Altitude Training | Hypoxic Training

Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2010 May-Jun;52(6):525-33.
Is hypoxia training good for muscles and exercise performance?

Vogt M, Hoppeler H.
Department of Anatomy, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. michael.vogt@ana.unibe.ch <michael.vogt@ana.unibe.ch>
Abstract

Altitude training has become very popular among athletes as a means to further increase exercise performance at sea level or to acclimatize to competition at altitude. Several approaches have evolved during the last few decades, with “live high-train low” and “live low-train high” being the most popular. This review focuses on functional, muscular, and practical aspects derived from extensive research on the “live low-train high” approach. According to this, subjects train in hypoxia but remain under normoxia for the rest of the time. It has been reasoned that exercising in hypoxia could increase the training stimulus. Hypoxia training studies published in the past have varied considerably in altitude (2300-5700 m) and training duration (10 days to 8 weeks) and the fitness of the subjects. The evidence from muscle structural, biochemical, and molecular findings point to a specific role of hypoxia in endurance training. However, based on the available performance capacity data such as maximal oxygen uptake (Vo(2)max) and (maximal) power output, hypoxia as a supplement to training is not consistently found to be advantageous for performance at sea level. Stronger evidence exists for benefits of hypoxic training on performance at altitude. “Live low-train high” may thus be considered when altitude acclimatization is not an option. In addition, the complex pattern of gene expression adaptations induced by supplemental training in hypoxia, but not normoxia, suggest that muscle tissue specifically responds to hypoxia. Whether and to what degree these gene expression changes translate into significant changes in protein concentrations that are ultimately responsible for observable structural or functional phenotypes remains open. It is conceivable that the global functional markers such as Vo(2)max and (maximal) power output are too coarse to detect more subtle changes that might still be functionally relevant, at least to high-level athletes.

Science Daily (May 5, 2010) — High altitude medicine is a “natural research laboratory” for the study of cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology. As such, it can shed light on conditions and diseases that mimic the low oxygen content of the atmosphere at the top of mountains. Yves Allemann, MD, FESC, Swiss Cardiovascular Center, University Hospital, Bern, and Urs Scherrer, MD, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, have assembled an international group of leading authorities to contribute to a special issue of Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases dedicated to high-altitude medicine and novel insights into disease mechanisms provided by high-altitude research.

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Hypoxic training on good old

European researchers recently said that older men with lower oxygen if breathing the air a short time can increase aerobic capacity, and motor function, regardless of whether they are suffering from heart disease.

In the Study, Austria Plains Brook University researchers put 16 Interests Sports Of Elderly Men were randomly divided into two groups to participate in hypoxic and normal oxygen levels of exercise training. 8 of them in at least 8 weeks before the study began had had a heart attack. In the three-week course of respiratory training, training five times a week. Each training, the subjects received hypoxic training exercise when the air inhaled is oxygen, the rest through the normal air mask. The control group throughout the training process is normal inhaled air. At the beginning of the end of three days of training before and after the training exercise function test subjects.

Found that hypoxia caused the subjects RBC And hemoglobin levels decreased significantly, while the role of both is to help the blood to carry more oxygen. And according to heart rate and blood pressure changes in subjects, hypoxia training can increase their aerobic capacity and exercise tolerance. The researchers also found that, regardless of whether men with previous heart disease, hypoxia training can produce the same effect.

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Summary: Recent research outlines the value of IHT as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of COPD patients, leading to more efficient ventilation. Additionally, IHT might represent an attractive method to complement the known beneficial effects of exercise training and to rebalance early autonomic dysfunction in COPD patients. Future research examining the potential risks and benefits of IHT could pave the way for the development of new therapeutic approaches for patients suffering from bronchial asthma and COPD.

ABSTRACT

Book Description:
In consolidation of the most updated experimental results and perspectives from diverse research fields on a main theme - Intermittent Hypoxia, this book encompasses the structural, physiological, pathophysiological, biochemical, genetic, metabolic, and therapeutic aspects of intermittent hypoxia and provides an open forum to promote the bench-to-bed translational implications of both adaptive (beneficial) and maladaptive (detrimental) responses to intermittent hypoxia in animals and humans. Authored by 74 leading scientists from 17 countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceana, the 30 chapters are grouped under 7 different sections covering the profound effects of intermittent hypoxia particularly on cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, and skeletal muscular systems. Special attentions are paid to the protective or injurious roles played by intermittent hypoxia and their underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms in several major human diseases such as acute myocardial infarction, stroke, sleep apnea, and Parkinson’s disease. Several chapters have also reviewed the use of intermittent hypoxia training for enhancing exercise performance in elite athletes. Overall, as endorsed by Professor John B. West (Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences of U.S.A.; Editor-in-Chief, High Altitude Medicine and Biology) through his Foreword for the book, this is the most comprehensive monograph to date on the topic of intermittent hypoxia, which can cause significant structural and functional impact on the systemic, organic, cellular and molecular processes of human physiology and pathophysiology. Hence, this book could serve as a thorough reference for research scientists, physicians, academic faculty, graduate and medical students, athletic coaches and trainers, who are interested in enhancing their knowledge about the past, present, and future of intermittent hypoxia research and its translational applications for prevention and treatment of major diseases and improving exercise performance.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Centinaio, A., Cominardi, M., Bergero, D., Rose, G. A., McLeod, G.
L.P. Veterinario FEI, Clinica Veterinaria della Brughiera, Via Monte Rosso 51, Cardano al Campo (VA), Italy.

