Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
Sleep Breath. 2010 Sep;14(3):209-20. doi: 10.1007/s11325-009-0289-8. Epub 2009 Aug 18.
Repeated short-term hypoxia (interval hypoxia) has been suggested to increase exercise tolerance by enhancing stress resistance and/or improving oxygen delivery. As low exercise tolerance contributes to mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interval hypoxia might be a valuable preventive and therapeutic tool for these patients. Yet, mechanisms responsible for the improvement of exercise tolerance are still largely unknown. Therefore, this review intends to present an overview for better understanding of such mechanisms and to stimulate further research work on this important topic.
Articles were selected from a search of the PubMed database up to 2009 using the search terms hypoxia, intermittent, interval in various combinations with exercise, capacity, tolerance, CAD, COPD, and various haematological and cardio-respiratory parameters.
Generally, the effects of 2-4 weeks of interval hypoxia on exercise tolerance are contrasting. Whereas aerobic exercise performance improved or remained unchanged, anaerobic performance tended even to worsen. Benefits on exercise tolerance seem to be greater in patients with CAD or COPD when compared to healthy subjects.
The mechanisms responsible for these benefits are the increases in total haemoglobin mass, lung diffusion capacity, more efficient ventilation, and a decrease in the responsiveness of the adrenergic system to stimulation and/or an increase in parasympathetic activity. If confirmed in further studies, interval hypoxia might become an attractive strategy to complement the known beneficial effects of exercise training, especially in patients with CAD or COPD.
重复的短期缺氧（间歇缺氧）被认为可以通过增强抗应激能力和/或改善氧输送来提高运动耐量。由于低运动耐量会导致冠心病（CAD）和慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）患者的死亡率增加，因此间歇缺氧可能是这些患者有价值的预防和治疗工具。然而，导致运动耐量提高的机制在很大程度上仍不清楚。因此，本综述旨在提供一个概述，以更好地理解这些机制，并激发对这一重要课题的进一步研究工作。
使用“hypoxia”、“intermittent”、“interval”等术语，在 PubMed 数据库中进行了搜索，这些术语与“exercise”、“capacity”、“tolerance”、“CAD”、“COPD”以及各种血液学和心肺参数进行了各种组合，搜索了截至 2009 年的文章。
一般来说，间歇缺氧 2-4 周对运动耐量的影响是矛盾的。虽然有氧运动表现有所改善或保持不变，但无氧运动表现往往甚至恶化。与健康受试者相比，CAD 或 COPD 患者的运动耐量获益似乎更大。
这些益处的机制是总血红蛋白质量、肺扩散能力、更有效的通气增加，以及肾上腺素能系统对刺激的反应性降低和/或副交感神经活动增加。如果在进一步的研究中得到证实，间歇缺氧可能成为一种有吸引力的策略，以补充已知的运动训练的有益效果，特别是在 CAD 或 COPD 患者中。
