#121
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#122

Thanks. In summary, more UV ages the face (and anywhere else skin was exp) while less oxygen (partial pressure) reduces oxidative stress in the body. At higher altitudes, you age more slowly but look like you age more quickly.

I lived in Colorado for 25 years. The people who lived their entire lives at higher altitude (mile high city) looked eaten up with sun damage. If they had been more careful with hats and sunscreen perhaps they would have avoided looking older than their biological age. On the other hand, these Colorado “natives” I encountered tended to be vigorous and healthy outdoor athletes (frequently hiking, biking, skiing, etc)
with a probable lower biological age.

The question that I have is how much of an impact does that “premature” aged skin have on overall health? I believe it is true that skin health is a reflection of overall health, in general (poor health will lead to unhealthy skin). But does it go both ways? Does extra UV damage reduce overall health (probably to some extent) or just look like poor health (fingers crossed)?

My conclusions are:

(1) wear a hat and sunscreen (but outdoor physical activity is healthful so don’t avoid it).

(2) lower oxidative stress, without moving to high altitude, by getting plenty of cardiovascular exercise to increase the body’s ability to deal with oxidative stress.

What did I miss?

#123

@John_Hemming you posted it a few weeks ago here :wink: Oxygen, hypoxia and hyperoxia - #73 by John_Hemming

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#124

Agree, I’m trying to make fishing hats and bucket hats popular. I’ve always worn farmer hats, which are free but don’t cover ears or back of the neck. If you’re out all day in the summer sun, should cover that. Trying to get the dosage right.

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#125

Yea, I live here now and sunscreen and hats are often missed as I never burn. Face is definitely showing signs of too much sun though.
OTOH I am super fit :slight_smile:

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#126

Now, scientists at Gladstone Institutes have developed a drug that mimics the effects of breathing low oxygen. In mice with Leigh Syndrome—the most common childhood mitochondrial disease—the HypoxyStat drug extended lifespan by more than 3-fold and reversed brain damage and muscle weakness, even when given during late stages of disease.

“It’s not practical for every patient with this disease to move to the mountains,” says Gladstone Investigator Isha Jain, PhD, senior author of the new study, published in Cell. “But this drug could be a controlled and safe way to apply the same benefits to patients.”

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#127

Short bouts of hypoxia improve insulin sensitivity in adults with type 2 diabetes 2025

Hypoxia stimulates glucose uptake independently from the action of insulin. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of intermittent hypoxia, consisting of alternating short bouts of breathing hypoxic and room air, on glucose concentration, insulin concentration, and insulin sensitivity during an oral glucose tolerance test in adults with type 2 diabetes and adults with normal glycemic control. Nine adults with type 2 diabetes (two women, HbA1c: 7.3±1.5%, age: 52±13 years) and nine adults with normal glycemic control (four women, HbA1c: 5.4±0.1%, age: 24±4 years) performed a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test on two separate visits to the laboratory. Following ingestion of the glucose drink, participants were exposed to either an intermittent hypoxia protocol, consisting of eight 4-min hypoxic cycles at a targeted oxygen saturation of 80% interspersed with breathing room air to resaturation, or a sham protocol consisting of eight 4-min normoxic cycles interspersed with breathing room air. Intermittent hypoxia did not attenuate the increase in glucose concentration but attenuated the increase in insulin concentration in response to an oral glucose tolerance test in comparison with the sham protocol in adults with type 2 diabetes. Insulin sensitivity was greater during intermittent hypoxia in comparison with the sham protocol in adults with type 2 diabetes (0.043±0.036 vs. 0.032±0.046 Όmol/kg/min/pmol, p=0.01), but did not change in the control group (0.122±0.015 vs. 0.128±0.008 Όmol/kg/min/pmol, p=0.12). In conclusion, intermittent hypoxia improved insulin sensitivity in adults with type 2 diabetes.

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#128

This would be hard to do just by shallow breathing. I can just stay under 90%
although I could hold it there for a long time if I wasn’t so bored. I currently hold it for 3 minutes following 5x 30 second exhale breath holds with 10 seconds recovery between.

I like this study. I think I’ll extend my shallow breathing a bit. Thanks

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#129

Individualized Algorithm-Based Intermittent Hypoxia Improves Quality of Life in Patients Suffering from Long-Term Sequelae After COVID-19 Infection 2025

