science

Glossopharyngeal breathing

Glossopharyngeal breathing is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Glossopharyngeal breathing rather than just read about it. In short: Glossopharyngeal breathing (GPB, glossopharyngeal insufflation, buccal pumping, or frog breathing) is a means of pistoning air into the lungs to volumes greater than can be achieved by the person's breathing muscles (greater than maximum inspiratory capacity). The technique involves the use of the glottis to add to an inspiratory effort by gulping boluses of air into the lungs.

Key takeaways

Glossopharyngeal breathing belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Glossopharyngeal breathing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Glossopharyngeal breathing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Glossopharyngeal breathing (GPB, glossopharyngeal insufflation, buccal pumping, or frog breathing) is a means of pistoning air into the lungs to volumes greater than can be achieved by the person's breathing muscles (greater than maximum inspiratory capacity). The technique involves the use of the glottis to add to an inspiratory effort by gulping boluses of air into the lungs. It can be beneficial for individuals with weak inspiratory muscles and no ability to breathe normally on their own. The technique was first observed by physicians in the late 1940s in polio patients at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, in Los Angeles, by Dr. Clarence W. Dail and first described by Dail in 1951 in the journal California Medicine. Both inspiratory and, indirectly, expiratory muscle function can be assisted by GPB. GPB can provide an individual with weak inspiratory muscles and no vital capacity or ventilator-free breathing tolerance with normal alveolar ventilation and perfect safety when not using a ventilator or in the event of sudden ventilator failure day or night. The technique involves the use of the glottis to add to an inspiratory effort by projecting (gulping) boluses of air into the lungs. The glottis closes with each "gulp". One breath usually consists of 6 to 9 gulps of 40 to 200 ml each. During the training period the efficiency of GPB can be monitored by spirometrically measuring the milliliters of air per gulp, gulps per breath, and breaths per minute. A training manual and numerous videos are available, the most detailed of which was produced in 1999. For those who can not master GPB it is often because of inability of the soft palate to seal off the nose. Although severe oropharyngeal muscle weakness can limit the usefulness of GPB, researchers have cited Duchenne muscular dystrophy ventilator users who were very successful using it. Approximately 60% of ventilator users with no autonomous ability to breathe and good bulbar muscle function can use GPB for autonomous breathing from a span of minutes up to all day. Patients with no vital capacity have awoken from sleep using GPB to discover that their ventilators were no longer functioning. Some have spontaneously come out of anesthesia frog breathing and others out of grand mal convulsions surprisingly without being cyanotic.

Freediving

Lung packing or buccal pumping is a technique used in deep freediving for inflating the lungs beyond their normal isobaric total capacity, which is used to delay the compression of the lungs at by hydrostatic pressure, allowing a greater depth to be reached, and provide a slightly larger reserve of oxygen for the dive. After full normal inspiration, the diver fills the mouth with air, with the glottis closed, then opens the glottis and forces the air from the mouth into the lung, then closes the glottis to hold in the air. This is repeated several times. Lung packing can increase the volume of air in the lungs by up to 50% of vital capacity. The pressure induced will reduce the volume of blood in the chest, which will increase the space available for air. The gas in the lungs is also compressed. Pressures of about 75 millimetres of mercury (100 mbar) have been reported.

See also Paul Alexander – American polio survivor and writer who used the technique (1946–2024) Buccal pumping Freediving Physiology of Freediving

Footnotes

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Glossopharyngeal breathing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Glossopharyngeal breathing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Glossopharyngeal breathing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Glossopharyngeal breathing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Glossopharyngeal breathing

In research: Glossopharyngeal breathing appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Glossopharyngeal breathing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Glossopharyngeal breathing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Medical treatments, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Glossopharyngeal breathing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Glossopharyngeal breathing in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Glossopharyngeal breathing means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Glossopharyngeal breathing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Glossopharyngeal breathing in simple terms?

Why does Glossopharyngeal breathing matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Glossopharyngeal breathing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Glossopharyngeal breathing.