Simulated altitude training for cardiovascular health in nonathletic, sedentary and clinical populations
Reference: Lizamore CA, Hamlin MJ. The Use of Simulated Altitude Techniques for Beneficial Cardiovascular Health Outcomes in Nonathletic, Sedentary, and Clinical Populations: A Literature Review.High Alt Med Biol. 2017;18(4):305-321.
Key Points
- Intermittent hypoxia (IH) improves cardiovascular-autonomic nervous system function and exercise tolerance
- Ways to achieve IH and still receive benefits include prolonged hypoxic exposure, intermittent hypoxic exposure, and intermittent hypoxic training
- IH is beneficial in both sedentary and clinical populations
Summary
Most literature on simulated altitude involves athletic and even elite/extreme populations. This paper looked at a more sedentary and even clinical population. From 26 studies they identified 3 methods of achieving intermittent hypoxia: Prolonged hypoxic exposure (PHE) such as living at altitude; Intermittent hypoxic exposure (IHE) or 5-10 minute intervals of hypoxic exposure; and Intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) or exercising in hypoxia. IHE and IHT are achievable using breath hold training. The authors found the following benefits:
IHE
- Reduced systemic stress
- Reduced blood pressure
- Improved heart rate variability
- Improved autonomic nervous system balance
- Greater exercise tolerance, longer time to exhaustion while exercising
IHT
- Increased aerobic capacity
- Increased fat burning
- Increased mitochondrial density
- Improved autonomic balance
Application
Oxygen Advantage based walking breath holds as part of the Breathexchange training program can be used to combine IHE and IHT. This is a light, well tolerated form of training that can be applied to sedentary, non-athletic and even clinical populations to improve cardiovascular and autonomic nervous system function and increase exercise capacity.