Background/Objectives: Post-COVID-19 condition (PCC), also known as long COVID, has emerged as a recognized syndrome affecting millions of people worldwide, significantly impairing their quality of life. Currently, no effective therapeutic options are available to manage this condition. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the long-term effects of personalized, algorithm-based intermittent hypoxia–hyperoxia conditioning (IHHC) on quality of life and pain in patients with PCC.
Methods: This open-label cohort study included 199 PCC patients, aged 11–87 years (female-to-male ratio: 67:33) and experiencing moderate-to-severe fatigue, between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023. Each patient received an algorithm-based treatment plan tailored to their demographics, symptom duration, and baseline pain (NRS) and quality of life (SF-36) scores. Patients received an average of six treatment sessions (range: 2–21), each consisting of intermittent hypoxic–hyperoxic cycles, with hypoxia (9–13% O2) lasting 3–8 min and hyperoxia (34–36% O2) lasting 1–3 min. The primary outcomes were changes in the NRS and SF-36 scores at the 6-week and 6-month follow-ups.
Results: At the 6-week follow-up after treatment initiation, the SF-36 scores increased by 102 points (p < 0.001, 95% CI: 78.4–127), and this improvement persisted at the 6-month follow-up (Δ106, p < 0.001, 95% CI: 57.0–154). Pain was reduced by 28–32% at both follow-up time points, exceeding the clinically relevant threshold. Health transition scores indicated a patient-perceived improvement in health status.
Conclusions: In this study, a personalized, algorithm-based IHHC alleviated pain and improved quality of life in patients suffering from persistent long-term sequelae after COVID-19 infection. The effects were sustained for up to six months. Further research is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms underlying IHHC’s therapeutic effects in this patient population.

MDPI, no placebo.

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#130

I had a new experience related to hypoxia that I thought it would share. Yesterday I took my 12mg rapa dose while in day 1 of a FMD. This AM i did my regular hypoxia work and discovered that my spo2 would not drop as per usual.

I started at 99% vs a normal 97%

Doing my 5 rounds of 30 second exhale breath holds, my spo2 would not drop at all for the first few rounds and never below 92%. Normally I will drop to 75-85% during this exercise. Subjective air hunger was lower than normal.

Then I did my <90% shallow breathing drill for 3 minutes. Normally it take me between 0-30 seconds to settle into 90 +- 1. Today it took 1 minute to settle into my target and the air hunger was much less than normal.

Any ideas on how rapamycin or FMD is having this effect?

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#131

Mild Intermittent Hypoxia Elicits Long-term Facilitation of Minute Ventilation and Improvements in Upper Airway Function in Participants with Motor Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury 2025

Eight days of MIH consisting of twelve 2-minute bouts of hypoxia interspersed with 2 minutes of normoxic recovery. Slight hypercapnia (+2 mmHg) was maintained throughout.
Upper airway collapsibility improved (n=4, 0.45±0.31, d=0.7) and was present 2 weeks postintervention (0.66±0.46, d=0.4). Apnea-hypopnea index reduced following MIH (0.44±0.20, d=0.6) and 2 weeks after (0.63±0.28, d=0.2). A significant reduction in sleep fragmentation was also observed (0.64±0.14, d=0.95).
These findings, along with the reduction in the number of arousals, suggest that the neural plasticity elicited by MIH may improve sleep quality in individuals with motor incomplete SCI, which may have positive effects on autonomic function and cognition.

Eight Days of Mild Intermittent Hypoxia Improves Mitochondrial Capacity and Autonomic Dysfunction in Individuals Living with Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury 2025

Eight days of MIH consisting of twelve 2-minute bouts of hypoxia interspersed with 2 minutes of normoxic recovery. Slight hypercapnia (+3mmHg) was maintained throughout.
Mitochondrial extraction improved from 55±10% to 89±9% after 8 days of MIH (P=.07). On day 1, oxygen extraction increased from 4.70±1.62 to 4.78±2.14%, respectively. On day 8, the amplitude of oxygen extraction was 2.94%±1.25% and 3.55%±0.76% during initial and final bouts, respectively. Notably, on day 8, the amplitude in oxygen extraction was lower across all bouts compared with day 1. However, the amplitude changes from initial to final bouts were smaller on day 1 (17%±29%) than day 8 (56%±42%). After the 8-day MIH, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure changes during AD improved by 44%±8% (P<.01) and 43%±5% (P=.01) as OH improved by 88%±21% (P=.01) and 128±50% (P=.02).
Eight days of MIH improved mitochondrial capacity coupled with the reduced oxygen extraction during hypoxia on day 8, suggests an increased oxygen reserve. Likewise, these improvements in mitochondrial function were concurrent with improvements in AD and OH, suggesting that mitochondrial function may be a potential mechanism impacting autonomic function.

@John_Hemming

Intermittent hypoxic stimulation promotes efficient expression of Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α and exerts a chondroprotective effect in an animal osteoarthritis model 2025

In vivo, 8-week-old male Wistar rats were injected with monosodium iodoacetate to induce osteoarthritis and then reared in 12% hypoxia for 24 h, followed by 24 h in steady oxygen, repeated alternately for a total of 28 days. A histological analysis was performed on days 8 and 28.
Intermittent hypoxia increased cartilage metabolism by increasing hypoxia-inducible factor-1α proteins in articular chondrocytes, which may be effective in preventing articular cartilage degeneration in a rat osteoarthritis model.

#132

There are some basic cellular controls one is hif 1 alpha.