- Updated on October 29, 2020

By Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Alternative Health Educator and Author

- Medically Reviewed by Naziliya Rakhimova, MD

Average Breath Holding Time – Body Oxygen in Normal Subjects

<p style=”display: none;”>Proofread by Samson Hui Proofreader on July **, 2019</p>

Grammarly-Daan-Sept-2019

This table below summarizes available western data for (medical and physiological research articles) regarding average breath holding time (or body-oxygen test or CP – Control Pause) for normal and healthy people. Note that some of the studies were conducted almost a century ago.

The Breath Holding Time test is done after normal or usual exhalation in normal or healthy subjects and only until the first signs of stress or discomfort. If the test was done in different conditions, the results were adjusted to this specific test (after usual exhalation and only until initial stress). The procedure of adjustment is described below.

Table. Control Pause in normal and healthy people according to various medical references

Types of people investigated	Number of subjects	Control Pause, s	References
US aviators	319	41 s	Schneider, 1919
Fit instructors	22	46 s	Flack, 1920
Home defense 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 required. 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 Time, 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 for Breath Holding Time 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 Complete CP Table for normal and healthy subjects and see how these different tests were standardized.

Doctor Buteyko and his medical colleagues tested hundreds of thousands of patients for Breath Holding Time and found that over 60 s CP corresponds to ideal health when many modern diseases are virtually impossible.

It makes physiological sense since the development of chronic diseases (heart disease, cancer, etc.) is based on cell hypoxia. High CPs indicate abundant oxygenation of cells and tissues, while sick people have reduced CP values (less than 20 s): Control Pause in Sick People due to overbreathing.

If you are interested in the following numbers:

1. the maximum possible result for the body O2 test (CP)
2. the maximum breath-holding without any deep breaths, or water immersion, or use of pure oxygen (as David Blaine and others often use for better results). In other words, you can only take one very deep breath before this test while sitting and breathing normal air.
   these numbers are provided as your bonus content.

1. The ideal CP is about 3 minutes.
2. The maximum breath holding time that corresponds to 3 min CP is about 7-9 minutes depending on the lung size, the training effect (willpower) and other factors. With extreme training, it can be more than 9 minutes.

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