Altitude Training Physiological Effect on the Athlete’s Bodies and Performances Research Paper

Introduction

In sports and exercise medicine, there has been a growing notion instigated by medical practitioners, athletics coaches, and athletes that altitude training is imperative as it compliments normal training (Pinilla, 2013). Most predominantly important among the athletes, the notion of altitude training seems to have a great physiological influence on the training and ultimate performances of the athletes. Scientifically, experts in exercise medicine have established several facts that make this notion trustable and noteworthy (Pinilla, 2013). Historically, medical scientists empirically established that a high-altitude environment often leads to physiological stress in human beings (Pinilla, 2013). The most crucial factors that can lead to the understanding of how altitude training has a physiological influence include hypoxia, low humidity, low temperature, limited nutritional demand, high solar radiation, and high winds (Pinilla, 2013). Due to such perceptions, this term paper predominantly focuses on establishing the existing relationship between hypoxia and the athletes’ bodies and performances.

The Intermittent Hypoxia and the Athletes’ Body

In weather science, it is common that an increase in the altitude or height above the sea level automatically results in a comparative decline in the barometric pressure of an area, and a subsequent reduction in the pressure of the atmospheric oxygen (Bartsch & Saltin, 2008). Such changes in the climate of an area lead to the production of hypobaric hypoxia, scientists have discovered that it highly influences the functionalities of different body organs in different ways. According to Bartsch and Saltin (2008), when athletes train at high altitudes, their bodies develop some unique adaptations that allow the occurrence of intermittent hypoxia to allow the body to maintain adequate oxygen levels that are paramount in supporting metabolism. This process brings about a universal transcription factor that medical scientists refer to as hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). The HIF-1 acts as a controller of oxygen homeostasis processes that are paramount in the body’s response to the processes of hypoxia.

A continued or habitual existence or training within the high altitude areas makes the bodies of the athletes adapted to the hypobaric hypoxia environment. According to Beall (2006), this regular exposure to the hypobaric hypoxia environment makes the bodies of the athletes enhance oxygen transportation, oxygen delivery, and oxygen utilization through changing the regular functionalities of the body’s metabolic systems and the cardiovascular activities. Regular exposure to a hypobaric hypoxia environment, therefore, alters the cardiovascular functions in such a manner that athletes who practice more frequently within the high altitude areas have a high propensity of enlarging their red blood cells concerning their multiplication and oxygen capacities (Bonetti & Hopkins, 2009). From the perspective of exercise medicine, increased capacity of the red blood cells to accommodate enough oxygen helps the athletes to have enough oxygen in their system to manage rigorous activities that may take a considerable amount of time when compared to ordinary people.

The Actual Physiological Effects of Altitude Training

In normal human beings, when people are exposed to regular exercising behaviors in high-altitude areas, their bodies adapt and respond to two distinct stressors that include the exercise process and the hypobaric hypoxia (Pinilla, 2013). The magnitude and extent of the response to these two stressors have a crucial influence on the size of an individual’s ability towards an exercise session, stability, and the ultimate performance that often is mediated by the traits of an individual and the altitude levels. According to Pinilla (2013), as one gets regular exposure to a hypobaric hypoxia environment, the body of a normal human being on regular altitude training will eventually react to the environmental changes and form some extraordinary characteristics that are paramount in enhancing exercise and performance. Pinilla (2013) postulated that when the athletes increase their tendencies of adjustments and acclimatization towards high altitude areas that possess high hypobaric hypoxia pressure, several biological and physiological functionalities of their bodies adjust to certain changes.

More often, the endocrine, the central nervous system of the body, the respiratory systems, cardiovascular system, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the red blood cells, as well as functional and morphologic adaptations occur in the skeletal tissues (Chapman & Levin, 2007). The process of regularly training in areas with high hypobaric hypoxia pressure exposes the athletes to routine body changes in terms of morphological and functional capacities of the above-mentioned systems of the body. According to Chapman and Levin (2007), as the athletes train the areas of high hypobaric hypoxia or high altitude areas, they create room for their bodies to transform and enhance their biological functionalities in such a manner that they begin obtaining optimal oxygen tension for the enhancement of the arterial blood. This process helps the athletes to create bodily characteristics that are imperative in securing sufficient oxygen supply that is necessary for the optimal performance of the body organs and tissues, which are the essential components that facilitate efficient training and exercise.

