The Oxygen Advantage Notes – Fitness Scholar

Researchers investigating reduced breathing found that running economy could be improved by a remarkable 6 percent following a brief course of breath-hold training
Breath-hold measurements have also been used to study the onset and endurance of breathlessness (dyspnea) and asthma symptoms. The result that comes up again and again is that the lower the breath-hold time, the greater the likelihood of breathlessness, coughing, and wheezing during both rest and exercise
Nasal breathing during physical exercise allows for a work intensity great enough to produce an aerobic training effect as based on heart rate and percentage of VO2 max.
Mouth-breathing children are at greater risk of developing forward head posture, and reduced respiratory strength.
The results were an amazing 70 percent reduction of symptoms such as nasal stuffiness, poor sense of smell, snoring, trouble breathing through the nose, trouble sleeping, and having to breathe through the mouth
Results for the second group, “live high and train low,” showed a 9 percent improvement in red blood cell volume and a 5 percent improvement in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max). The improvement in maximal oxygen uptake was in direct proportion to increased red cell mass volume. This translated to an impressive performance improvement of 13.4 seconds in a 5,000-meter run.
After a series of short breath-holding exercises, those with spleens intact showed an increase in hematocrit and hemoglobin concentration of 6.4 percent and 3.3 percent respectively, while those without spleens showed no alterations in blood composition at all. This means that after as few as 5 breath holds, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood can be significantly improved with the help of the spleen.
In a 2002 study of Boston Marathon runners, 13 percent of the runners sampled showed low sodium levels, putting them at risk of serious or even fatal illness
After breath-hold training: French researcher Lemaître found that breath holds could also improve swimming coordination. After breath-hold training, swimmers showed increases in VO 2 peak as well as an increase in the distance traveled with each swimming stroke
Researchers investigating the effects of short repeated breath holds on underwater hockey players found that these exercises reduced breathlessness and produced a higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood. In addition, lactate values were found to be lower in underwater hockey players compared to untrained individuals, meaning that the pain from lactic acid buildup was reduced. These athletes clearly have a high tolerance for carbon dioxide, most likely explained by their experience with prolonged breath holding for their sport
Breath-hold divers have been found to show a 5 percent higher resting hemoglobin mass than untrained divers, suggesting that long-term breath holding has a tangible effect on performance. In addition, experienced breath-hold divers demonstrate a stronger spleen contraction in response to breath-hold exercises, leading to a greater release of red blood cells into the blood supply, improving their oxygen delivery.
Splenic size was measured before and after repetitive breath-hold dives to approximately 6 meters in ten Korean ama (diving women) and in three Japanese males who were not experienced in breath holding. Following the breath holds, splenic size and hematocrit were unchanged in the Japanese male divers. In the ama, splenic volume decreased 19.5 percent, hemoglobin increased by 9.5 percent, and hematocrit increased 9.5 percent. The study showed that long-term repeated apneas induce a stronger spleen contraction and resultant hematological respons
performed a series of 5 maximal duration breath holds while their faces were immersed in water. The authors observed that breath-hold time increased by 43 percent across the series of breath holds
Six healthy male individuals were tested on a U.S. Air Force coordination apparatus before, during, and after hyperventilation of 30 minutes duration. Lung carbon dioxide decreased to 12–15 mmHg during, hyperventilation (normal PaCO 2 is 40 mmHg). The researchers found that mental performance deteriorated by 15 percent when the concentration of arterial carbon dioxide reduced to 20 to 25 mmHg, and by 30 percent when carbon dioxide concentration in arterial blood lowered to 14 mmHg
students with high anxiety had lower levels of end-tidal carbon dioxide and faster respiration frequency than low-anxiety students. The study found that the “high- test-anxiety group reported a greater frequency of symptoms of hyperventilation and a larger drop in level of end-tidal CO 2 during testing than low-test-anxiety group.
Based on this observation, there have been many studies that point to the benefits of living at high altitude as a way to reduce obesity. The reason for this sustained weight loss seems to coincide with the lack of appetite experienced at high altitude due to a reduced saturation of oxygen in the blood
In tests with mice it was found that moderate exposure to lower oxygen saturation can reduce body weight and, just as important, the levels of blood sugar and blood cholesterol. Researchers concluded that this was due to increased synthesis of EPO by the kidneys.
