loose Weight. By Anda.
1. Ann: Hi Nerd, how are you going?
2. Nerd: Oh, life�s okay, no complaints!
3. Ann: You could have said great or fantastic, you know!
4. Nerd: Look I�m not lucky enough to be your boyfriend, so life is just okay!
5. Ann: Oh, we are being nice! You should tell my boyfriend how lucky he is!
6. Nerd: I reckon he would know, I�d say. Great body, fantastic personality, how much
more could he want.
7. Ann: Um, that will do, my head is starting to swell. Say Nerd you were going to tell
me about calories the other day?
8. Nerd: Oh yeah okay, you see our bodies burn, digest food for energy. So we need
minerals and vitamins, protein for amino acids plus oils etc, directly for building
our bodies, then we also need energy to operate, power, run our bodies, that�s
where calories fit in.
9. Ann: I thought that we got all the calories we need from the same foods as you just
mentioned along with carbohydrates!
10. Nerd: Yes we do but these days most people consume too many calories that are
called empty calories like white rice, cheap oils, soft drinks, beer and so on.
11. Ann: Well calories are calories aren�t they? They all provide energy that our bodies
need.
12. Nerd: Yep but that�s about all they provide so we have to keep eating in an attempt to
get the vitamins and minerals our bodies require to function / operate. The
trouble with eating more food is that we usually end up over consuming on
calories. This is when we start pulling on weight and getting either constipated
or suffering from diarrhea along with heartburn / acid reflux and other health
problems.
13. Ann: Yep, I�ve heard that excessive calories covert to fat in our bodies. Say how can
calories cause you to become constipated.
14. Nerd: It�s empty calories that cause you to become constipated as they are very
deficient in fiber. For instance meat, chicken, fish, eggs etc are very high
calorie foods but have no fiber. White bread and white rice have very little
fiber, and processed oils and fat have no fiber either, but they are also high in
calories.
15. Ann: And all these empty calorie foods are also deficient in alkaline minerals also.
It�s all starting to add up to me. Know I can understand why, nearly all the
people in western countries end up, dying from heart disease, cancer and
diabetes.
16. Nerd: I�m afraid that most adults here in China these days suffer from high blood
pressure. High blood pressure is generally a lead up symptom to the diseases
that you just mentioned. With young adults so fond of junk high fat protein
foods like Kentucky Chicken it won�t be long before it is just as bad here as in
the West!

[Anda]

A breathing system developed in Russia which is good for Athma!

http://www.herbal-treatment.net/article_understanding_asthma.html


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Buteyko Breathing Method

What is overbreathing?

Test to determine if you overbreathe.


Symptoms of overbreathing


Why do we overbreathe

The Life of Professor Konstantin Buteyko

Buteyko Breathing Method
Buteyko Breathing Method is a programme developed by Russian Respiratory professor Konstantin Buteyko to recondition patients' breathing volume to normal levels. This involves:

1. Becoming aware of correct and incorrect breathing.
2. Unblocking the nose using a simple breath hold technique.
3. Switching from mouth breathing to nasal breathing permanently.
4. Learning breathing exercises to recorrect breathing volume.
5. Adopting small lifestyle changes necessary to assist with this, thus commencing the road to full recovery.

What is overbreathing?
Clinically, overbreathing is known as hyperventilation; put simply, it means breathing more air than the body needs. The standard volume of normal breathing for a healthy adult is three to six litres of air per minute. Scientific research conducted by Professor Buteyko over three decades, along with scientific trials at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane in 1995 demonstrated that people with asthma breathe a volume of ten to twenty litres per minute between attacks, and over twenty litres during an attack.

Overbreathing causes a loss of carbon dioxide from the lungs. Carbon dioxide is very important for normal bodily functioning, it is logical to assume that the body must have some way to prevent losing it.
Narrowing of the airways is caused by inflammation, by constriction of smooth muscle and by increased mucus secretion, and is a natural defence mechanism to help maintain the carbon dioxide level. In a person with asthma, this defence mechanism activates when the carbon dioxide level declines too much. Overbreathing also causes cooling and drying of the airways, two effects that have been recognised to play a role in producing asthma symptoms.

