1. Take a normal breath in through your nose and allow a normal breath out through your nose.
2. Hold your nose with your fingers to prevent air from entering your lungs.
3. Time the number of seconds until you feel the first definite desire to breathe, or the first stresses of your body urging you to breathe. These sensations may include the need to swallow or a constriction of the airways. You may also feel the first involuntary contractions of your breathing muscles in your abdomen or throat as the body gives the message to resume breathing. (Note that BOLT is not a measurement of how long you can hold your breath but simply the time it takes for your body to react to a lack of air.)
4. Release your nose, stop the timer, and breathe in through your nose. Your inhalation at the end of the breath hold should be calm.
5. Resume normal breathing.
Please be aware of the following important points when measuring your BOLT score:
• The breath is taken after a gentle exhalation.
• The breath is held until the breathing muscles first begin to move. You are not measuring the maximum time that you can hold your breath.
• If you do not feel the first involuntary movements of your breathing muscles, then release your nose when you feel the first definite urge or first distinct stress to resume breathing.
• The BOLT is not an exercise to correct your breathing.
• Remember that measuring your BOLT involves holding your breath only until you feel the first involuntary movements of your breathing muscles. If you need to take a big breath at the end of the breath hold, then you have held your breath for too long.
How the Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT) Works
When you hold your breath, you prevent oxygen from entering your lungs and prevent carbon dioxide from being expelled into the atmosphere. As the breath hold continues, carbon dioxide accumulates in the lungs and blood while oxygen levels slightly decrease. Since carbon dioxide is the primary stimulus for breathing, the length of your breath-hold time is influenced by how much carbon dioxide you are able to tolerate, or your ventilatory response to carbon dioxide.
A strong ventilatory response to carbon dioxide means that your threshold will be reached sooner, resulting in a lower breath-hold time. Conversely, a good tolerance and reduced ventilatory response to carbon dioxide results in a higher breath-hold time.
When your BOLT score is lower, your breathing receptors are especially sensitive to carbon dioxide, and your breathing volume will be greater as the lungs work to remove any carbon dioxide in excess of programmed levels. However, when you have a normal tolerance to carbon dioxide and a higher BOLT score, you will be able to maintain calm breathing during rest and lighter breathing during physical exercise.
You may find that the first time you measure your BOLT score, you are surprised that your score is lower than expected—but remember that even elite athletes can have a low BOLT score! The good news is that your BOLT score can easily be increased with a series of simple breathing exercises incorporated into your existing way of life or exercise regimen. A common starting BOLT score for an individual who exercises regularly at a moderate intensity will be approximately 20 seconds. If your BOLT score is below 20 seconds, depending on genetic predisposition, you will probably find you experience a blocked nose, coughing, wheezing, disrupted sleep, snoring, fatigue, and excessive breathlessness during physical exercise. Each time that your BOLT score increases by 5 seconds, you will feel better, with more energy and reduced breathlessness during physical exercise. The aim of the Oxygen Advantage program is to increase your BOLT score to 40 seconds, and this can be realistically achieved.
Improving your BOLT score is an important key to attaining greater physical endurance. As we have already seen, having an improved tolerance to carbon dioxide means you are able to achieve a higher VO2 max and improved performance. The Oxygen Advantage program is all about increasing your BOLT score and maximizing your potential!
How Your BOLT Score Relates to Breathlessness During Sports
The ideal BOLT score for a healthy individual is 40 seconds. In the book entitled Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy, and Human Performance by William McArdle and colleagues, the authors observe: “If a person breath holds after a normal exhalation, it takes approximately 40 seconds before the urge to breathe increases enough to initiate inspiration.”
What is accepted in theory is not always evident in practice. The truth is that the vast majority of individuals, including athletes, have a comfortable breath-hold time of about 20 seconds, often less. However, to achieve your full potential, a BOLT score of 40 seconds should be the goal.
Breath-hold measurements have also been used to study the onset and endurance of breathlessness (dyspnea) and asthma symptoms. The result that comes up again and again is that the lower the breath-hold time, the greater the likelihood of breathlessness, coughing, and wheezing during both rest and exercise.
Over the past thirteen years I have worked with thousands of children and adults with asthma. Although breath-hold time is not generally used by doctors to evaluate asthma severity, it is an excellent measurement to evaluate respiratory condition and symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, breathlessness, and exercise-induced asthma. If you experience breathlessness or asthma symptoms when you exercise, you may find that your athletic performance is limited and hampered by your condition. By implementing the Oxygen Advantage program and tracking your progress with your BOLT score, you will be able to quickly and easily improve your performance and eliminate symptoms of exercise-induced asthma. The overall goal of the Oxygen Advantage program is to increase your BOLT score to over 40 seconds, but every time you improve your BOLT score by 5 seconds you will find that symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and breathlessness reduce drastically. More on eliminating exercise-induced asthma can be found in chapter 12.
