Pursed lip breathing is a technique that helps people living with asthma or COPD when they experience shortness of breath.
Pursed lip breathing helps control shortness of breath, and provides a quick and easy way to slow your pace of breathing, making each breath more effective.
When you feel short of breath, pursed lip breathing helps get more oxygen into your lungs and calms you down so you can better control your breath.
To practice pursed lip breathing, sit down in a chair and relax your neck and shoulder muscles.
Breathe in slowly through your nose, making sure to keep your mouth closed.
Some people find it helpful to count to themselves, “inhale, one, two.” Pucker, or “purse” your lips as if you were going to whistle or gently blow out a candle.
And then breathe out, or exhale, all of the air in your lungs through your mouth slowly and gently through pursed lips.
Try to breathe out longer than your inhale. Some people find it helpful to count to themselves, “exhale, one, two, three, four.”
Continue to repeat this exercise of slowly inhaling through the nose and exhaling through pursed lips until your breath becomes normal.
Pursed lip breathing works by moving oxygen into your lungs and carbon dioxide out of your lungs.
This technique helps to keep airways open longer so that you can remove the air that is trapped in your lungs by slowing down your breathing rate and relieving shortness of breath.
If you continue to be short of breath, call 911 and seek immediate medical attention.
For more breathing techniques and information on living with COPD, asthma and other lung diseases, visit the American Lung Association’s website at Lung.org.
Out with the old, stale air and in with new fresh air. That’s the theme of the two most useful breathing exercises—pursed lip breathing and belly breathing—taught by pulmonary rehabilitation specialists to individuals with chronic lung diseases such as asthma and COPD. Like aerobic exercise improves your heart function and strengthens your muscles, breathing exercises can make your lungs more efficient.
Why Breathing Exercises Help
When you have healthy lungs, breathing is natural and easy. You breathe in and out with your diaphragm doing about 80 percent of the work to fill your lungs with a mixture of oxygen and other gases, and then to send the waste gas out. Lung HelpLine respiratory therapist Mark Courtney compares the process to a screen door with a spring, opening and shutting on its own. “Our lungs are springy, like the door. Over time, though, with asthma and especially with COPD, our lungs lose that springiness. They don’t return to the same level as when you start breathing, and air gets trapped in our lungs,” Courtney explains.
Over time, stale air builds up, leaving less room for the diaphragm to contract and bring in fresh oxygen. With the diaphragm not working to full capacity, the body starts to use other muscles in the neck, back and chest for breathing. This translates into lower oxygen levels, and less reserve for exercise and activity. If practiced regularly, breathing exercises can help rid the lungs of accumulated stale air, increase oxygen levels and get the diaphragm to return to its job of helping you breathe.
Pursed Lip Breathing
This exercise reduces the number of breaths you take and keeps your airways open longer. More air is able to flow in and out of your lungs so you can be more physically active. To practice it, simply breathe in through your nose and breathe out at least twice as long through your mouth, with pursed lips.
Pursed-lip breathing adalah teknik yang membantu seseorang untuk mengontrol masuknya oksigen ke dalam tubuh dan ventilasi atau pertukaran udara.
Teknik pernapasan ini merupakan salah satu bagian dari program rehabilitasi paru sehingga umumnya diajarkan pada penderita penyakit paru kronik seperti emfisema, bronkitis kronik, dan asma.
Apa Itu Pursed-Lip Breathing?
Pursed-lip breathing adalah teknik pernapasan yang dilakukan perlahan dan terkontrol dengan menghirup udara dari hidung dan menghembuskannya melalui mulut.
Penderita penyakit paru kronik memiliki masalah pada saluran napas yang menyebabkan saluran napas tersumbat.
Sumbatan udara pada saluran napas menyebabkan udara yang kaya akan karbondioksida sulit dikeluarkan sehingga hanya tersisa sedikit ruang untuk udara segar yang kaya oksigen.
Hal ini menimbulkan berbagai gejala, antara lain sesak napas, sering batuk, batuk berdahak, mengi dan merasa dada terhimpit.
Tubuh mengkompensasi berkurangnya udara yang masuk dengan menggunakan otot pada punggung dan dada untuk bernapas, namun hal ini melelahkan dan tidak nyaman bagi penderita.
Teknik pursed-lip breathing membantu meringankan gejala dan ketidaknyamanan pada pasien dengan meningkatkan gaya yang menjaga agar jalan napas tetap terbuka.
Terbukanya jalan napas dan alveoli akan memudahkan proses keluar-masuknya udara, baik udara kaya oksigen maupun karbondioksida, dan memperluas area pertukaran udara sehingga tubuh akan mendapat lebih banyak oksigen.