Both groups performed a breath hold during rest, followed by 2 minutes of forearm exercises during which the diver group performed a breath hold and the second group breathed as normal. Interestingly, the group who breathed as normal showed an increase in blood lactic acid concentration and oxidative stress. In the diver group, the changes in both lactic acid and oxidative stress were markedly reduced after both breath holds and exercise. The paper concluded that humans who are involved in a long-term training program of breath-hold diving have reduced blood acidosis and oxidative stress following breath holds and exercise
investigated the effects of breath holding on oxidative stress using two groups of people: a group of trained divers and a group of people with no diving experience at all. Results showed significant improvements in antioxidant activity across both groups, with little difference between the divers and non-diver
researchers tested the hypothesis that excessive ventilation rates during the performance of CPR by overzealous but well-trained rescue personnel increases the likelihood of death. The paper investigated thirteen adult deaths where manual CPR with an average of 30 breaths per minute was administered to patients. The paper also documented a study investigating ventilation per minute and survival rate during cardiac arrest in pigs. Three groups of seven pigs were treated with 12 breaths, 30 breaths, or 30 breaths plus carbon dioxide per minute. Survival rates in the groups were as follows: six out of seven pigs treated with 12 breaths per minute, one out of seven pigs treated with 30 breaths per minute, and one out of seven pigs treated with 30 breaths per minute plus carbon dioxide. The authors commented that “despite seemingly adequate training, professional rescuers consistently hyperventilated patients during out-of-hospital CPR,” and that “additional education of CPR providers is urgently needed to reduce these newly identified and deadly consequences of hyperventilation during CPR.”
researchers studied data from twelve patients who had received manual ventilation by a self-inflating bag in the emergency department of a UK hospital. Results showed that the number of manual breaths administered to the patients varied from 9 to 41 per minute, with an average of 26. The corresponding median volume of air per minute was 13 liters. The researchers noted that while guidelines on the number of breaths to administer during CPR are well known, “it would appear that in practice they are not being observed.”
Interestingly, one study showed that while 55 percent of football athletes and 50 percent of basketball players displayed airway narrowing conducive to asthma, athletes from the sport of water polo showed significantly fewer asthma symptoms
A study at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane found that when the breathing volume of adults with asthma decreased from 14 liters to 9.6 liters per minute, their symptoms reduced by 70 percent, the need for rescue medication decreased by 90 percent, and the need for preventer steroid medication decreased by 50 percent. The study found a direct relationship between the reduction of breathing volume and improvement to asthma. The closer breathing volume reduced toward normal, the greater was the reduction of asthma symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and breathlessness. Furthermore, the trial’s control group—who were taught the hospital’s in-house asthma management program—made zero progress. The reason for this was solely due to the fact that there was no change to their breathing volume. Further studies reinforced these findings by showing that people with asthma who practiced reducing their breathing volume had far better asthma control with a significantly reduced need for preventive steroid and rescue medication within 3 to 6 months
Researchers studied the effects of nasal breathing and oral breathing on exercise-induced asthma. Fifteen people were recruited for the study and asked to breathe only through their nose. The study found that “the post- exercise bronchoconstrictive response was markedly reduced as compared with the response obtained by oral (mouth) breathing during exercise, indicating a beneficial effect of nasal breathing.
traced the lineage of nearly one million horses from the past two centuries and determined that 30 percent of variation in performance in thoroughbreds is due to genetics alone. In the nature versus nurture debate, these results suggest that nature plays a significant part in our athletic abilities
It has been well documented that mouth-breathing children grow longer faces.
men with wider faces were found to be stronger negotiators, commanding a signing bonus of nearly $2,200 more than their narrow-faced counterparts. In a separate study by the same authors it was found that companies led by men with wider faces also achieved superior financial performance
Chronic, habitual mouth breathing is also associated with postural changes that result in decreased muscle strength, reduced chest expansion, and impaired breathing
These children do not sleep well at night due to obstructed airways; this lack of sleep can adversely affect their growth and academic performance. Many of these children are misdiagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and hyperactivity.”
Egil Peter Harvold, an expert in orthodontics and craniofacial anomalies, carried out extensive research into the development of the facial structure of monkeys in the 1970s, discovering that the restriction of nasal breathing over several years led to a lowering of the jaws, crooked teeth, and other facial deformities. While today we would consider it dreadful to experiment on innocent animals in this way, hundreds of thousands of children take part in a similar experiment and experience the same craniofacial anomalies due to the effects of mouth breathing
Infants and children who breathe through their mouths due to nasal obstruction are likely to develop crooked teeth and a longer, narrower face, permanently affecting their appearance. Mouth breathing also has a significant impact on the health of the child, including restriction of the lower airways, poor quality of sleep, high stress levels, and a lower quality of life. Research has suggested that habitual mouth breathing may even be connected to sudden infant death syndrome.