BOLT Score and Breathing Volume
At this point, it can be useful to perform the following experiment:
• Sit down with a pen and paper.
• Bring your attention to your breathing and follow both the rate and depth of each breath.
• As you observe your breathing, draw the rate and depth across the sheet of paper.
• Do this for about half a minute or so, then check how your drawing relates to your BOLT score and the illustrations on the following page.
The following image is an example of the relationship between breathing volume and a BOLT score of 10 seconds.
When a BOLT score is 10 seconds, breathing is noisy, loud, irregular, large, heavy, erratic, and effortful, with no natural pauses between breaths. If your BOLT score is 10 seconds or less, you will often experience a hunger for air, even when you are just sitting down. Habitual upper-chest breathing and mouth breathing is also expected. The number of breaths during rest per minute can be anything from 15 to 30 breaths.
When a BOLT score is 20 seconds, breathing is heavy but regular. Both the rate and size of each breath is less than when a BOLT score is 10 seconds. A natural pause of between 1 and 2 seconds occurs at the end of each exhalation. The number of breaths per minute during rest will vary from between 15 and 20 moderately sized breaths.
When a BOLT score is 30 seconds, breathing is calm, gentle, soft, effortless, and quiet. The rate and size of each breath continue to reduce as a BOLT score increases. The natural pause between each breath lengthens. The number of breaths during rest per minute will be about 10 to 15 minimal breaths.
When a BOLT score is 40 seconds, breathing is effortless, calm, gentle, quiet, soft, and minimal. At a BOLT score of 40 seconds, it is difficult to see breathing movements. The natural pause between each breath is generally about 4 to 5 seconds. The number of breaths during rest per minute varies from 6 to 10 minimal breaths.
BOLT and Sports Performance
During physical exercise, breathing volume increases, but so too does production of carbon dioxide. When your BOLT score is h
igher than 30 seconds, there is a reasonable match between the production of carbon dioxide from increased muscle movement and the elimination of it by breathing. A BOLT score of between 20 and 30 seconds indicates that there is room for improvement. However, a problem arises when a BOLT score is less than 20 seconds, as excessive breathing will eliminate more carbon dioxide than the amount that is produced through exercise, leading to a net loss of CO2, reduced oxygen delivery, and constriction of blood vessels and airways. The result is poor sports performance and a variety of negative implications for your overall health.
A general rule for the relationship between BOLT scores and breathing volume is as follows: The lower the BOLT score, the poorer the match between breathing volume and metabolic activity, hence the need to control breathing during rest and physical exercise. The closer the BOLT score is to 40 seconds, the better the match between breathing volume and metabolic requirements. When your breathing volume matches the amount of carbon dioxide produced, it will be much easier to exercise at a higher intensity while still retaining a calm and even breathing pattern.
As it can be difficult for children and teenagers to correctly apply the BOLT, progress can be measured by counting how many paces that they are able to hold their breath while walking. This is explained in more detail in the Oxygen Advantage program for children and teenagers on page 286.
At the beginning of this chapter I made the claim that Oxygen Advantage breathing exercises—even those that are practiced while sitting down—are guaranteed to increase your BOLT score. People with a BOLT score of less than 15 seconds are often put off from doing physical exercise due to excessive breathlessness. However, by starting with gentle reduced breathing exercises that can be performed while sitting down or walking slowly, even those with low BOLT scores can significantly improve their endurance and breathing efficiency in the space of just a few weeks. Once your BOLT score is greater than 20 seconds, you will be able to partake in physical exercise and continue to improve your score with more advanced breathing exercises.
Any athlete can learn the tools to tap into the body’s own natural resources in order to train faster, exercise more intensively, and enjoy better improvements to his or her health. And if you are a coach, knowing the BOLT score of each of your players will help you to provide feedback on their ability to perform. As they say, knowledge is power; understanding your body’s athletic capabilities will enable you to push harder and compete to the best of your abilities.
Three Steps to Increasing Your BOLT Score
The exercises in this book will guide you through each stage of your journey to improved breathing, fitness, and endurance. Below is a brief guide to each of the three steps to increasing your BOLT score:
1. Stop Losses of Carbon Dioxide
• Breathe through your nose, day and night.
• Stop sighing; instead, swallow or suppress the sigh. One sigh taken every few minutes is enough to maintain chronic overbreathing, so it is necessary to counteract the sigh by swallowing or holding the breath. If you notice your sighs only after they have taken place, then hold your breath for 10 to 15 seconds to help compensate for the loss of carbon dioxide.
• Avoid taking big breaths when yawning or talking. Individuals with a low BOLT score are often tired, and yawn frequently throughout the day. Try not to take in a large breath during a yawn. Likewise, individuals who talk for a living need to be aware that their breathing should not be heard during talking. If you find that you can hear your breathing during talking, then it is better to slow down the speed of your talking, use shorter sentences, and take a gentle breath through your nose between each sentence.
