The College of Medicine’s President has revealed that a breathing initiative set up by the English National Opera (ENO) during lockdown has been rolled out on a much wider scale in the years since the pandemic.
Dr Harry Brünjes, who is also president of the English National Opera (ENO), told The Sunday Times last week the project now has links with almost 100 NHS Trusts.
Dr Brünjes, who worked as a GP before taking on the role of Chairman of the ENO in 2015, and his team created ENO Breathe – using similar techniques to those used by the esteemed organisation’s singers – to help people learn how to breathe better.
Six years on from the first global Covid outbreak, the scheme now also helps those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), after initially being introduced to aid patients suffering with the effects of Long Covid.
Delivered by ENO in collaboration with Imperial College Healthcare teams entirely online, the programme focuses on breathing re-training through singing. New patients can be referred by a respiratory specialist for the weekly sessions.
Techniques used include ‘box breathing’, where participants visualise a square filling up on one side as they inhale and count to four, using the other side of the square to exhale slowly while counting back down to four.
‘It’s a form of physiotherapy with our core opera singers. We taught people just how to breathe more effectively. By doing that, it actually meant you get your oxygen saturation up,’ The College of Medicine President told the newspaper.
Previous research published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the world’s top-ranking respiratory medicine journal, found that participants in ENO Breathe sessions experienced a 10.48 point (out of 100) reduction in breathlessness when they were running, compared to those who hadn’t undergone the course.