Baca Juga: Mengenal Latihan Pernapasan untuk Penyandang Penyakit Paru Obstruktif Kronis (PPOK)
Cara Melakukan Pursed-Lip Breathing
Untuk melakukan teknik pursed-lip breathing, fisioterapis akan mencontohkan terlebih dahulu. Berikut adalah langkah-langkah melakukan pursed-lip breathing.
-
Posisikan tubuh pada posisi senyaman mungkin, umunya dilakukan dengan duduk tegak atau berbaring
-
Hirup udara melalui hidung secara perlahan dalam waktu 2 detik
-
Hembuskan napas melalui mulut dengan membentuk bibir seperti gerakan meniup. Hembuskan napas perlahan selama 4 sampai 6 detik
-
Ulangi pernapasan beberapa kali
Teknik pursed-lip breathing dapat dilakukan apabila penderita melakukan aktivitas yang menyebabkan napas memendek seperti berolahraga, bangun dari duduk, atau ketika mengangkat benda.
Anda dapat melatih teknik ini di rumah setiap hari agar terbiasa melakukannya. Sebaiknya, teknik pursed-lip breathing hanya dilakukan 3-5 pengulangan.
Apabila dilakukan terlalu banyak, dikhawatirkan akan menyebabkan kelelahan pada otot-otot pernapasan dan menyebabkan tubuh kekurangan karbondioksida.
Terakhir, pastikan dokter, fisioterapis, atau perawat tahu ketika anda mengalami sesak napas atau gejala lainnya selama berlatih teknik pursed-lip breathing.
Cukup sekian informasi yang dapat tim aido berikan, semoga bermanfaat.
Untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut seputar kesehatan, Anda bisa video call langsung dengan dokter di aplikasi kesehatan Aido Health. Download aplikasi Aido Health di App Store dan Google Play.
Baca Juga: Olahraga Bagi Penderita Asma
Referensi:
1. Nguyen J, Duong H. Pursed-lip breathing. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2020 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545289/
2. Sissons C. What is pursed lip breathing? [internet]. Medical News Today; 2019 June 25 [cited 2020 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325555
3. Gotter A. Pursed lip breathing [internet]. Healthline; 2018 Mar 23 [cited 2020 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.healthline.com/health/pursed-lip-breathing
4. Pursed lip breathing [internet]. MedlinePlus; [updated 2018 Dec 5, cited 2020 Jul 21]. Available from: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientimages/000267.htm
Learning new breathing techniques will help you move air into and out of your lungs.
It is helpful to use effective breathing techniques with exercise to minimize shortness of breath and assure adequate oxygen to your working muscles. These breathing exercises have the added benefit of helping you relax when you are anxious or stressed. Three types or breathing techniques are pursed lip breathing, coordinated breathing with exercise and diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is also sometimes called “belly breathing.”
Learn more about our pulmonary rehabilitation program.
Pursed Lip Breathing
The purpose of pursed lip breathing is to help keep your airways open. This helps your airways to remain open. Pursed lip breathing also slows down your breathing rate and calms you down.
Here are the steps for pursed lip breathing:
-
Inhale slowly through your nose with your mouth closed; try to take in a normal amount of air.
-
Exhale slowly through your mouth with your lips in the whistling or kissing position.
-
Breathe out for twice as long as you breathe in.
Do not take in a large deep breath. Never try to force out the air.
Inhale 1, 2 
Exhale 1,2,3,4
Coordinated Breathing
The purpose of coordinated breathing is to help assure adequate oxygen to your working muscles and to prevent you from holding your breath.
Here are the steps for coordinated breathing.
-
Inhale through your nose before starting the exercise or activity.
-
Exhale through pursed lips during the most exerting part of the exercise or activity.
If coordinating your breathing with exercise is difficult, as you perform the movement, count out loud. This helps prevent you from holding your breath. If you become very short of breath, stop the exercise, use pursed lip breathing to help control your breathing, then start exercising again.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
The diaphragm is a major muscle used in breathing and is located beneath the lowest two ribs. At rest, the diaphragm muscle is bell shaped. During inspiration, it lowers and flattens out.
Optimizing the use of the diaphragm is beneficial because it pulls air into the lower lobes of the lungs where more gas exchange takes place. Not only is the diaphragm the most efficient of all respiratory muscles, but using it tends to be very relaxing and calming.
Here are the instructions for diaphragmatic breathing, also called “belly breathing.”:
-
Sit or lie in a comfortable position. Relax your shoulders.
-
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly.
-
Breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose. You should feel your belly moving out, and your chest should move very little.
-
Relax your stomach and breathe out slowly through your mouth.
Practice these
Practice these breathing techniques daily so they become routine. When you feel short of breath, anxious or just wound up, use these breathing techniques.