Histamine levels also increae during prolonged overbreathing. Histamine is a chemical secreted by mast cells during an allergic response. It plays a predominant role in causing hay fever symptoms.
Overbreathing resulting from modern living is the cause of breathing-related diseases. Hyperventilation is not just a result of asthma, hyperventilation is the main contributor of asthma. Professor Buteyko believes that genetic predisposition determines which illnesses people develop from overbreathing. The response of each individual to hyperventilation depends on inherited factors.

Various estimates exist regarding the extent of overbreathing among the general population, ranging from thirty per cent, according to Claude Lum, to Sasha Stalmatski's ninety per cent. In Russia, the Buteyko Method is used in the treatment of up to one hundred diseases including asthma, bronchitis, hay fever, emphysema, diabetes and Raynaud's Syndrome.

Test to determine if you overbreathe
To find out if you overbreathe, perform this simple test called the Control Pause. You will need a watch or clock with a second hand.

1. Breathe in gently for two seconds.
2. Exhale gently for three seconds.
3. Hold your breath, pinching the nose after exhaling.
4. Hold your breath until you feel first urges to breathe in.
5. Count the seconds that you held your breath for.

If your control pause is less than 10 seconds you have very serious health problems. If you can hold less than 25 seconds your health requires attention, 40 seconds is satisfactory and 60 and above is excellent.

This measurement is due to the observation that persons with low carbon dioxide levels have low breath holding ability. The control Pause was developed by Professor Buteyko following years of research with thousands of patients. Professor Buteyko also developed a table relating control pause to exact Carbon Dioxide measures. While you may not have asthma, if you do have a low control pause your health is not good.

Below is a list of symptoms and illness directly linked to hyperventilation. Do you have many of these symptoms?

Symptoms of overbreathing or hyperventilation
Hyperventilation contributes to many conditions, but because it receives very little attention in the diagnoses of illnesses, many patients suffering from various physical symptoms sometimes spend years going from doctor to doctor looking for the cause. This group of patients are often labelled as 'psychosomatic' and there is a belief that the condition is 'all in the head'.

Physician Claude Lum noted that hyperventilation "presents a collection of bizarre and often apparently unrelated symptoms, which may affect any part of the body, any organ and any system".

Some of the symptoms of hyperventilation affect:

The respiratory system in the form of wheezing, breathlessness, coughing, chest tightness, frequent yawning, sneezing, runny nose, congested nose, postnasal drip and snoring.

The nervous system in the form of a light-headed feeling, poor concentration, numbness, sweating, dizziness, vertigo, tingling of hands and feet, faintness, trembling and headache,

The heart, typically a racing heartbeat, pain in the chest region, and a skipping or irregular heartbeat.

The mind, including some degrees of anxiety, tension, depression, apprehension and stress.

Why do we overbreathe?
When we overbreathe on a permanent basis, the respiratory centre in our brain is trained to accept a lower level of carbon dioxide. This level is determined to be correct even though it is less than the body requires for good health.

There are many reasons why we overbreathe but not all of them may apply to each individual. The following ten factors are more prevalent in countries of increasing modernisation and affluence, and this helps explain why asthma and other diseases of civilisation are so prevalent in the same countries.

1. Breathing exercises during pregnancy
2. Diet
3. Misconception of deep breathing
4. Stress
5. Temperature
6. Lack of physical exercise
7. Incorrect sleeping
8. Pollution
9. Bronchodilators
10. Asthma Symptoms

The Life of Professor Konstantin Buteyko

The Life of Professor Konstantin Buteyko. (taken from the book Asthma Free Naturally)

Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko was born near Kiev in Russia on January 27th, 1923. This simple yet extraordinary man devoted his life to studying the human organism and made one of the most profound discoveries in the history of medicine.

Buteyko commenced his medical training in Russia in 1946 at the First Medical Institute of Moscow. Part of one of his practical assignments involved monitoring the breathing of terminally ill patients prior to death.

After hundreds of hours spent observing and recording breathing patterns, he was able to predict with accuracy, often to the minute, the time of death of each patient. Each patient's breathing increased as their condition deteriorated and as they approached death. While at University Buteyko was suffering from severe blood pressure which gave him life expectancy of just 12 months. Under the guidance of his tutors Buteyko researched his illness in depth although it seemed that there was very little that he could do to reverse it.

On October 7th,1952 after majoring in clinical therapy, he began to wonder whether the cause of his condition, which was going from bad to worse, might be his deep breathing. He checked this by reducing his breathing. Within minutes his headache, the pain in his right kidney and his heartache ceased. To confirm his discovery, he took five deep breaths and the pain returned. He again reversed his deep breathing and the pain disappeared.

