May 2007 Can POWERbreathe improve breathing at high altitude?
You should read POWERbreathe for fitness or performance to get the most from the following section. At high altitude the air is ‘thinner’, containing less oxygen than at sea level. The higher we go, the thinner it gets. Climbing or skiing at high altitude place enormous demands upon the breathing muscles. In order to compensate for the thinner air, the lungs must work much harder, and exercise which at sea level brings on nothing more than a slight increase in breathing, can push your breathing to its limits at high altitude. At 3km (3000m) the amount of oxygen in the air decreases by 30%, and at 5km its half that at sea-level. This means that at around 1km you begin to experience breathlessness during moderate exercise, and at 4km you feel breathless at rest. At sea level, your ability to exercise is limited by the capacity of your heart to pump blood to the exercising muscles. At high altitude, you become limited by the ability to pump air in and out of the lungs. Just to put things
