Controlled oxygen reduction can boost brainpower without moving a muscle

Medical Xpress / University of Western Ontario / Psychophysiology ^ | Nov. 10, 2025 | Crystal Mackay / Denait Haile et al

[ConservativeMind]

It's well known that exercise is good for your brain. For years, scientists have shown even a single session of heart-pumping activity can sharpen executive function—the mental skills we use to plan, focus attention, remember instructions and juggle tasks.

But what happens when movement isn't an option?

Matthew Heath and his team set out to determine if they could elicit the same exercise-induced brain response in a way that doesn't require movement.

They studied a technique called intermittent hypoxia, a method that temporarily reduces the amount of oxygen a person breathes, then restores it to normal, repeating the cycle over a 60-minute session.

"It's like sending a person up to the top of Everest and back down again several times," said Heath. "And what we found is that just one bout of intermittent hypoxia led to a marked improvement in executive function."

The research team enrolled 24 healthy young adults in the study. Participants wore a facemask that lowered their oxygen intake to 11% for five minutes, roughly what you'd experience at high altitude, before returning it to the normal 21% found at sea level. Throughout the session, researchers monitored ventilatory and cardiac measures as well as brain blood flow.

Prior to and following the hypoxia intervals, participants completed an antisaccade task—a standardized test of executive function that requires individuals to look away from a visual stimulus, engaging focused attention and inhibitory control.

Unlike previous studies that measured cognitive changes after multiple sessions, this research showed one round of intermittent hypoxia was enough to produce a measurable brain boost.

The researchers believe the boost to executive function is tied to physiological changes triggered by the reduced oxygen. When oxygen levels drop, the body responds by increasing blood flow to the brain and enhancing its ability to extract oxygen more efficiently.

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TOPICS: Health/Medicine
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