High Altitude
VO2 Max Training – Altitude Effect with ExtremeO2™
One of our Doctors asked: How does decreased O2 enhance the effect of high oxygen?
Hypoxic or high altitude training is a well established method. In simple terms – intermittent hypoxia triggers adaptive responses that cause the body to optimize oxygen delivery. There are several known, and probable reflex effects that occur to enable the body to operate in prolonged reduced oxygen environments:
- Pulmonary Adaptive – Open Lung passages
- Vascular Adaptive – Exercise vasodilatory reflexes
In simple terms – I think it:
- Dumps the spleen – increases circulating blood volume
- Opens the lungs – increase lung capacity
- Increases heart rate – more velocity & pulse pressure in lungs – greater turbulence
- Increases respiratory rate – Higher physical pressure in lungs
So these effects create a form of respiratory inertia. When combined with a rapid switch to rich oxygen – serve to deliver an even higher concentration of oxygen to tissues. This model is consistent with many observations.
Further Reading:
- Vascular adaptations to hypobaric hypoxic training in postmenopausal women
- Usefulness of combining intermittent hypoxia and physical exercise in the treatment of obesity
- Altered glucose metabolism and preserved energy charge and neuronal structures in the brain of mouse intermittently exposed to hypoxia
- Anaerobic contribution during maximal anaerobic running test: correlation with maximal accumulated oxygen deficit