Simulated Altitude in Nonathletic Sedentary Populations

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

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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.

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