• Observe your breathing throughout the day. Good breathing during rest should not be seen or heard.
2. Improve Tolerance of Carbon Dioxide
This is where you practice exercises designed to reduce your breathing volume toward normal. They will bring a feeling of relaxation to your body and encourage your breathing to slow down and become calmer. The objective is to create a tolerable need or hunger for air. A sustained need for air over the course of 10 to 12 minutes resets the receptors in the brain to tolerate a higher concentration of carbon dioxide.
Steps 1 and 2 are necessary to increase BOLT score from 10 to 20 seconds.
3. Simulate High-Altitude Training
During physical exertion, as discussed, breathing volume increases along with metabolic activity, which generates carbon dioxide. Breathing less than you feel you need to during physical training is an excellent method of conditioning the body to tolerate a higher concentration of carbon dioxide, while at the same time subjecting the body to a reduced concentration of oxygen.
The benefit of implementing Oxygen Advantage breathing techniques during physical exercise is that a stronger air shortage can be created than at rest. A strong air shortage is necessary to increase your BOLT score from 20 to 40 seconds.
Please note the following important points about increasing your BOLT score:
• You will feel better each time your BOLT score increases by 5 seconds.
• The general progression is for a BOLT score to increase by 3 to 4 seconds during the first 2 to 3 weeks. When your BOLT score reaches 20 seconds, it is normal for the progression of your BOLT increase to slow down. It is not uncommon for a BOLT score to remain “stuck” at 20 seconds for 8 to 10 weeks. In order to increase a BOLT score from 20 to 40 seconds, it is necessary to perform physical exercise while incorporating the techniques in this book. Be determined, and don’t lose heart if your BOLT score is stubborn or lessens temporarily! Meanwhile, you’ll enjoy the benefits you’ve already gained from getting to 20 seconds in the first place.
• The causes for slow BOLT score progress include lifestyle factors, such as stress and excessive talking, and sickness. The severity and duration of a health condition will dictate the rate of your BOLT progress, but whatever your current state of health, there are always exercises that can be performed to keep you moving forward. It is worth persevering, as there are many health benefits related to even a slight improvement to your BOLT score.
• The most accurate BOLT score is taken first thing after waking. This BOLT measurement is more accurate because you cannot influence your breathing during sleep, and therefore an early morning score will be based on your breathing volume as naturally set by your respiratory center.
• Your goal is to maintain a morning BOLT score of 40 seconds for a period of 6 months. As modern living can negatively affect BOLT scores, it is necessary to pay attention to breathing throughout the day, ensuring it is light and through the nose, and to incorporate the Oxygen Advantage program into your physical exercise and way of life. This will help you maintain a high BOLT score.
Below are suggested exercises as based on your BOLT score (a more detailed program is available on page 267):
BOLT score of 10 seconds or under:
• Breathing Recovery Exercise to unblock the nose
• Nose-breathe at all times
• Avoiding sighing and taking big breaths
• Breathe Light to Breathe Right during rest
• Breathing Recovery Exercise
BOLT score of 10 to 20 seconds:
• Nose unblocking exercise
• Nose-breathe at all times
• Avoiding sighing and taking big breaths
• Breathe Light to Breathe Right during rest and physical exercise
BOLT score of 20 to 30 seconds:
• Nose unblocking exercise
• Nose-breathe at all times
• Breathe Light to Breathe Right during rest and physical exercise
• Simulate High-Altitude Training during a fast walk or jog
BOLT score of 30 seconds or greater:
• Nose-breathe at all times
• Breathe Light to Breathe Right during rest and physical exercise
• Simulate High-Altitude Training during jogging or running
• Advanced Simu
lation of High-Altitude Training
To reiterate: If you have any health problems or a BOLT score shorter than 10 seconds, please do not attempt breath holds involving a strong need for air, as the resultant loss of control of your breathing may aggravate your condition. Please do not attempt the nose unblocking exercise or any of the exercises to simulate high-altitude training unless you have a BOLT score longer than 10 seconds. It is also advised to have a BOLT score of at least 20 seconds before attempting breath holding during jogging or running.
Body Detoxification
When you undergo the Oxygen Advantage program, you may experience a body detoxification. The extent of the detoxification will depend on your BOLT score and state of health. In general, the higher your BOLT score and the healthier you are, the less likely you will experience a detoxification. On the other hand, if you have a low BOLT result and have been feeling unwell for years, you are much more likely to experience a detoxification. Remember that changing your breathing volume toward normal improves blood flow and oxygenation of all tissues and organs. With better-functioning organs and systems, waste products are expelled more readily.
It is great news if you do experience a detoxification, as it shows your health is improving, and you should clearly feel the benefits. Generally, cleansing reactions are mild and last from several hours to one or two days.
Typical detoxification symptoms may include:
The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques for a Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter You Page 5