How a simple TikTok breathing test can detect if you have 'military-grade lungs'

22 October 2023 , 08:50

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A breathing test on social media site TikTok tells your lungs are up to military standard (Image: Getty Images)

A breathing test on the social media site TikTok tells you your lungs are up to military standards.

Those who want to have the same lungs as Navy SEALs will have tried holding their breaths using the techniques using elite special forces in the field. The average time is three minutes in underwater exercises. However, the average American can also carry out rigorous testing to check their lung capacity..

Tests have cropped up on TikTok where videos are posted counting down to 40 seconds. The social media site is full of civilians who claim they can hold their breaths for about 40 seconds which shows they could have a military career. Navy SEALs are an elite force which trains constantly for any possible wartime scenario. Their exercises include lying down in a pool of water after knots have been tied in their breathing regulator. It forces them to stay calm with very little oxygen while untying knots which will allow them to rise to the surface for air.

Breathing tests are all over social media allowing users to compete with Navy SEALS (Getty Images/Westend61)

On TikTok, tests are far simpler by taking a breath for four seconds which is held for 40 to 50 seconds before a measured exhale. The test on social media is similar to one used by the RAF during World War I through to 1939. A full exhalation followed by a deep inhalation, was then required which was held for around 45 seconds on average. The test was used to measure physical fitness but bodies adapted more to oxygen.

Someone can hold their breath longer because they have stronger lungs but someone who vapes or smokes regularly will struggle more. Holding your breath stops oxygen from coming in but also stops carbon dioxide from being able to leave the body because exhalation has stopped.

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CO2 is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, a network of blood vessels and tissue that serves as a protective layer lining the inside of the brain. It causes a drop in the delicate pH balance of the blood. when the brain sends an urgent signal to the lungs to breathe out that harmful CO2.

In 2014 a study argued exercises could activate the body’s fight-or-flight response while producing anti-inflammation agents in the body that could help mediate an overzealous immune system response to foreign invaders or its own cells.

Doctors will sometimes perform their own versions of lung function tests to measure how well the lungs are working, though none that ask a patient to inhale, hold their breathe and exhale for a predetermined amount of time.

Graeme Murray