Recovery when Sleeping at Altitude
Improved oxygen carrying ability means nothing to an athlete if they are not able to recover each night from their daily training sessions, so naturally there has always been concern about whether sleep quality would be compromised at altiude.
Fortunately experience, now finally backed up by research, has shown this concern to be unfounded.
Indeed the most common early feedback from athletes (particularly masters) is about how much better they are sleeping at altitude, and how their recovery has improved.
Researchers have started to look into this phenomenon to better understand it.
1) Does sleeping at altitude interfere with recovery?
David T. Martin et al, Australian Institute of Sport
Conclusion: "Sleeping at altitude during a week of high-intensity cycling training is unlikely to impair performance, and may in fact improve it"
2) Effect of acute normobaric hypoxia on cognitive and psychomotor function in recreational athletes.
Degia, A., Emegbo, S., Stanley, N., Pedlar, C., & Whyte, G. (2003). Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 35(5), Supplement abstract 893.
High altitudes do affect physical work, subjective fatigue, and task performances. This study evaluated whether sleeping in a normobaric hypoxic tent at a simulated altitude of 2,500 m affected cognitive and psychomotor performance.
Male recreational athletes (N = 8) were exposed to normobaric hypoxia (2,500 m), normobaric normoxic (placebo), and normal air conditions in a randomized order for three consecutive nights. Measures were obtained on the Critical Flicker Fusion Threshold, Hick's Choice Reaction Time, Compensatory Tracking Task, and Sternburg's Short Term Memory scanning task.
CONCLUSION:
No significant differences were revealed for the two conditions involving the hypoxic tent.
Hypoxic Tents Do Not Affect Psychomotor Or Cognitive Factors
3). Acute Normobaric Hypoxia And Its Effects On Measures Of Sleep Quality In Recreational Athletes (Using Altitude Tents.)
Emegbo, S; Pedlar, C; Stanley, N; Whyte, G
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Volume 35(5) Supplement 1 May 2003 p S162
PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect upon sleep quality of normobaric hypoxia at a simulated altitude of 2,500m in recreational athletes.
CONCLUSIONS: Acute Normobaric Hypoxia at a stimulated altitude of 2,500m did not affect sleep quality compared to Placebo-Hypoxic conditions (sea-level, but in a tent.)
