Response of subjects trained to hold their breath to intermittent normobaric hypoxia

The change in the external respiration parameters was studied in individuals engaging in sports (swimming) combined with training in voluntary cyclic breath holding during a session of intermittent normobaric hypoxia (three cycles of 5 min breathing a gas mixture containing 10.7% O₂ alternating with 5 min breathing ordinary air). It was shown that they differed from the control group in sharp variations in the oxygen consumption rate, which were accompanied by equally marked changes in the effectiveness of oxygen binding in the lungs with a slightly increased stable level of pulmonary ventilation and a bradypneic type of breathing. An increase in the alveolar concentration of carbonic acid and a dramatic increase in the effectiveness of its elimination are significant features of the adaptive process in the mechanism of regulation of external respiration in this training.