A ventilation device comprising: a mechanical ventilator; respiratory sensors (30, 32) configured to acquire measurements of respiratory variables including at least measurements of airway pressure and airway flow; an electronic processor; and a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions readable and executable by the electronic processor to perform a ventilation method including: operating the mechanical ventilator to provide mechanical ventilation controlled using measurements acquired by the respiratory sensors, performing a pause maneuver comprising closing at least one of an inhalation valve and an exhalation valve for a pause interval, estimating a respiratory mechanics index from one or more respiratory system parameters estimated from measurements acquired by the respiratory sensors during or after the pause interval, including estimating the respiratory mechanics index by computing a time constant (τ) of a decay of airway flow measured by the respiratory sensors (30, 32) during an exhalation phase of a breath, detecting the change in the estimated respiratory mechanics index as a detected change in the time constant computed over successive breaths, and triggering a second pause maneuver in response to the detected change in the time constant over successive breaths. a mechanical ventilator; respiratory sensors (30, 32) configured to acquire measurements of respiratory variables including at least measurements of airway pressure and airway flow; an electronic processor; and a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions readable and executable by the electronic processor to perform a ventilation method including: operating the mechanical ventilator to provide mechanical ventilation controlled using measurements acquired by the respiratory sensors, performing a pause maneuver comprising closing at least one of an inhalation valve and an exhalation valve for a pause interval, estimating a respiratory mechanics index from one or more respiratory system parameters estimated from measurements acquired by the respiratory sensors during or after the pause interval, including estimating the respiratory mechanics index by computing a time constant (τ) of a decay of airway flow measured by the respiratory sensors (30, 32) during an exhalation phase of a breath, detecting the change in the estimated respiratory mechanics index as a detected change in the time constant computed over successive breaths, and triggering a second pause maneuver in response to the detected change in the time constant over successive breaths. operating the mechanical ventilator to provide mechanical ventilation controlled using measurements acquired by the respiratory sensors, performing a pause maneuver comprising closing at least one of an inhalation valve and an exhalation valve for a pause interval, estimating a respiratory mechanics index from one or more respiratory system parameters estimated from measurements acquired by the respiratory sensors during or after the pause interval, including estimating the respiratory mechanics index by computing a time constant (τ) of a decay of airway flow measured by the respiratory sensors (30, 32) during an exhalation phase of a breath, detecting the change in the estimated respiratory mechanics index as a detected change in the time constant computed over successive breaths, and triggering a second pause maneuver in response to the detected change in the time constant over successive breaths.