Acclimitization: Would 20 min at an "oxygen bar" deliver more than an ephermal boost to a healthy person?
My last trip was just a hiking trip, so I stayed at a hotel. For $35, the hotel offered 20 min at their "oxygen bar". I was tempted, but did not succumb. I didn't have a headache, or feel nauseated, just low in energy. Thus I don't know exactly what was on offer -- I am guessing it was a mixture with the partial pressure of oxygen similar to that at sea level.
Question: For a healthy person, roughly how long a benefit would a 20 minute "return to sea level" confer?
(i.e., minutes, hours, a day, a speedup to acclimatization?) The hotel also had ($19) what looked like 1 or 1.5 liter can of pressurized O2. (portable, essentially weightless.) The can said it delivered "up to 150" squirts or hits or inhalations -- I don't remember the word -- of pure O2 . Would this do anything more for a healthy person than a fleeting boost?
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2 answers
Save your money.
Although oxygen can be used to provide temporary relief from the symptoms of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), it will not affect the process of acclimatization.
As you body adapts to the higher elevation gradual changes in your respiratory and cardiovascular systems, as well as you blood chemistry, occur. These can not be sped up.
Hypoxia (the lack of oxygen available to your body tissue) stimulates the following (and more):
- the release of erythropoietin -- a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production. Although this hormone is released within hours, it can take several days for the new red blood cells to appear in your body
- an increase in mitochondria, which are what facilitate the oxygen-fueled reactions in your cells
- increase in myoglobin which which is the oxygen-binding equivalent of hemoglobin, but is found in your muscle tissue
All of these take time. And while sipping on O2 for a 20 minutes at your resort hotel may make you feel better, the effect is only temporary.
(And it seems some argument could be made that by super-oxygenating your body, you temporary remove the hypoxic stimulation that causes those changes... But I have no proof of that.)
The age old (and correct) advice is to "climb high, sleep low" which allows your body to gradually adjust as you ascend up a mountain. If you are on a weekend vacation to a ski hill, choose a condo down at the base, or in town, rather than slope-side.
In addition, avoiding excess alcohol, and getting plenty of rest are the best ways to smooth your acclimatization.
And, while the science behind the effects of excessive hydration on AMS risk is still inconclusive[3], the typically dryer climate of higher elevations, and the importance of proper hydration to preventing AMS-like symptoms (headache) warrants maintaining healthy intake.
Sources:
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2923424/
- https://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0073185
- Many years as a mountain guide, EMT, and Professional Ski Patroller
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Oxygen bars aid in recovery, they don't speed up acclimatization, but they do help you recover after a long day of exercise at high elevation and give you more energy. Just as a fire can’t burn without oxygen our cells can’t produce heat and energy without oxygen.
When acclimatizing, climbers spend the day climbing high, but then sleep at lower elevations to regain their strength.
On Everest for example, this is a typical schedule for acclimatizing:
Trek to Base Camp (BC) from Katmandu - 10 days
Arrival BC April 1
Climbing Camp 1 (C1) April 7
Back to BC April 8
Climbing C2 April 11
Back to BC April 13
Climbing C2 April 17
Climbing C3 April 19
Back to BC April 20
Trekking down to Katmandu April 21
Back to BC April 26
1st summit attempt May 1-7
Trekking down May 7-12
Back in BC May 13
Last summit attempts May 16-30
You'll notice that they don't just progress slowly from camp to camp up to the top, and they don't spend a lot of time up high, they take their time over a period of almost 2 months climbing higher and higher, but always retreating to lower elevations to recover. Before they make their summit attempt they actually leave the mountain and spend about a week at really low elevation regaining strength.
Your level of health does not decrease your body's dependancy on oxygen, oxygen always has something to offer your body, it's necessary for every body function and is literally the most important substance your body consumes. If you think hydration is important, Oxygen is infinitely more valuable, just as your body will operate better while super hydrated, you'll perform infinitely better if your cells have more oxygen.
The bottles will benefit an healthy person just as much as they will an unhealthy person, they give you more energy. Call it a fleeting boost if you will, but it's better than any boost energy drinks or electrolyte gels can offer. All the snacks and drinks you bring for energy on a hike aren't any good for you anyways unless you have a healthy amount of oxygen in your blood to extract the energy from them, this is exactly why people at high elevation experience a lack of appetite. More Oxygen = Better, always.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/9648. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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