Homepage: Norms, rates, CP and body oxygenation
CP (index of tissue oxygenation) in healthy people
“If a person breath-holds after a normal exhalation, it takes about 40 seconds before breathing commences” From the textbook “Essentials of exercise physiology” McArdle W.D., Katch F.I., Katch V.L. (2-nd edition); Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, London 2000, p.252.
This table summarizes available western data regarding breath holding times for normal and healthy people. Note that some of the studies were conducted almost a century ago.
Table 4. Control Pause in normal and healthy people
according to various medical references
| Types of people investigated |
Number of subjects |
Control Pause, s |
Reference |
| US aviators | 319 | 41 s | Schneider, 1919 |
| Fit instructors | 22 | 46 s | Flack, 1920 |
| Home defence pilots | 24 | 49 s | Flack, 1920 |
| British candidates | 23 | 47 s | Flack, 1920 |
| US candidates | 7 | 45 s | Flack, 1920 |
| Delivery pilots | 27 | 39 s | Flack, 1920 |
| Pilots trained for scouts | 15 | 42 s | Flack, 1920 |
| Min requir. for flying | 34 s | Flack, 1920 | |
| Normal subjects | 20 | 39 s | Schneider, 1930 |
| Normal subjects | 30 | 23 s | Friedman, 1945 |
| Normal subjects | 7 | 44 s | Ferris et al, 1946 |
| Normal subjects | 22 | 33 s | Mirsky et al, 1946 |
| Aviation students | 48 | 36 s | Karpovich, 1947 |
| Normal subjects | 80 | 28 s | Rodbard, 1947 |
| Normal subjects | 3 | 41 s | Stroud, 1959 |
| Normal subjects | 16 | 16 s | Kohn & Cutcher, 1970 |
| Normal subjects | 6 | 28 s | Davidson et al, 1974 |
| Normal subjects | 16 | 22 s | Stanley et al, 1975 |
| Normal subjects | 7 | 29 s | Gross et al, 1976 |
| Normal subjects | 6 | 36 s | Bartlett, 1977 |
| Normal subjects | 9 | 33 s | Mukhtar et al, 1986 |
| Normal subjects | 20 | 36 s | Morrissey et al, 1987 |
| Normal subjects | 14 | 25 s | Zandbergen et al, 1992 |
| Normal subjects | 26 | 21 s | Asmudson & Stein, 1994 |
| Normal subjects | 30 | 36 s | Taskar et al, 1995 |
| Normal subjects | 76 | 25 s | McNally & Eke, 1996 |
| Normal subjects | 8 | 32 s | Sasse et al, 1996 |
| Normal subjects | 10 | 38 s | Flume et al, 1996 |
| Normal subjects | 31 | 29 s | Marks et al, 1997 |
| Normal males | 36 | 29 s | Joshi et al, 1998 |
| Normal females | 33 | 23 s | Joshi et al, 1998 |
| Healthy subjects | 20 | 38 s | Morooka et al, 2000 |
| Normal subjects | 6 | 30 s | Bosco et al, 2004 |
| Normal subjects | 19 | 30 s | Mitrouska et al, 2007 |
| Healthy subjects | 14 | 34 s | Andersson et al, 2009 |
Breath holding, for these studies, was done in different conditions (e.g., after normal inhalation, or exhalation, or taking a very deep inhalation, or a complete exhalation, until first stress or as long as possible). These different conditions can produce large variations in results (by more than 200%). Moreover, sometimes patients are asked to take 2 or 3 deep breaths before the test. Since researchers use different methods for BHT measurements, the standardization of results is necessary in order for them to be compared. If you are interested in these details, visit The Complete CP Table for normal and healthy subjects and see how these different tests were standardized.
Doctor Buteyko and his medical colleagues tested hundred of thousands patients and found that over 60 s CP corresponds to ideal health, when many modern diseases are virtually impossible.
References for Table 4 (in the same order)
Schneider, 1919
Observations were made in 1919, published in Schneider, 1930, see below.
Flack, 1920
Flack M, Some simple tests of physical efficiency, Lancet 1920; 196: p. 210-212.
Schneider, 1930
Schneider EC, Observation on holding the breath, Am J Physiol, 1930, 94, p. 464-470.
Friedman, 1945
Friedman M, Studies concerning the aetiology and pathogenesis of neurocirculatory asthenia III. The cardiovascular manifestations of neurocirculatory asthenia, Am Heart J 1945; 30, p. 378-391.
Ferris, 1946
Ferris EB, Engel GL, Stevens CD, Webb J, Voluntary breathholding, III. The relation of the maximum time of breathholding to the oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions of arterial blood, with a note on its clinical and physiological significance, J Clin Invest 1946, 25: 734-743.
Mirsky et al, 1946
Mirsky I A, Lipman E, Grinker R R, Breath-holding time in anxiety state, Federation proceedings 1946; 5: p. 74.
