Body Oxygen Test or CP Test
“All chronic pain, suffering and diseases
are caused
from a lack of oxygen at the cell level."
Prof. A.C. Guyton, MD, The Textbook of Medical Physiology*
* World’s most widely used
medical textbook of any kind
* World's best-selling physiology book
The DIY body oxygen test has been used by about 200 Soviet and Russian medical doctors and other health professionals. They tested over 250,000 patients with various health problems and ordinary people. Several hundreds of Western Buteyko teachers applied this test on more than 200,000 people.
Sit down and rest for 5-7
minutes. Completely relax all your muscles, including the breathing muscles.
This relaxation produces natural spontaneous exhalation (breathing out). Pinch
your nose closed at the end of this exhalation and count your BHT (breath
holding time) in seconds. Keep the nose pinched until you experience the first
desire to breathe.
Practice shows that this first desire appears together with an involuntary push of the diaphragm or swallowing movement in the throat. If you release the nose and start breathing at this time, you can resume your usual breathing pattern (in the same way as you were breathing prior to the test).
Do not extend breath holding too long, trying to increase the result. You should not gasp for air or open your mouth when you release your nose. The test should be easy and not cause you any stress. This stress-free breath holding time test should not interfere with your breathing, as shown here:
Warning.
Some, not all, people with heart disease, migraine headaches, and panic attacks
may experience negative symptoms minutes later after this light version of the
test. If this happens, they should avoid this
body oxygen test.
Some people can have abnormally large numbers for this test. This happens in cases of carotid body resections, denervation of respiratory muscles, and near death experiences. People with sleep apnea and lost or blunted CO2 sensitivity can also have exaggerated test results.
Cases when people have good or normal breathing (with normal body O2 content), while having poor results for this test, are virtually unknown.
What about usual body-oxygen test numbers, CP norms and CP of sick and 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. (2nd edition);
Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, London 2000, p.252.
Results of Western medical and physiological research studies are summarized
in these 2 Tables:
- Body-oxygen test in sick people (13 medical
studies; less than 20 seconds)
- Body-oxygen test in healthy people (24
references; about 20-30 seconds now; about 40-50 seconds 80-100 years ago)
Doctor Buteyko
and his medical colleagues tested more than 250,000 Soviet and Russian patients and found that the following relationships
generally hold true for the body-oxygen test in their patients:
1-10 s - severely sick, critically and terminally ill patients, usually
hospitalized
10-20 s - sick patients with health complaints and, often, on daily medication
20-30 s - people with average health and usually without serious chronic health
problems
40-60 s - very good health
Over 60 s - ideal health, when many chronic diseases are virtually impossible.
However, sometimes people have poor results (less than 20 s), but they do not suffer from chronic diseases. This happens when these people do not have genetic predisposition to chronic diseases (good genes), while low body O2 surely compromises their health, fitness and quality of life.
How does the body-oxygen test relate to your automatic breathing?
Minute ventilation rates (chronic diseases)
| Condition | Minute ventilation |
Number of people |
All
references or click below for abstracts |
| Normal breathing | 6 L/min | - | Medical textbooks |
| Healthy Subjects | 6-7 L/min | >400 | Results of 14 studies |
| Heart disease | 15 (±4) L/min | 22 | Dimopoulou et al, 2001 |
| Heart disease | 16 (±2) L/min | 11 | Johnson et al, 2000 |
| Heart disease | 12 (±3) L/min | 132 | Fanfulla et al, 1998 |
| Heart disease | 15 (±4) L/min | 55 | Clark et al, 1997 |
| Heart disease | 13 (±4) L/min | 15 | Banning et al, 1995 |
| Heart disease | 15 (±4) L/min | 88 | Clark et al, 1995 |
| Heart disease | 14 (±2) L/min | 30 | Buller et al, 1990 |
| Heart disease | 16 (±6) L/min | 20 | Elborn et al, 1990 |
| Pulm hypertension | 12 (±2) L/min | 11 | D'Alonzo et al, 1987 |
| Cancer | 12 (±2) L/min | 40 | Travers et al, 2008 |
| Diabetes | 12-17 L/min | 26 | Bottini et al, 2003 |
| Diabetes | 15 (±2) L/min | 45 | Tantucci et al, 2001 |
| Diabetes | 12 (±2) L/min | 8 | Mancini et al, 1999 |
| Diabetes | 10-20 L/min | 28 | Tantucci et al, 1997 |
| Diabetes | 13 (±2) L/min | 20 | Tantucci et al, 1996 |
| Asthma | 13 (±2) L/min | 16 | Chalupa et al, 2004 |
| Asthma | 15 L/min | 8 | Johnson et al, 1995 |
| Asthma | 14 (±6) L/min | 39 | Bowler et al, 1998 |
| Asthma | 13 (±4) L/min | 17 | Kassabian et al, 1982 |
| Asthma | 12 L/min | 101 | McFadden & Lyons, 1968 |
| COPD | 14 (±2) L/min | 12 | Palange et al, 2001 |
| COPD | 12 (±2) L/min | 10 | Sinderby et al, 2001 |
| COPD | 14 L/min | 3 | Stulbarg et al, 2001 |
| Sleep apnea | 15 (±3) L/min | 20 | Radwan et al, 2001 |
| Liver cirrhosis | 11-18 L/min | 24 | Epstein et al, 1998 |
| Hyperthyroidism | 15 (±1) L/min | 42 | Kahaly, 1998 |
| Cystic fibrosis | 15 L/min | 15 | Fauroux et al, 2006 |
| Cystic fibrosis | 10 L/min | 11 | Browning et al, 1990 |
| Cystic fibrosis* | 10 L/min | 10 | Ward et al, 1999 |
| CF and diabetes* | 10 L/min | 7 | Ward et al, 1999 |
| Cystic fibrosis | 16 L/min | 7 | Dodd et al, 2006 |
| Cystic fibrosis | 18 L/min | 9 | McKone et al, 2005 |
| Cystic fibrosis* | 13 (±2) L/min | 10 | Bell et al, 1996 |
| Cystic fibrosis | 11-14 L/min | 6 | Tepper et al, 1983 |
| Epilepsy | 13 L/min | 12 | Esquivel et al, 1991 |
| CHV | 13 (±2) L/min | 134 | Han et al, 1997 |
| Panic disorder | 12 (±5) L/min | 12 | Pain et al, 1991 |
| Bipolar disorder | 11 (±2) L/min | 16 | MacKinnon et al, 2007 |
| Dystrophia myotonica | 16 (±4) L/min | 12 | Clague et al, 1994 |
Medical
evidence suggests that sick people are heavy breathers. The bigger your
breathing, the smaller your body-oxygen levels.