Enhanced exposure to air and gas exchange

When exposed to areas with high hypobaric hypoxia pressure, the resultant effect is that the body will automatically try to compensate for an increase in the rate of minute ventilation (VE). The VE has an imperative role in ensuring that it boosts the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2). Hoppeler and Vogt (2004) state that the partial pressure of oxygen is the quantity of oxygen gas in the red blood cells, and it helps to assess the efficiency of the lungs in heaving oxygen gas into the red blood cells from the atmospheric air. An increase in minute ventilation (VE) for boosting the partial pressure of oxygen eventually leads to an increase in the blood pH due to lower levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration in the blood (Hoppeler & Vogt, 2004). The resultant effect of lower carbon dioxide concentration in the blood is the production of excess bicarbonate ions that subsequently triggers metabolic reactions for the compensation of kidney functions.

The compensated kidney functions enable the continued excretion of bicarbonate ions for the next coming days, subsequently helping the body to retain the blood pH at normal levels (Chapman & Levin, 2007). An increase in the VE, which happens when the hypobaric hypoxia pressure contains additional functioning energy results in an increase in the total amount of maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max). Within a certain number of training days (approximately seven days) in areas of high hypobaric pressure, the athlete will exhibit normalized levels of VE, oxygen diffusion of the arterial blood (denoted as SaO₂), and partial pressure of oxygen gas (PaCO₂). In practicality, lower levels of the alveolar partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) and an enhanced blood flow in the pulmonary blood when on exercise session leads to restraint in the blood infiltration power (Chapman & Levin, 2007). The two biological changes result in a reduction of the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) and oxygen diffusion of the arterial blood, thus higher endurance among athletes.

Changes in the Hematological Parameters

Hematology in medical science refers to a study that involves the morphology and physiology of the human blood. In normal morphological alterations of the blood, the plasma content of the blood tends to decrease following the loss of water-related to frequent exposure to hyperventilation and dry environment (Hoppeler & Vogt, 2004). In addition, the bodies of the athletes lose blood plasma due to fluid transfer from the intravascular section of the blood vascular system to the intracellular places and the interstitial spaces of the blood vascular system. The loss of the amount of plasma and a comparative loss of its flow volume, and an increase in the reticulocytes and the erythropoietin hormones of the kidney caused by the hypobaric hypoxia pressure result in an increased amount of hemoglobin and the number of red blood cells (Hoppeler, Klaussner, & Vogt, 2008). Due to such morphological and physiological changes in the blood component, the blood capacity for oxygen transportation increases, and the oxygen content of the arterial enhance as well.

When athletes routinely engage in altitude training as a way of enhancing their performances, a significant increase in the number of red blood cells in their bodies’ may occur in a three-week time when they maintain their training at a minimum altitude of about 2,100 meters above the sea level. The main aim why coaches insist on altitude training is that the tendency of practicing altitude training is to stimulate these biological responses for maximum performance efficiency (Bonetti & Hopkins, 2009). Medical scientists investigating the influence of hemoglobin on human activities and athletic exercises discovered that a high amount of hemoglobin in the red blood cells is associated with endurance performance at sea level. Such a notion implies that the highlanders have a high propensity of performing relatively better than the lowlanders when they engage in competitions conducted at sea level (Hoppeler et al., 2008). Additionally, cross-sectional studies have revealed that athletes have 35% more hemoglobin than ordinary people.

Hematological Parameters and the Skeletal Muscle

Hypobaric hypoxia pressure is useful in inducing certain tissue adaptations in the skeletal muscles of human beings (Semenza, 2004). Regular exposure to an environment associated with high hypobaric hypoxia pressure during the time of exercise normally increases the metabolic reactions of the body and the cellular functions (Hoppeler et al., 2008). The above biological stimuli subsequently result in the formation of adaptive responses in the muscles of the athletes, thus exceeding the capacity of those of ordinary people. The human biological changes triggered by vigorous training and regular exposure to high levels of hypoxia include the buffering of the muscle capacity, increased formation of blood capillaries, changes in the myoglobin content, and changes in the capacity of the mitochondrial cells (Bonetti & Hopkins, 2009). Such morphological changes in the bodies of the athletes bring about an increase in the marginal uptake of oxygen gas by the tissues of the muscles and the reduction in the production and enhancement of lactate clearance.