He did not appreciate it at the time, but this was one of the greatest, although as yet largely unacknowledged, medical discoveries of the twentieth century. Buteyko established that breathing, so vital in sustaining life, can be not alone the cure but also, amazingly, the cause of so many of diseases of civilisation.

Buteyko's next step was to seek out the theory which would support his discovery. The data then available (in 1952) from authors such as Holden, Priestly, Henderson, De Costa, Werigo, and Bohr, seemed to confirm his hypothesis. It was known at that time that exhaling carbon dioxide by deep breathing resulted in spasms which decreased the supply of oxygen to vital organs, including the brain thus making one breathe deeper again. This completed a vicious circle.

Buteyko received a cold reception from the medical establishment at the time. In order to have his discovery accepted he commenced clinical research on a mixed group of two hundred people ? some sick and some healthy, in 1959. On January 11th, 1960 he demonstrated to the Scientific Forum at the Institute the correlation between depth of breathing, carbon dioxide levels in the body and state of health.

However, for many of his colleagues Dr. Buteyko offered too great a challenge to many of the theories upon which medicine was based. Surely illness, for which the conventional medical remedy was surgery and/or extensive medication, could not be dealt with simply by a change in breathing. Yet this was exactly what Buteyko demonstrated. And while not receiving outright acceptance, Buteyko did gain the temporary support of Professor Meshalkin, the chairman of the Forum, in enabling the research to continue.

In the years that followed, Buteyko continued his research, assisted by a team of two hundred qualified medical personnel and using the most up to date technology. By 1967 over one thousand patients with asthma, and other illnesses, had recovered from their conditions using his methods.

Unfortunately Professor Meshalkin continually refused to allow a scientific trial of the Buteyko Method. Later, this was followed by closure of his laboratory and outright repression. There were even reports of attempts on his life by mysterious car accidents and food poisoning.

However in January 1968, following growing public support, Health Minister Academician Petrovsky, promised that he would endorse acceptance of the Buteyko Method as an acceptable standard medical practice if Buteyko could demonstrate an eighty per cent success rate with patients. This was to be based on scientific evaluation of severe cases which were not treatable by conventional health management. Forty-six patients were taught his method and the results were astounding: one hundred per cent of the patients were officially diagnosed as cured. However in an extraordinary development and for no reason that can be established, falsified results were forwarded to the Minister. This subsequently resulted in the closure of Buteyko's laboratory.

But the good doctor persevered and, in April 1980, following trials in Leningrad and at the First Moscow Institute of Pediatric Diseases, the Buteyko Breathing Method was officially acknowledged as having a one hundred per cent success rate. This research was directed by the Soviet Ministry's Committee for Science and Technology.

The USSR Committee on Inventions and Discoveries formally acknowledged Buteyko's discovery in 1983 and issued the patent entitled "The method of treatment of hypocapnia", (Authors certificate No. 1067640 issued on September 15th, 1983). Interestingly, the date of the discovery as listed in the document was backdated to January 29th, 1962. His discovery was officially recognised twenty years after it had been made.

Over two hundred medical professionals teach this therapy at present from centres located in major towns throughout Russia. Buteyko wrote over fifty scientific publications detailing the relationship between respiration and carbon dioxide and at least five Ph.D. dissertations were written by his colleagues. The basis of the Buteyko Breathing Method detailing the relationship between carbon dioxide and breath holding-time forms part of medical curriculum at Universities.

I was very fortuante to meet and speak with Professor Buteyko during March 2002 at the Buteyko Clinic in Moscow. At the time of meeting, his health was failing due to a very serious car accident in which he had been involved ten years previously. Although he visited the clinic regularly, he had retired at that time and instead devoted his mind to matters of a more spiritual nature.

On Friday, May 2nd 2003 at 4.05 p.m. (Moscow time), Professor Buteyko parted from this world with some very deep inspirations. His death came as quite a shock to the many people around the world who had experienced excellent health as a result of his life's work. His wish was to be buried in the country of his birth, the Ukraine.

His resting place is in Feodosia in the Crimea, Ukraine. His memory will live on and I feel will grow in momentum as more and more people hear about his discovery. In 1990 the Buteyko Breathing Method was brought outside Russia to Australia by Sasha Stalmatski. Working from his apartment in Sydney, he began by treating only Russian friends and family. Gradually over the years more people learned of this new method and media coverage in both newspapers and TV helped to increase awareness. In 1995 Stalmatski brought this method to the UK and, for a number of years, it has been practised at the famous Hale Clinic (opened in 1988 by Prince Charles).

