Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Int J Sports Med 2022; 43(03): 230-236
DOI: 10.1055/a-1554-5093
Physiology & Biochemistry

Oxygen-enriched Air Decreases Ventilation during High-intensity Fin-swimming Underwater

Autoren

  • Fabian Möller

    1   Department of Exercise Physiology, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany
  • Elena Jacobi

    1   Department of Exercise Physiology, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany
  • Uwe Hoffmann

    1   Department of Exercise Physiology, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany
  • Thomas Muth

    2   Occupational, Social, Environmental Medicine, Heinrich-Heine-Universitat Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany
  • Jochen D. Schipke

    3   Research Group Experimenal Surgery, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany

Abstract

Oxygen-enriched air is commonly used in the sport of SCUBA-diving and might affect ventilation and heart rate, but little work exists for applied diving settings. We hypothesized that ventilation is decreased especially during strenuous underwater fin-swimming when using oxygen-enriched air as breathing gas. Ten physically-fit divers (age: 25±4; 5 females; 67±113 open-water dives) performed incremental underwater fin-swimming until exhaustion at 4 m water depth with either normal air or oxygen-enriched air (40% O2) in a double-blind, randomized within-subject design. Heart rate and ventilation were measured throughout the dive and maximum whole blood lactate samples were determined post-exercise. ANOVAs showed a significant effect for the factor breathing gas (F(1, 9)=7.52; P=0.023; η2 p=0.455), with a lower ventilation for oxygen-enriched air during fin-swimming velocities of 0.6 m·s−1 (P=0.032) and 0.8 m·s−1 (P=0.037). Heart rate, lactate, and time to exhaustion showed no significant differences. These findings indicate decreased ventilation by an elevated oxygen fraction in the breathing gas when fin-swimming in shallow-water submersion with high velocity (>0.5 m·s−1). Applications are within involuntary underwater exercise or rescue scenarios for all dives with limited gas supply.



Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 16. Dezember 2020

Angenommen: 30. Juni 2021

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
16. August 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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