Anthony Warren, Rosalba Courtney, Marc L. Benton
Breath training has been reported to be effective in the alleviation of sleep disturbed breathing. Yet, despite the attractiveness of low cost, non-invasive therapies there is limited adoption resulting from perceived lack of supporting clinical data and a sound scientific theory. A multidisciplinary literature review was undertaken covering clinical outcomes, apnea co-morbidities, dysfunctional breathing, neuro-physiology of breathing control, brain neuroplasticity, intermittent hypoxic therapy, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), neuromuscular control of upper airway muscles, and anthropology. The results were crosscorrelated to formulate a coherent theory for the efficacy of neuroplastic breath training in the alleviation of sleep disturbances. The analysis suggests that such training should be considered as an adjunct therapy for patient phenotypes presenting elevated ventilatory loop gain.