The Control Pause, or CP value, is one of the tests used for measurement in the Buteyko method.
What does it measure?
It shows how tolerant we are to CO2, in other words, at what point the rising CO2 level during a breath-hold reaches the critical threshold at which the brain’s respiratory center first issues the command to breathe.
This test can also be a good indicator of our mental stamina and can reflect the state of our nervous system.
Do not do this if: you are pregnant or seriously ill, even a shorter breath-hold can be a problem, in that case consult a specialist!
Steps of the Control Pause test:
- get a stopwatch ready in your hand (your phone has one too 😊)
- sit in an upright position, stretching the top of your head upward so that you sit with correct posture
- AFTER a normal EXHALATION, pinch your nose and hold your breath – START THE STOPWATCH AT THE SAME TIME
- focus on your body’s signals, since you need to catch the very first sign of the urge to breathe
- these can be: a subtle twitch in the diaphragm area, a very slight tightening in the chest area, a gentle movement in the throat area, or you may even feel an urge to swallow
- the moment this small sign appears, stop the stopwatch, release your nose, breathe in, and you have your Control Pause measurement
- the measurement was correct if the inhalation after the breath-hold is just as soft, calm and quiet as your breathing was before
How to measure your Control Pause like a pro?
- always hold your breath after exhaling
- you must always pinch your nose
- look for the very first sign of the urge to breathe, which can be very subtle
- measure in the morning, right after waking up
- if you can’t measure right after waking up, wait 10 minutes before measuring, while you are calm and at rest
- the goal here is not to see who can hold out longer, you don’t need to go until you turn purple! Pay attention to your body’s very first signal
- keep your mouth closed the whole time, even during the inhalation after the breath-hold!
Control Pause measurement video:
Self-check: if your breathing after the breath-hold was different from how you were breathing before, you probably didn’t measure correctly. You must not take a bigger breath, you need to breathe just as slowly and gently as you did before the hold.
Don’t be surprised if you overshoot your Control Pause value the first time! It takes quite a lot of practice to get a feel for it and to confidently identify the moment of the signal. If you took a bigger breath and it was loud and noticeable, that shows you didn’t stop in time. If your ability to identify bodily sensations (interoception) works less well for you, sensing the first sign can be more of a challenge.
One measurement is not a measurement!
In cases like this, we think in trends, for example we look at a whole week, and that can already reveal something about our true Control Pause value. That’s why, as part of the daily coaching, we also measure every single day for 4 weeks during the course! This way everyone will be able to measure confidently, and the arc of progress becomes visible, or even the reason why it stalled.
Evaluating the Control Pause:
In a nutshell, at or around 10 seconds there is quite a serious problem, under 20 seconds plenty of symptoms are still present, which is why I call that being still in the negative. Above 20-25 the improvement starts to become noticeable, above 30 it’s good, and above 40 seconds it’s ideal. Professor Buteyko and his students, however, had a Control Pause of 180 seconds, meaning they could comfortably hold their breath for that long.