Hematological Parameters and Blood Lactate

Serious exposure to areas of high hypobaric hypoxia pressure leads to an increased lactate reaction in the blood especially when athletes routinely practice certain exercise conditions or workloads (Millet, Roels, & Schmitt, 2010). Increased workload or rate of athletic activities within the areas of high hypoxia pressure due to the augmented lactate accumulation in the blood and the muscle and the one released due to muscle contraction (Millet et al., 2010). In respect to the athletes who have a long-lasting exposure to acclimatized training, the levels of concentration for the sub-maximal and the maximal blood lactate decreases when training or competing in areas relative to the sea level. In a study, Hoppeler et al. (2008) analyzed data from 27 restricted studies that determined the influence of hypoxic training in athletes subjected to normal conditions. In an altitude of between 2,300 and 5,700m on a 10-day to 8 weeks training period, they noted that changes in the rates of blood lactate influenced athlete performances.

The Intermittent Hypoxia and the Athletes Performances

From the above biological and morphological parameters of the blood and the human muscles, it is evident that altitude training significantly influences the performance of those exposed to rigorous activities in areas of high hypoxia pressure (Schmidt & Prommer, 2008). Even though the evidence for such issues is inconclusive when it comes to determining the magnitude of improvement, a large amount of scientific evidence shows that high hypobaric hypoxia pressure results in higher athletic performances (Hamlin, Draper, & Hellemans, 2010). Significant changes in the performances of the athletes after exposure to hypoxia training are sometimes associated with changes in the aerobic power components, which involve the maximal oxygen uptake, the amount of maximal oxygen uptake in exercise intensity, and the intensity of the exercise itself (Schmidt & Prommer, 2008). According to the scientists dealing with research in exercise medicine, changes in the athletic endurance performances in competitions or ordinary field events often rely on the changes in the above aerobic power components.

Various studies have come up with varying conclusions regarding the performance of the athletes put in hypoxic conditions in high-altitude areas. Still concerning the uncontrolled study of Hoppeler et al. (2008), researchers noticed that altitude acclimatization of a range between 1,800 and 2,300 m has an impact on the performance of the athletes as it improves the endurance performance by approximately 2 to 4%. In others studies that involved the use of a controlled group of athletes, findings of these studies revealed that using a Living Low lifestyle and a Training High Protocol (LL-TH) result in an augmentation of the aerobic performance in inexperienced athletes (Schmidt & Prommer, 2008). When measured under hypoxic conditions, sub-elite athletes who are relatively trained exhibit an increase in the peak power output and a subsequent improvement in the aerobic power. Contrastingly, similar training protocols and modalities failed to show any improvement in the endurance performance, the maximal power out, or the VO_2max of the athletes.

In a recent exercise performance examination through a meta-analysis research paradigm that investigated about 51 studies and at least six artificial and natural altitude training, certain realities about the influence of hypoxia became evident (Vogt & Hoppeler, 2010). In this study, Schmidt and Prommer (2008) discovered that altitude training through an influence of hypoxia recorded clear enhancements in terms of endurance power output that the researchers rated at 1-4 percent increase in sub-elite athletes exposed to Living High-Training Low (LH-TL) protocol. In athletes with higher levels of experience, commonly referred to as the elite athletes in this study, the enhancements were only eminent with a natural training protocol of a Living High-Training Low (LH-TL) exercise modality (Schmidt & Prommer, 2008). In another study assessing the morphological and biological alterations that occur in athletes exposed to regular vigorous training in high altitude areas, researchers discovered that athletes exhibit an increase in the time trial performance, VO_2max, and the mean power output.

Conclusion

Several medical scientists dealing with medical exercise have hypothesized, and some have provided empirical foundations about the notion that altitude training affects the physiological abilities of the athletes and their subsequent body functionalities and sports performance. This study bases its facts on a comprehensive assessment of the notion through an evaluation of various research findings. Altitude training contains some significant physiological effects on the bodies of the athletes and their performances as well. Based on the findings of this research, a continued or habitual existence or training within the high altitude areas makes the bodies of the athletes adapted to the hypobaric hypoxia environment. When the athletes train in areas of high hypobaric hypoxia pressure, several biological and physiological functionalities of their bodies adjust to certain changes. Often, the endocrine, the central nervous system of the body, the respiratory systems, cardiovascular system, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the red blood cells, as well as functional and morphologic adaptations occur in the skeletal tissues.

References

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