The Metabolic Guide
Your Rhune Health Metabolic Assessment Guide, powered by PNOĒ Breath Analysis.
Find our your biological age.
The PNOĒ Metabolic Breath Test is a clinical-grade diagnostic tool that analyzes the air you exhale to provide a precise roadmap of how your body processes oxygen and fuels, offering the unique benefit of eliminating guesswork from your health strategy by identifying exactly how to optimize your metabolism at rest and fuel your performance during activity. Now available at the Rhune Health office in Westlake Village, CA.
Your assessment looks at how efficiently your body produces and uses energy — across your lungs, heart, nervous system, and cells. Use this guide to understand each measurement in your report.
What You'll Learn
Respiratory & Breathing
Cardiovascular
Metabolism & Cellular Health
Nervous System
Aerobic Capacity & Longevity
Respiratory & Breathing
Ventilation Efficiency
How efficiently your lungs absorb oxygen and clear CO₂
WHAT IT MEASURES
Ventilation efficiency reflects how well your lungs absorb oxygen and clear carbon dioxide — the ratio of total air moved (VE) to CO₂exhaled (VCO₂).
WHY IT MATTERS
It is a useful window on lung function, especially without a maximal exercise test. A high score suggests healthy gas exchange; a low score can flag inflammation, infection, or conditions such as COPD, asthma, or sleep apnea. Regular cardio and interval training, breathwork, and a healthy body weight support it; smoking, pulmonary or heart disease, and chemical exposure work against it.
Lung Utilization
How much of your lung capacity you use at rest
WHAT IT MEASURES
Lung utilization reflects how much of your lung capacity you use while resting, measured from your tidal volume — the air moved on each breath.
WHY IT MATTERS
It is a contributor to oxygen absorption and to a high VO₂max. Lower utilization means less oxygen on board, which can be an early thread in respiratory, cardiovascular, and metabolic issues. Interval training, breathwork, and a healthy weight support it; respiratory disease, poor posture, and air pollution work against it. (Note: this metric saturates easily — most healthy people read at the ceiling.)
Breathing Coordination
How efficiently you coordinate breath at rest
WHAT IT MEASURES
Breathing coordination measures how regularly and efficiently you breathe at rest, and how well you coordinate the diaphragm and respiratory muscles.
WHY IT MATTERS
How you breathe regulates nervous-system activation and whole-body oxygenation. Fast, shallow, erratic breathing activates the stress branch and lowers blood CO₂, which paradoxically reduces oxygen delivery to tissues; slow, steady breathing does the opposite. Regular exercise and breathwork improve it; poor ventilation, stress, and mood disorders degrade it.
High Intensity Performance
How well you deliver oxygen at hard efforts
WHAT IT MEASURES
High-Intensity Performance reflects how well your lungs and heart keep delivering oxygen across hard efforts, combining oxygen pulse and oxygen absorbed per breath.
WHY IT MATTERS
Strong high-intensity delivery keeps you aerobic for longer at hard efforts — so you can train where VO₂max improves while limiting fatigue. Interval and heavy endurance work build it; it relies on healthy respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
Cardiovascular
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Resting cardiovascular and recovery resilience
WHAT IT MEASURES
Heart Rate Variability is the beat-to-beat variation in your heart rhythm at rest — a sensitive readout of cardiovascular and autonomic resilience.
WHY IT MATTERS
Higher HRV generally signals a more adaptable, well-recovered system and lower cardiovascular risk; lower HRV signals strain or reduced reserve. Exercise, sleep, omega-3s, breathwork, and a healthy weight raise it; alcohol, smoking, and unmanaged stress lower it. Single resting readings are noisy — trend it over time rather than over-reading one number.
Oxygen Circulation
How effectively your heart pumps oxygen-rich blood
WHAT IT MEASURES
Oxygen circulation reflects how effectively your heart pumps oxygen-rich blood, derived from oxygen pulse (oxygen consumed per
WHY IT MATTERS
A heart that delivers more oxygen per beat works efficiently; a plateau or decline as effort rises can signal cardiovascular deconditioning and warrants professional review. Cardio training, a healthy diet, and a healthy weight support it; cardiovascular or respiratory disease and smoking work against it.
