Recovery Tip: The BOLT Test For CO2 Sensitivity

Improve Your Recovery 📈

BOLT TEST ⚡️

1) At the end of a normal exhalation, plug your nose and START timer

2) STOP timer at first strong urge to take another breath

👎 Below 20 seconds ➡️ Address this NOW

👍 20-30 Seconds ➡️ Your CO2 tolerance is good but there is room to improve this for better Recovery benefits

40+ Seconds ➡️ The Goal

Why does this Matter?!

Your respiratory system and your neurological system are best buddies and one has a strong influence on the other

For this reason, hyperventilation is strongly tied to stress and a sympathetic (Fight or Flight) Response

A low BOLT score shows that the body is essentially living in a hyperventilated state all day and has strong ties to stress, anxiety, and inability to fall asleep

It is actually the build up of CO2 that causes the urge to take the next breath, not decreasing Oxygen levels

All of this to say, a low BOLT score can be caused by poor CO2 tolerance which then can cause hyperventilation leading to poor ability to transition to a more parasympathetic (Recovery) State

Thankfully, CO2 Tolerance is very trainable!

Benefits Of Improved CO2 Tolerance:

✅ Decreased Stress/Anxiety (HHPF Foundation)

✅ Improved Oxygen Uptake (Bohr Effect)

✅ Improved Sleep

✅ Decreased Depression (Krnjevic)

✅ Decreased Inflammation (Sayama)

And Soo Much More

This is a very very abbreviated description of what is going on in your body, but if this interests you, check out the @OxygenAdvantage Book

It’s an incredible resource and you can dig WAY deeper into this topic