Posted on 12/10/2023 6:42:12 PM PST by ConservativeMind
A randomized trial of eight volunteers spent a week exposed to reduced oxygen levels that simulated high altitude in a residential hypoxia facility, to see if breathing less oxygen could benefit their physical health.
Many patients waiting to have major surgery have low levels of fitness, high BMI, sedentary lifestyles or anemia, which are associated with higher rates of complications and deaths after surgery.
Altitude training is known to improve fitness and lead to higher blood levels (hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in the body) in athletes through exposure to reduced oxygen levels (hypoxia), which are similar to the conditions passengers experience during an airline flight. In athletes, a low-oxygen environment stimulates an increase in hemoglobin to carry more oxygen throughout the body, enabling them to perform better in low-altitude environments.
Researchers questioned whether exposure to simulated high altitude could benefit older people who face a risk of complications ahead of surgery, introducing the concept of "altitude prehabilitation." To test this, they recruited eight sedentary volunteers with an average age of 64 to spend two weeks living in the National Altitude Training Center in Ireland, a "hypoxic house" in which oxygen levels in the air are tightly controlled.
During one week, the house contained normal air, while during the other week the oxygen levels were mildly reduced (similar to conditions during an airline flight, equivalent to approximately 2,438 m or 8,000 ft). Volunteers underwent cardiopulmonary exercise tests before and after each week-long exposure.
The researchers found that simulated high altitude stimulated a large increase in hemoglobin in participants but led to no major changes in their aerobic fitness. This increase in hemoglobin could be clinically beneficial ahead of surgery.
The use of hypoxic technology is also already widespread, as hypoxic rooms or tents are available at high-end gyms.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Or, they could just do the surgery in a hyperbaric chamber. That would get enough oxygen in the blood during the procedure.
No, the goal is to have more red blood cells made, as well.
I didn’t know high-end gyms have hypoxic rooms.
It’s been known that divers/snorkelers who conserve Oxygen can relax afterward and everything seems to work better as far as respiration/heart rate....Never felt so well and relaxed as after a few hours of snorkeling with long (for me - 1-1/2 - 2 minutes) dives.
If you drink all the time, then you won’t get drunk as easily! Cheers!
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