- If you have about 40 seconds for the body-oxygen test, you have normal
breathing (with about 5-7 L/min for minute ventilation).
- If your time is 20 s, you breathe for 2 people or twice more than the medical
norm.
- If you have 10 s of oxygen in the body or less, you breathe for at least 4
people.
| Lifestyle factor: | Body oxygen < 30 s | Body oxygen > 50 s |
| Energy level | Medium, low, or very low | High |
| Desire to exercise | Not strong, but possible | Craving and joy of exercise |
| Intensive exercise with nose breathing | Hard or impossible | Easy and effortless |
| Typical mind states | Confusion, anxiety, depression | Focus, concentration, clarity |
| Craving for coffee, sugar and junk foods | Present | Absent |
| Addictions to smoking, alcohol, and drugs | Possible | Absent |
| Desire to eat raw foods | Weak and rare | Very common and natural |
| Correct posture | Rare and requires efforts | Natural and automatic |
| Sleep | Often of poor quality; > 7 hours | Excellent quality; < 5 hours naturally |
Hence, if you breathe less, you naturally increase your body oxygen levels.
While this CP test is the main health parameter, it is not the only one. See factors that affect health for more detail.
This video clip explains in detail how to do the Buteyko Body Oxygen Test:
Reference pages: Breathing norms and medical facts:
-
Breathing
norms: Parameters, graph, and description of the normal
breathing pattern
- 6 breathing myths: Myths and superstitions about breathing
and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
- Hyperventilation: Definitions of
hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
- Hyperventilation syndrome:
Western scientific evidence about prevalence of chronic hyperventilation in patients with chronic conditions
(37 medical studies)
- Normal minute ventilation: Small and
slow
breathing at rest is enjoyed by healthy subjects (14 studies)
- Hyperventilation prevalence: Present in
over 90% of
normal people (24 medical studies)
- HV and hypoxia:
How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of
all vital organs
- Body-oxygen test (CP test)
: How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (two in one) using a simple DIY test
- Body oxygen in healthy:
Results for the body-oxygen test for healthy people (27 medical
studies)
- Body oxygen in sick
: Results for the body-oxygen test for sick people (14 medical studies)
- Buteyko
Table of Health Zones: Clinical description and ranges for breathing zones:
from the critically ill (severely sick) up to super healthy people
with maximum possible body oxygenation
- Morning hyperventilation: Why people feel
worse and critically ill people are most
likely to die during early morning hours
References: pages about CO2 effect:
- Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion
(or blood supply) to all vital organs
- The Bohr effect:
How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
- Cell oxygen levels: How alveolar CO2 influences
oxygen transport
- Oxygen transport: O2 transport is controlled by
vasoconstriction-vasodilation and the Bohr effects, both of which rely on CO2
- Free radical generation:
Reactive oxygen species are produced within cells due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia
- Inflammatory response: Chronic inflammation
in fueled by the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces
and eliminates inflammation
- Nerve stabilization: People remain calm due to calmative or
sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
- Muscle relaxation: Relaxation of muscle cells
is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture
and, sometimes, aggression and violence
- Bronchodilation: Dilation of
airways (bronchi and bronchioles) is caused by carbon dioxide, and their constriction
by hypocapnia (low CO2)
- Blood
pH: Regulation of blood pH due to breathing and regulation of other bodily fluids
- CO2: lung damage: Elevated carbon
dioxide prevents lung injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
- CO2: Topical carbon dioxide can heal skin and tissues
- Synthesis of glutamine
in the brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
- Deep breathing myth:
Ignorant and naive people promote the idea that deep breathing and breathing
more air at rest is beneficial for health
- Breathing control: How is our
breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven, irregular and erratic.
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