15/07/2024
Planning a High-Altitude Adventure? Here’s why you NEED to know your BOLT Score!
The Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT), which involves an easy breath hold after exhalation, is a useful and accurate way to measure your relative breathing volume and your predict your level of breathlessness during exercise and at higher altitudes.
The ideal BOLT score for a healthy adult is 40+ seconds.
The lower your BOLT score in seconds, the greater your breathing volume is likely to be. The greater your breathing volume, the more breathlessness you will experience during exercise and at higher altitudes.
Instructions:
-Make sure you have a stopwatch on-hand.
-Sit and relax for 5-10 minutes.
-Take a normal breath in through your nose and allow a normal breath out through your nose.
-Hold your nose with your fingers to prevent air from entering your lungs.
-Start your timer.
-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 your body gives the message to resume breathing. The 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.
-Release your nose, stop the timer, and breathe in through your nose. Your inhalation at the end of the breath hold should be calm.
-Resume normal breathing.
Planning a high-altitude adventure and want to make sure you’re prepared for the physical challenge?
DM me the word BOLT and I’ll show you the exact roadmap I use to make sure my clients are ready to conquer their biggest adventures!