Karpovich et al, 1947
Karpovich PV, Breath holding as a test of physical endurance, Am J Physiol, 1947, 149: p. 720-723
Rodbard, 1947
Rodbard S, The effect of oxygen, altitude and exercise on breath-holding time, Am J Physiol 1947, 150: p. 142-148.
Stroud, 1959
Stroud RC, Combined ventilatory and breath-holding evaluation of sensitivity to respiratory gases, J Appl Physiol 1959, 14: p. 353-356.
Kohn et al, 1970
Kohn RM & Cutcher B, Breath-holding time in the screening for rehabilitation potential of cardiac patients, Scand J Rehabil Med 1970; 2(2): p. 105-107.
Davidson et al, 1974
Davidson JT, Whipp BJ, Wasserman K, Koyal SN, Lugliani R, Role of the carotid bodies in breath-holding, New England Journal of Medicine 1974 April 11; 290(15): p. 819-822.
Stanley et al, 1975
Stanley NN, Cunningham EL, Altose MD, Kelsen SG, Levinson RS, Cherniack NS, Evaluation of breath holding in hypercapnia as a simple clinical test of respiratory chemosensitivity, Thorax 1975 Jun; 30(3): p. 337-343.
Gross et al, 1976
Gross PM, Whipp BJ, Davidson JT, Koyal SN, Wasserman K, Role of carotid bodies in the heart rate response to breath holding in man. J of Amer Physiol 1976, 41 (3); p. 336-339.
Bartlett et al, 1977
Bartlett D, Effects of Valsalva and Mueller maneuvers on breath-holding time, J Appl Physiol: Respiratory, Environ. & Exercise Physiol 1977 May, 42(5): p. 717-721.
Mukhtar et al, 1986
Mukhtar MR, Patrick JM, Ventilatory drive during face immersion in man, J. Physiol. 1986, 370; p. 13-24.
Morrissey et al, 1987
Morrissey SC, Keohane K, Coote JH, The effect of acetazolamide on breath holding at high altitude, Postgrad Med J 1987, 63; p. 189-190
Zandbergen et al, 1992
Zandbergen J, Strahm M, Pols H, Griez EJ, Breath-holding in panic disorder, Compar Psychiatry 1992 Jan-Feb; 33(1): p. 47-51.
Asmundson et al, 1994
Asmundson GJ & Stein MB, Triggering the false suffocation alarm in panic disorder patients by using a voluntary breath-holding procedure, Am J Psychiatry 1994 Feb; 151(2): p. 264-266.
Taskar et al, 1995
Taskar V, Clayton N, Atkins M, Shaheen Z, Stone P, Woodcock A, Breath-holding time in normal subjects, snorers, and sleep apnea patients, Chest 1995 Apr; 107(4): p. 959-962.
McNally & Eke, 1996
McNally RJ & Eke M, Anxiety sensitivity, suffocation fear, and breath-holding duration as predictors of response to carbon dioxide challenge, J Abnorm Psychol 1996 Feb; 105(1): p. 146-149.
Sasse et al, 1996
Sasse SA, Berry RB, Nguyen TK, Light RW, Mahutte CK, Arterial Blood Gas Changes During Breath-holding From Functional Residual Capacity, Chest 1996, 110; p.958-964.
Flume et al, 1996
Flume PA, Eldridge FL, Edwards LJ, Mattison LE, Relief of the 'air hunger' of breathholding. A role for pulmonary stretch receptors, Respir Physiol 1996 Mar; 103(3): p. 221-232.
Marks et al, 1997
Marks B, Mitchell DG, Simelaro JP, Breath-holding in healthy and pulmonary-compromised populations: effects of hyperventilation and oxygen inspiration, J Magn Reson Imaging 1997 May-Jun; 7(3): p. 595-597.
Joshi et al, 1998
Joshi LN, Joshi VD, Effect of forced breathing on ventilatory functions of the lung, J Postgrad Med. 1998 Jul-Sep; 44(3): p.67-69.
Morooka et al, 2000
Morooka H, Wakasugi Y, Shimamoto H, Shibata O, Sumikawa K, Hyperbaric Nitrogen Prolongs Breath-Holding Time in Humans, Anesth Analg 2000; 91: p.749 –751.
Bosco et al, 2004
Bosco G, Ionadi A, Data RG, Mortola JP, Voluntary breath-holding in the morning and in the evening Clinical Science (2004) 106, p. 347–352
Mitrouska et al, 2007
Mitrouska I, Tsoumakidou M, Prinianakis G, Milic-Emili J, Siafakas NM, Effect of voluntary respiratory efforts on breath-holding time, Respiratory Physiology Neurobiology 2007, 157; p. 290–294.
Andersson et al, 2009
Andersson JPA, Schagatay E, Repeated apneas do not affect the hypercapnic ventilatory response in the short term, Eur J Appl Physiol 2009, 105: p.569–574.