Dr. Sarfaraz Munshi from Queen’s Hospital in London shared a breathing technique that may help people suffering from coronavirus symptoms. He got the technique from Sue Elliot, the director of nursing at the hospital where he works, who shared the technique with him from her time working in the ICU. As the coronavirus continues to spread around the globe, health systems in many countries have troubles coping with an influx of coronavirus patients at hospitals and medical centers.
Dr. Sarfaraz demonstrated the breathing technique in a YouTube video which has quickly gone viral
The video has received almost four million views since last Friday. Dr. Safraraz said the patients should begin practicing the technique as soon as they find out they are coronavirus positive and before they begin experiencing any symptoms.
The British doctor soon attracted the attention of none other than the world-famous Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who wrote on Twitter that she’s had all symptoms of COVID-19 for the last two weeks and stated that the technique helped her a lot with her breathing.
CNN broadcaster Chris Cuomo also tweeted that he has been performing the technique and that it helped him.
You don’t need to be a coronavirus patient to benefit from this technique
“The majority of your lung is on your back, not on your front,” Munshi explained in the video. “So by lying on your back, you’re closing off more of the smaller airways and this is not good during the period of infection.”
Other doctors have endorsed the exercise which has already helped a lot of patients feel better.
“There are a lot of good points there,” Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, told the media. “It’s not specific to COVID-19… any condition that leads to a lot of mucus can be benefited from this.”
Mucus that’s collecting in your lungs can cause breathing problems and the goal of the technique is to expand the lower part of a person’s lungs in order to make it easier to cough the mucus out.
Thanks to Dr. Sarfaraz breathing technique, many coronavirus patients can now breathe more easily
The novel coronavirus primarily affects the person’s lungs. Cough and shortness of breath may be a symptom of COVID-19 so it’s important to quickly seek medical help if you feel any of the symptoms.
It’s important to note that the technique is not a means of prevention and it won’t protect someone from catching the virus. However, it can be helpful to people who already have COVID-19 and can be repeated several times a day.
“To think that doing these breathing exercises puts you in better shape to handle COVID-19 is probably not the right message,” Rizzo said. “(But) deep breathing can also be helpful for mind and body and meditation and relaxation. Just the act of concentrating on your breathing may release some stress, make people feel good.”
Learn the doctor’s breathing technique in five easy steps
If you’re suffering from COVID-19 or have difficulties breathing and want to relax and open up your airways here are the five easy steps as recommended by Dr. Sarfaraz in the video:
- Lie on your stomach on a bed.
- Take a deep breath.
- Hold your breath for five seconds before you release.
- Repeat it five times and take five breaths in total.
- After you’ve done it, take in a deep breath for the sixth time and then cough strongly while making sure you have your mouth covered.
- When you’ve taken six breaths and cough be sure to repeat this cycle two times.