Abstract:

The aim of this preliminary work was to evaluate the effects of a new machine (GO2Altitude) in horses with haemolytic parasite infections or anaemia compared to traditional drug therapy. The study was carried out on two groups of horses. Group I included 44 horses that were positive for haemolytic parasitoses, and was then subdivided into two subgroups depending on the therapy followed: Group I/A, 22 horses treated with a sterilizing therapy and traditional reconstituent therapy and Group I/B, 22 horses treated with a sterilizing therapy and afterwards with the GO2Altitude. Group II included horses that, although did not have important alterations in their blood parameters, had underlined a number of red blood cells near the lowest physiological limit (threshold for anaemia). Two subgroups were obtained following the treatment used: Group II/A, 10 horses treated with traditional reconstituent therapy and Group II/B, 10 horses treated with traditional reconstituent therapy (10 days treatment) and afterwards with GO2Altitude. A first blood sample was taken before any kind of treatment; a second sample was taken after 20 days and a third at 50 days from the first blood sample. Erythrocytes, haemoglobin, haematocrit, MCH, MCHC and MCV were evaluated in each sample. For the horse near the threshold for anaemia, the innovative treatment proposed improved these parameters. The results obtained confirm the initial hypothesis of the efficiency of GO2Altitude to help recover those subjects with haemoparasitic pathologies and with anaemia, and therefore places interesting perspectives to a wide range of use of this instrument for the sport horse.

To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and team study the world’s “Blue Zones,” communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. Common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100.

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About 30 years ago, a neurodevelopmental model of mental disorders was proposed. It has now been widely accepted and developed. This model suggests that abnormalities in brain development during pre- and perinatal life lead to psychotic manifestation in adolescence or young adulthood. Evidence points to the negative role of hypoxia in early life, but the role of hypoxia in some risk factors is not clear. The use of hypoxia for the treatment and prevention is also still poorly covered in the literature. The aim of this review is to integrate current knowledge about the role of hypoxia in the mental disorders neurodevelopment, in their treatment and prevention, and in increasing mental capacity. Data are cited about the important role of hypoxia in almost any risk factor: pre-eclampsia, infection/inflammation, hypoxia/ischemia, preterm birth, asphyxia at birth, and in stimulation of neurogenesis. The changes in the brain stimulated by excessive, pathologic neurogenesis may lead to abnormal communications in the neural network, causing abnormal associations, ideas, and acts, i.e. mental disorder. Data are provided about the use of hypoxic hypoxia for mental disorder therapy: high mountains, hypobaric chamber, and normobaric Interrupted Hypoxic Training. Using hypoxia showed positive results both in animal experiments and in the clinic. The surprising coincidence of the effects of some psychotropic medications and hypoxia suggests that the active principle of psychotropic medications may be hypoxia. Data are cited that corroborate the possible connection between genius and mental malfunctions. Animal model data show that the influence of a moderate, but not excessive, hypoxia results in a moderate increase in neurogenesis, leading to increased mental capacity.

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Despite the great progress of psychiatry, many of its fundamental problems remain unresolved. Obviously, new ideas that expand the present understanding of such problems are useful. In this paper, the following hypothesis is proposed: mental disorders are caused by hypoxic phenomena, stimulating hypertrophied growth of a neural network; treatment should be directed towards the damaging of abnormal elements of this network; successful treatment is inevitably accompanied by moderate retrograde amnesia. Based on this hypothesis, the connection between etiology, pathogenesis, and therapy of mental disorders is described, the role of retrograde amnesia is shown, and potential new methods of treatment (shaking, vibration, and ultrasound) are predicted. To test the hypothesis, some means are discussed. The first means is based on the analysis of the reasons of unsuccessful clinical trials of the method of mental disorders treatment by acute hypoxic hypoxia (USA, 1938 - 1940). Such a method, according to the hypothesis, should damage the abnormal elements of a neural network as a result of acute hypoxia. Analysis of the equipment and procedure shows that the trials were unsuccessful as a result of insufficiently powerful hypoxic influence. Improvements to this method are proposed. When using this method, it is advisable to measure the cerebral blood oxygenation index and reduce it by regulating the oxygen concentration in the hypoxic gas mixture given to the patient. This reduction should continue until the patient reaches a state of moderate retrograde amnesia. It is also advisable to note the blood oxygenation index value at the moment when the patient lapses into unconsciousness, and then, on the basis of this value, estimate a necessary power (i.e., acuteness and duration) of hypoxic hypoxia. Other means for testing the hypothesis are also discussed: retrospective analysis of the results of electroconvulsive therapy, and testing the predicted methods of treatment.

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Looking for a new weight loss plan? Try living on top of a mountain. Twenty obese men spent a week near the top of Germany’s highest peak and saw their metabolism speed up, their appetite diminish, and more pounds melt off than they likely would have had they stayed at home, a new study reports. However, the study lacked a control group, so firm conclusions are tough to draw, other researchers say.

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