Check Your Lung Health at home with the Simple BOLT Breathing Test, Heres What Expert Explains

Learn how to check your lung health at home with the simple BOLT Breathing Test. Know how it works, what your score means, and expert tips to improve breathing.

Most of us breathe without thinking. After all, breathing occurs automatically. When we experience gradually decreasing airflow and known decreases in lung function, we often take it for granted and do not realise we are having difficulty until we struggle performing usual tasks like exercise, climbing stairs, or recovering from an illness.

The BOLT, also known as the Body Oxygen Level Test, is a simple choice to monitor your respiratory health at home. You can learn a lot about how you breathe and use oxygen from the test! It can provide you with a certain degree of clarity regarding your total body function.

What Does BOLT Measure?

In a conversation with Dr Sushil Jain and Dr Girish Agrawal, Senior Consultant, Pulmonology, Ramakrishna Care Hospitals, the doctor said, “The BOLT test measures how long you can comfortably hold your breath after a regular exhalation. It is worthwhile noting that during the BOLT test, there is no set time to hold your breath. The BOLT test ends as soon as you consciously realise the impulse to take a breath. This is more efficient at assessing how your body uses oxygen and manages carbon dioxide than any other type of breath-hold test.”

Higher BOLT scores indicate that your body’s tissues have received sufficient oxygen to serve their proper function. Lower scores indicate possible situations like decreased tolerance to CO , COPD, hyperventilation-induced anxiety, asthma, and/or overbreathing.

How to Take the BOLT Test?

Sit relaxed and breathe through your nose.

1. After taking a normal breath in and then expelling all of the air to exhale, gently pinch your nose shut so that the airway through your nose will close.

2. Start the timer immediately.

3. Stop the clock when you feel the first strong urge to breathe. This is not going to be distressing, although you will know your breathing needs to be addressed, whether it is chest tightness or a swallowing reflex or the first contraction of your breathing muscles.

4. Your total score in the BOLT Test will be the total time in number of seconds you recorded.

Importance of the BOLT Test

The doctors further explained, “Not only people with indicated respiratory issues could benefit from BOLT testing, but even athletes can also use BOLT testing to find improvements in recovery and endurance. The BOLT score can be a way for people who are recovering from illness, particularly respiratory illness like COVID-19, to track progress. Even if you are generally healthy, a BOLT scoring system can be used to help be proactive and identify early signs of changes in people who do not have any symptoms.”

The BOLT Test provides a simple approach to monitoring change over time and is quick and straightforward to administer, without special equipment or preparation. Tracking your score over time can visualise trends that can otherwise be lost.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

The BOLT test is not only for patients with symptoms; there is also the opportunity for prevention. It takes mere minutes to do a BOLT assessment and can give you some useful information regarding lung health.

Patients are often unaware and dismissive of the implications of breathing properly, so by simply identifying irregularity in breathing early on, we can direct them into any needed treatment, which can significantly improve their ease and quality of life.

If you feel you have trouble breathing, you have a persistent cough or wish to enhance your lung fitness, a BOLT test is an excellent place to start.