Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, MD, PhD.  (January 27, 1923 – May 2, 2003) was born on a farm in Ivanitsa, about 150 km from Kiev. Buteyko had a passion for machines and in 1939 he enrolled at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute to become an engineer. His studies were interrupted by World War II, where he would spend the next four years on the front lines fixing cars, tanks, and artillery for the Soviet army.

After the War, Buteyko changed his career path. In 1946 he enrolled at the First Moscow Institute of Medicine, where he graduated cum laude in 1952. He continued with his studies and engaged in high level research for the Russian military, space and sports programs.  

During his medical training, Buteyko spent hours at the bedside of sick people, monitoring their breathing patterns.  Buteyko observed the relationship between breathing and the state of health. As a person’s health declines, their breathing becomes faster, more upper chest, and often through the mouth.

Buteyko himself suffered from severe high blood pressure. Prescription drugs had no effect. When he was 29, his systolic blood pressure had shot up to 212; doctors gave him a year to live. He wondered if his breathing could be the cause. Buteyko began experimenting on himself by reducing his breathing and, within minutes, his headache, the pain in his right kidney, and the heart pain disappeared. He confirmed his discovery by taking five deep breaths. The pain returned.

Years of research followed. Dr. Buteyko found that during hyperventilation, the body’s levels of carbon dioxide were physiologically lower than that of a healthy individual. Dr. Buteyko devised a method to measure breathing and a program to restore a patient’s breathing to normal.