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11.2: Part B- Breath Hold

  • Page ID
    100763
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    Part B- Breath Hold

    Before and After Hyperventilation

    It is important to do this exercise before reading on so as to not influence the results.

    Procedures

    A. Get a partner (or not). If you have a partner, then one is the subject and one is the observer. The observer, will need to set their phone to “stop watch mode” or have a watch with a stop watch feature. Worst case simple record the time elapsed in seconds.

    B. Have the subject student sit upright and quietly (no talking or moving) in a chair.

    C. The subject should be inhaling normally, then if solo, hit the stopwatch as you stop breathing (hold your breath). If a partner is present- tell the subject to stop breathing with a “go” and hit the watch or phone.

    D. The subject should hold his or her breath as long as he/she possibly can. Tell the subject to force himself or herself to continue holding his/her breath even if he feels like he has to breathe.

    E. Observer: record how long his/her subjects held their breaths.

    F. Ask the subject to take a short rest about 1 minute. Then to breathe rapidly and deeply for 30 seconds (called hyperventilation). Immediately after hyperventilating and toward the end of an expiration (outward breath), have each subject hold his/her breath, and signal the observing student as before.

    G. To make timing easier, start a watch and simply subtract 30 seconds from it at the end or whenever the subject finished hyperventilation and started the breath hold. Again, instruct the subject to hold his/her breath as long as possible

    H. Observer: record how long the subject held his/her breath.

    Analysis

    1. Compare your breath-holding times with and without prior hyperventilation. Check to see if there is any difference. Do absolute before – after and % change (After- Before)/ Before

    2. Why was there a difference?

    3. At the point you thought you really had to breathe, could you talk yourself out of it, even if only for a few seconds?

    4. What finally forced you to breathe?

    5. What limits how long you can hold your breath?

    6. What factors, other than high carbon dioxide, might cause breathlessness?


    This page titled 11.2: Part B- Breath Hold is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Mark Kelly.

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