Determining the time needed for workers to acclimatize to hypoxia

A high altitude respiration and SpO2 dataset for assessing the human response to hypoxia

This report presents the Harespod dataset, an open dataset for high altitude hypoxia research, which includes respiration and SpO2 data. The dataset was collected from 15 college students aged 23-31 in a hypobaric oxygen chamber, during simulated altitude changes and induced hypoxia. Real-time physiological data, such as oxygen saturation waveforms, oxygen saturation, respiratory waveforms, heart rate, and pulse rate, were obtained at 100 Hz. Approximately 12 hours of valid data were collected from all participants. Researchers can easily identify the altitude corresponding to physiological signals based on their inherent patterns. Time markers were also recorded during altitude changes to facilitate realistic annotation of physiological signals and analysis of time-difference-of-arrival between various physiological signals for the same altitude change event. In high altitude scenarios, this dataset can be used to enhance the detection of human hypoxia states, predict respiratory waveforms, and develop related hardware devices. It will serve as a valuable and standardized resource for researchers in the field of high altitude hypoxia research, enabling comprehensive analysis and comparison.

Universal Training Precautions: A Review of Evidence and Recommendations for Prevention of Exercise-Related Injury, Illness, and Death in Warfighters and Athletes

Facing pressure to train for victory, warfighters and athletes encounter numerous health risks that are directly related to their regular physical training. The concept of universal training precautions (UTPs) signifies universal processes designed to prevent unnecessary bodily harm, including injury, illness, and death, during physical training programs. Although no formal guidelines exist for collectively implementing a defined set of UTPs to address a broad scope of exercise-related health risks, recommendations and guidelines have been published relating to preventing sudden death during high school sports and collegiate conditioning sessions. A long list of critical topics must be considered as UTPs, including physical fitness factors, transition-period accommodation, hydration, environmental factors and acclimatization, appropriate recovery, use of medications and dietary supplements, and importantly, leadership. In this article, we outline in detail, with corresponding Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy ratings, what should be considered universal recommendations to minimize the risk of warfighters and athletes coming to harm when participating in group physical activities.

Acute physiological response to a normobaric hypoxic exposure: sex differences

Although preliminary studies suggested sex-related differences in physiological responses to altitude/hypoxia, controlled studies from standardised exposures to normobaric hypoxia are largely lacking. Hence, the goals of this study were to provide information on cardiorespiratory responses to a 7-h normobaric hypoxia exposure and to explore potential differences between men and women. In this crossover study, a total of 15 men and 14 women were subjected to a 7-h exposure in normoxia (FiO₂: 21%) and normobaric hypoxia (FiO₂: 15%). Values of peripheral oxygen saturation, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and respiratory gases were recorded every hour (8 time points), and oxygen saturation every 30 min (15 time points). Compared to normoxia, exposure to hypoxia significantly increased minute ventilation from baseline to hour 7 in males (+ 71%) and females (+ 40%), significantly greater in men (p < 0.05). A steeper decrease in peripheral oxygen saturation until 2.5 h in hypoxia was seen in females compared to males (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the ventilatory response to hypoxia was more pronounced in men compared to women. Moreover, during the first hours in hypoxia, peripheral oxygen saturation dropped more markedly in women than in men, likely due an initially lower and/or less efficient ventilatory response to moderate hypoxia. Those findings should be considered when performing interventions for therapy or prevention in normobaric hypoxia. Nevertheless, further large-scaled and well-controlled studies are needed.