It is estimated that over the past five decades more than 100,000 people have learned and applied this therapy in Russia, some 25,000 in Australia and New Zealand, and many thousands in the UK.

Buteyko's Method challenges the belief that overbreathing is beneficial and also uncovers many causes of illness unexplained by modern medicine. It seems extraordinary that modern medicine, with all its research and resources, human, technical and scientific, has continually failed to verify the link between overbreathing and various medical conditions, notably asthma.

The efforts which Buteyko had to make to have his discovery recognised also seem to indicate an unwillingness on the part of the medical community to accept discoveries not pharmaceutically based ? in part perhaps because they challenge long standing and sincerely held beliefs.

My own belief is that Buteyko will in time gain full acceptance from the medical community, although it may take some years. This will happen mainly as a result of the growing number of people worldwide who are experiencing a life changing improvement in health within a relatively short period of time. These people will be the most ardent followers of Buteyko, and I consider myself to be part of this group. It is our own direct experience that compels us to tell people, and thus spread the word, about the method of this extraordinary doctor. The quicker this can be accomplished, the greater the contribution that Buteyko's discovery will make to the health of mankind generally and asthma sufferers in particular.

[Anda]

Understanding about pH effect on blood oxygen levels:

http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/~edudev/LabTutorials/Buffer/Buffer.html

[nolefan]

It's not much worse than it is in the US depending on the city you live in. My wife is asmathic and she needs to use her inhaler about once a month in Beijing, when it gets really bad.
In Shijiazhuang, whenever we go there, the first day is alright but then all hell breaks loose. extra doses of inhaler everyday.

We've spent a week here and there with no issues in some of the cleaner cities like Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Dalian.

[cj750]

there is a former opera star who was a regular on a TV cop show out of New York (sorry I can't remember his name) who wrote a book on exercises to limit the effects of Asthma

[Anda]

Any exercise like walking, mountain hiking, swimming and light Gym workouts are good for the body to help in digestion and blood circulation, in turn this is good for asthma control.

Diet is the real secret but! Controling breath is next, then exercise.

[Vanica]

http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn6515/dn6515-1_996.jpg

World's Pollution Hotspots

[mondrian]

Working in the UK (central London) I used my blue puffer every day and had periodic trouble that required a morning use of the brown puffer.
Came to Korea and used the blue puffer when the microclimate was forcing the air pollution down but only once had an attack requiring the brown puffer for a while. Here in China I have not used the brown puffer once and the blue puffer about once a year for a few days.
But I do live in that "beautiful coastal city in the N.E. of China"! Where the wind is fresh and constant

[Steppenwolf]

If you succeed in landing a job in lovely YUNNAN 9 preferably outside Kunming - then your asthma is taken care of!
Another good place to avoid asthma bouts might be Xinjiang with the exception of its capital called URUMQI.

[Vanica]

An agency is always offering jobs in NE Yunnan. What is it like there?

[geoboz]

If you suffer from asthma, DO NOT come to China! I live in the southern part, in Guangzhou, and the smog is truly unbelievable. I have lived here all of 3 weeks, andI have never seen the sun as a result of the smog. I have hears that the remote western areas of China re better in terms of air quality, so if your travel plans extend to the west, you might fair better than if yousaty closer to the eastern side. The reason for the intense smog (far worse than anything I have ever seen anywhere int he world) is that small unregulated factories are situated right in the middle of living areas. There is no such thing as zoning, and there is no regulation on the amount of smog a factory can produce.
My advice to you is to stay away. In fact, the smog here is probably going to force me to terminate my teaching contract early for health concerns.

[Mister Al]

geoboz

Scaremongering to**er. China is a BIG BIG country. There are many places where the air quality is 'pure enough' even for those who suffer from asthma. Unfortunately you don't live in one of them but don't scare the OP off on your 3 weeks of 'hell'. He's looking for the experience here and can have it without it having a huge effect on his condition. As for you, do as you say and get out of your contract on health reasons and go home.....or find a Chinese city more suitable for you. Xiamen, Dalian, Suzhou, the west etc etc.

OP do your homework and welcome to the PRC

[vikdk]