According to American research, 95 percent of head circumference growth for the average North American white child takes place by the age of nine. Development of the lower jaw, however, continues until approximately the age of eighteen.
studied the incidence of heart attacks in 31,000 transport workers. Morris found that bus conductors, who spent most of their day climbing up and down the stairs of double-decker buses, averaging between 500 and 700 steps per day, had reduced incidences of heart disease than their bus-driving counterparts, who spent 90 percent of their day sitting down.

References

Controlled-frequency breath swimming improves swimming performance and running economy
Relationship between breath-hold time and physical performance in patients with cystic fibrosis, Rating of breathlessness at rest during acute asthma: Correlation with spirometry and usefulness of breath-holding tim
Comparison of maximal oxygen consumption with oral and nasal breathing.
Mouth breathing and forward head posture: Effects on respiratory biomechanics and exercise capacity in children, Assessment of the body posture of mouth-breathing children and adolescent
Role of Buteyko breathing technique in asthmatics with nasal symptoms
Intermittent hypoxic training: Fact and fancy, Should “artificial” high altitude environments be considered doping?, Living high-training low”: Effect of moderate-altitude acclimatization with low-altitude training on performance, Living high–training low” altitude training improves sea level performance in male and female elite runner
Selected contribution: Role of spleen emptying in prolonging apneas in humans, Hematological response and diving response during apnea and apnea with face immersion, Spleen volume and blood flow response to repeated breath-hold apnea, The human spleen as an erythrocyte reservoir in diving-related interventions
Hyponatremia among runners in the Boston Marathon
Apnea training effects on swimming coordination
Physiological responses to repeated apneas in underwater hockey players and controls
Apnea: a new training method in sport?, Increase of hemoglobin concentration after maximal apneas in divers, skiers, and untrained humans
Splenic contraction during breath-hold diving in the Korean ama
Repeated apneas do not affect the hypercapnic ventilatory response in the short term
Effect of hyperventilation on performance
Hyperventilation and attention: Effects of hypocapnia on performance in a stroop task
Influence of rest and exercise at a simulated altitude of 4,000 m on appetite, energy intake, and plasma concentrations of acylated ghrelin and peptide, Hypoxia, energy balance and obesity: From pathophysiological mechanisms to new treatment strategies., . Hypobaric hypoxia causes body weight reduction in obese subjects., Appetite at “high altitude” [Operation Everest III (Comex-’97)]: A simulated ascent of Mount Everest, Physiological and medical aspects of the Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition, Operation Everest II: Nutrition and body composition.,
The effect of intermittent hypoxia on bodyweight, serum glucose and cholesterol in obesity mice, Erythropoietin as a possible mechanism for the effects of intermittent hypoxia on bodyweight, serum glucose and leptin in mice
Reduced oxidative stress and blood lactic acidosis in trained breath-hold human divers
Effects of maximal static apnea on antioxidant defenses in trained free divers
“Death by Hyperventilation: A Common and Life-Threatening Problem During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation,
Do we hyperventilate cardiac arrest patients?
Incidence of exercise-induced asthma in adolescent athletes under different training and environmental conditions
Buteyko breathing techniques in asthma: a blinded randomised controlled trial, Buteyko Breathing Technique for asthma: An effective intervention, A randomised controlled trial of the Buteyko technique as an adjunct to conventional management of asthma
Enforced mouth breathing decreases lung function in mild asthmatic, The beneficial effect of nasal breathing on exercise-induced bronchoconstriction., Effect of nasal and oral breathing on exercise-induced asthma
Microsatellite diversity, pedigree relatedness and the contributions of founder lineages to thoroughbred horse
The long face syndrome and impairment of the nasopharyngeal airway, Care of nasal airway to prevent orthodontic problems in children, The effect of mouth breathing versus nasal breathing on dentofacial and craniofacial development in orthodontic patients
A face only an investor could love: CEOs’ facial structure predicts their firms’ financial performance
Exercise capacity, respiratory mechanics and posture in mouth breathers, Mouth breathing and forward head posture: Effects on respiratory biomechanics and exercise capacity in children,
Mouth breathing: Adverse effects on facial growth, health, academics and behavior
Primate experiments on oral respiration., Sequential neuromuscular changes in rhesus monkeys during the initial adaptation to oral respiration, Airways and appliances
It takes a mouth to eat and a nose to breathe: Abnormal oral respiration affects neonates’ oral competence and systemic adaptation
Growth in head width during the first twelve years of life
Coronary heart-disease and physical activity of work