Breathing involves the exchange of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2). When you inhale you get oxygen, and when you exhale you blow off excess carbon dioxide. Inhalation is triggered by rising levels of CO2. Therefore, if you are overly sensitive to CO2 you will breathe harder and faster than someone who is not.
By reducing
your sensitivity to CO2, you can increase tissue oxygenation, breathing
efficiency and athletic performance. One of the best ways to do this is by
practicing controlled breath holding and nose breathing.
Done
properly these exercise change levels of O2 and CO2 in the blood which creates
hypoxia and hypercapnia.
What is
Hypoxia?
Hypoxia refers
to lower oxygen levels in the tissues of the body. Severe and/or prolonged hypoxia is obviously
dangerous. However controlled levels
of hypoxia actually drive improved tissue oxygenation in an adaptive response
to this challenge!
What is Hypercapnia?
Hypercapnia refers
to excess carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood. This can happen for several
reasons, including:
Breathing
disorders such as sleep apnea
Severe
asthma attacks
Heart
problems causing reduced blood flow to the lungs
Poor liver
function
Kidney
failure
When
hypercapnia occurs, the body compensates by increasing heart rate and breathing
rate. If hypercapnia is severe and prolonged it can lead to serious issues
including coma and death. However
controlled and short-term levels of hypercapnia can actual drive improved
tissue oxygenation along with Hypoxia.
Benefits of controlled and short-term Hypoxia and Hypercapnia
Both hypoxia
and hypercapnia training can improve endurance, increase the amount of oxygen
your body can use, and help protect muscles from damage. In addition,
hypercapnia training can improve your strength, power, and sprint performance.
Both forms
of training have been shown to be safe and effective in several sports when
done properly.
How does
this work?
All physical
training produces a physiological challenge which drives an adaptive response
during recovery from the training challenge, and this definitely includes Hypoxic
and Hypercapnia Training!
Mechanism
of Action
Oxygen is
primarily carried by hemoglobin in red blood cells which transports it to the
tissues of the body, and transports CO2 to the lungs to be exhaled. The affinity of hemoglobin for 02 changes
based on pH (acidity), temperature, and CO2 levels and is described as the
Oxy-Hemoglobin Disassociation Curve as pictured below.
During ANY Type of exercise, the muscle get more acidic, temperature increases and there is increased CO2 production - which means that higher levels of 02 are automatically off-loaded to those tissues!
Because athletes and regular exercises go through this process over and over again they have a much greater tolerance for CO2 levels. In fact, a study found that athletes have significantly higher tolerance for CO2 levels and for any given amount of exercise athletes experienced 50 – 60% less breathlessness than untrained people did!
In addition,
increasing levels of CO2 in the body (including the brain) cause increased
production of Nitric Oxide (NO) which opens blood vessels to allow higher
circulation.
How to
Incorporate Breath Training into your Workouts
The easiest
way to start this process is by deliberately making an effort to breath through
the nose – starting at rest and then during exercise. By breathing through the nose you will train
your breathing muscles to become stronger.
In addition your nose helps filter impurities out of the air so they do
not reach the lungs – including viruses!
Nasal breathing also reduces incoming O2 levels and results in higher
levels of CO2. This provides a very
real conditioning effect and over time you will become more and more accustomed
to higher levels of CO2 which can actually boost O2 levels in the tissues.
CAUTION: use common sense – start slow and low with nasal
breathing and if you have a nasal obstruction do NOT use nasal breathing.
The other
exercise is controlled breath holding exercise. Start at rest and note how many seconds you
can go until you experience a strong urge to breath – then BREATH! Over time gradually increase your time as
you notice you can do so without experiencing a strong urge to breath.
Once you get
comfortable and experienced you can graduate to doing the same type of breathing exercise
during light exercise.
CAUTION: Anyone with any breathing issues including
but not limited to Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, high blood
pressure, heart disease or other disease process should NOT perform these
exercises! We also always recommend you
speak to your physician before starting this or any other new exercise program.
For a
complete guide to incorporating Hypoxic and Hypercapnic Training into your
program go to www.oxygenadvantage.com
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