AYO BT and AYO BT+ Frequently Asked Question

We recommend the following:

• Wash after each exercise that lasts longer than 30 minutes or any exercises that cause excessive breathing and perspiration. Refer to User Instruction for washing details.
• Check for the correct operation of the Push-fit & Twist-release connector monthly as follows:
  • Push-fit the mask into BTi and BTo modules, verify if the connection is secure and the modules can not be pulled out once pushed in.
  • Twist the unlock ring and see if the mask can be released freely.
    Check if the Endcap is secure, and tighten it if it is loose.

When independent inhalation resistance adjustment and full inhalation and exhalation measurement are needed

Only the models of the Android phones listed below were tested and verified to work with the App.
The following Android phones can be used with the App with the noted version operating system installed:

If your Android phone is not on the above list, we can not guarantee that it can work with the App. Please contact us for further assistance.

If you upgrade the Android to a newer version operating system, please be aware that the App may not be compatible with that version. You may need to roll back to the old version to continue using the App.

If you are in breathing training, particularly Buteyko Breathing, you may practice nose breathing when doing physical exercises, such as running.

One of the common complaints for beginners is nose sores, especially if you need to breathe more air on a winter morning.

The reason: you use the nose to suck air hard, which is incorrect.

Here is the physics behind it:

• Your nostril is a soft air orifice.
• To use your nose to suck air, your nose cavity induces negative pressure that reduces the orifice, thus causing high pressure in the nostril.
• The harder you suck air like this, the higher the pressure in the nostril, so you feel the soreness in the nose.
• Cold air makes it worse by shrinking the nostrils further thus more pressure in the nostril.

Now, when we say “nose” breathing, is not meant to suck air BY the nose, what we really mean here is to breathe using your diaphragm THROUGH the nose.

Your nose is simply a passage to channel air in and out, and not an active driver. The driver needs to be your diaphragm. Once you use your diaphragm effectively and relax your nose when you breathe, the soreness in your nose will be gone or greatly reduced.

The key to correct nose breathing is to breathe slowly and gently using the diaphragm. Tools such as the AYO BT breathing trainer are available to help practice slower and gentler breathing.

If you are not familiar with these phrases about breathing, the chances are that you may think deep breathing is to take deep breaths, which are supposed to be large and long, and shallow breathing is to take shallow breaths, which are supposed to be small and short.

What they mean, however, is that deep breathing is diaphragmatic breathing, it uses the diaphragm as the breathing muscle to draw and expel air into and out of the lungs, while shallow breathing uses the chest/intercostal muscles to get air in and out.

Although diaphragmatic breathing and chest breathing do the same breathing function, the health implications are profoundly different. Here are some of the facts:

• Diaphragmatic breathing draws air deep down to the lower parts of the lungs, allowing better oxygen exchange, thus is more efficient than chest breathing which air hardly gets to the bottom of the lungs.
• Diaphragmatic breathing is slower with less air volume compared to chest breathing which is faster with larger air volume. Chest breathing is the culprit of hyperventilation, the key cause of many chronic diseases, such as asthma, high blood pressure, anxiety and mental disorders, etc.
• Diaphragmatic breathing is fundamental to maintaining a healthy life, no matter what foods and drugs you take.

When you are at rest and idle, your breathing is supposed to be effortless and unnoticeable. However, if you often have a feeling of Shortness of Breath at rest, it may be an indication of an underlying health issue. One of the common causes is chronic hyperventilation or over-breathing.

The science behind it is like this:

• The CO2 level in the blood determines how well the oxygen in the blood/haemoglobin is transferred to the tissues and cells.
• If you hyperventilate, the CO2 level in the blood will be low, causing less oxygen to reach tissues and cells.
• If you continue to hyperventilate, over time, it will lead to oxygen starvation in your body, especially in the critical organs, resulting in them sending signals to the brain to breathe more.
• This creates a vicious cycle, causing the feeling of the Shortness of Breath.

To address this unhealthy breathing pattern, Buteyko Breathing is a proven effective technique to normalize your breathing.

CPAP is a popular therapy for people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to use at night, and it helps prevent the upper airway, in particular, the throat from being blocked.

However, CPAP may cause hyperventilation for the following reasons:

• It may be hard to find the “Just Right” pressure setting: if it is too low, it may not stop the throat blockage, and if it is too high, obviously it causes hyperventilation.
• Even if you get it right for some nights, it may not be right at other nights, as the human body is not a machine, it may vary by what you eat at dinner, the workload and stress during the day, etc.
• To make the pressure setting sufficient to accommodate the likely body variations, you would normally leave certain margins on the pressure settings, hence may cause you to overbreathe.
• CPAP introduces artificial breathing, it affects the body/brain’s natural regulation of breathing, which promotes hyperventilation.

We know hyperventilation can cause asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and many other chronic diseases, and it is very important for CPAP users to mitigate the hyperventilation issue.

Apart from keeping the CPAP pressure as low as practical, one of the effective methods is to practice reduced breathing when you are awake, such that it tries to compensate for the hyperventilation developed during CPAP use at night by training and correcting the brain to reduce breathing while awake.

Excitingly, based on reported CPAP users’ experience of practicing reduced breathing training, most of them noticed a reduction of sleep apnea, and many of them even stopped using CPAP and became apnea-free!

Buteyko Reduced Breathing is one of the most effective and science-based breathing techniques to help reduce hyperventilation and normalize breathing.

Did you wake up this morning feeling tired and thirsty with a stuffy nose? The chances are you slept with your mouth open, causing hyperventilation which activated your sympathetic nervous system and put your body in working mode instead of resting mode.

You may think: well, I can’t control myself while I am asleep, what can I do?

A popular way to stop mouth breathing at night is to tape your mouth. Yes, you hear it right and it is no joking. In fact, this practice has been gaining momentum these days among people with breathing-related sleep problems.

Many users of mouth-taping report a noticeable improvement in sleep quality, including deeper sleep and reduced snoring. Users experience fewer sleep disturbances, leading to a better energy level and spirit the next day.

However, this seemingly simple and effective practice is far from perfect to solve your sleep problems. Here are some key points:

• Nose-breathing is only the first step to avoid hyperventilation as severe as mouth-breathing.
• Nose-breathing can still lead to serious hyperventilation.
• For a 70kg person, the physiologically normal Minute Ventilation is 6 L. At this level of ventilation, your mouth is naturally shut.
• However, nose-breathing can easily have a Minute Ventilation over 12 L.
• If your Minute Ventilation is at 12 L during sleep, your sympathetic nervous system is still relatively active, and your sleep quality will likely be affected. And if your Minute Ventilation is at 24 L, your sleep will be Terrible, even if you tape your mouth!
• At this level of ventilation, you would still have a stuffy nose, leading to snoring or sleep disturbances.

So, what is the solution? If you have been following my posts lately, you may have guessed it right: yes, Reduced Breathing Training!

For hyperventilation-related sleep problems, Reduced Breathing Training targets the issue at the root and provides a systematic pathway to solve the problem eventually.

Practicing Reduced Breathing before sleep is particularly effective, as it conditions your breath, to make it calmer, slower, and smaller, the basic ingredients to help achieve a better sleep.