Nervous System
Sympathetic / Parasympathetic Activation
Autonomic balance between stress and recovery
WHAT IT MEASURES
Sympathetic/Parasympathetic activation shows the balance between the two branches of your autonomic nervous system — the “stress”branch and the “recovery” branch — and which is currently dominant.
WHY IT MATTERS
This balance reflects the psychosomatic stress your body is carrying.A recovery-dominant profile signals good rest and low stress load; a stress-dominant profile points to chronic stress, fatigue, and lower energy. Breathing is a direct lever: the upper lungs drive the stressbranch, the lower lungs the recovery branch. Regular exercise, sleep, breathwork, and sunlight move it in the right direction; sleep loss and shallow breathing move it the wrong way.
Metabolism & Cellular Health
Metabolic Rate
How many calories your body burns at rest and in motion
WHAT IT MEASURES
Metabolic rate shows how fast your metabolism runs — whether you burn more or fewer calories than predicted for your size, age, and sex.
WHY IT MATTERS
A higher rate makes it easier to maintain a healthy weight, because you can cover normal intake without surplus. When it drops, weight gain becomes more likely on the same diet. Resistance exercise, adequate sleep, and sufficient protein support it; yo-yo dieting, extreme restriction, and excessive cardio suppress it.
Metabolic Flexibility
How readily you switch between burning fat and carbohydrate
WHAT IT MEASURES
Metabolic flexibility is your ability to switch efficiently between burning fat and carbohydrate as demand changes — across exercise intensities or between fasted and fed states.
WHY IT MATTERS
It is a marker of mitochondrial health and a key protector against fat gain and metabolic syndrome. The more flexible you are, the better you convert food into energy rather than storing it. Aerobic fitness, intermittent fasting, resistance training, healthy weight, and sleep support it; processed carbohydrates, overeating, and poor aerobic fitness reduce it.
Recovery Capacity
How quickly you recover after hard effort
WHAT IT MEASURES
Recovery capacity reflects how quickly your heart rate and CO₂ return toward resting values in the first minutes after peak effort.
WHY IT MATTERS
It predicts your resilience to training and your risk of chronic fatigue orovertraining. Better recovery means you can train more, more often, with less injury risk. Zone 2 training, sleep, and protein support it; chronic stress, under-recovery, and excessive training erode it.
Fat-burning Efficiency & Mitochondrial Function
Your cells’ ability to use fat as fuel
WHAT IT MEASURES
Fat-burning efficiency reflects your cells’ ability to use fat as fuel — a hallmark of healthy mitochondria — measured from the oxygen andCO₂ balance in your breath.
WHY IT MATTERS
It is one of the strongest indicators of cellular health and correlates with longevity and healthy weight. The more readily your cells burn fat, the better your metabolic resilience. Zone 2 training, adequate sleep, a clean diet, and sunlight support it; processed food, alcohol, and late heavy meals work against it.
Movement Economy
How many calories you burn when moving
WHAT IT MEASURES
Movement economy shows how many calories you burn while moving— the more economical, the fewer calories per unit of work.
WHY IT MATTERS
It cuts both ways: high economy benefits endurance performance but can make weight loss harder; lower economy favors weight loss but, in athletes, can signal overtraining. Endurance training and clean movement patterns improve economy; read it against your goal.
Aerobic Capacity & Longevity
VO2peak
Your maximum capacity to absorb and use oxygen
WHAT IT MEASURES
VO₂peak is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can absorb and use — the single best summary of cardiorespiratory fitness.
WHY IT MATTERS
It is among the strongest predictors of longevity and all-cause health.The fitter your oxygen system, the lower your risk of chronic disease.Regular cardio and interval training, sleep, and the right nutrition raise it; inactivity, cardiovascular or respiratory disease, smoking, and stress lower it.