Does the machine increase oxygen levels??

[Billy6]

My son asked me if he used my machine for a few weeks before the cross country tournament, would it produce higher oxygen levels for performance reasons? It is illegal for him to take any substances or use a decompression chamber to increase performance, but this, it seems would be legal? I just dont know if it will do him any good

[alnhwrd]

You wouldn't be breaking any laws, but I don't think it would do any good. The air that comes out of the CPAP is slightly pressured, not oxygenated (unless extra O2 is added), allowing those with OSA to breath normally, not advantaged.

[Slinky]

Nope. All a CPAP does is provide enough air PRESSURE to push open an airway that has collapsed or is obtructed when one is wearing the mask and using it. Its just room air w/NO extra 02 in it.

[Wulfman]

I think it would depend on how he breathes (now) during his sleep.
"Breathing" adds oxygen to our system (without supplemental O2) and if he's a mouth-breather or has issues with his nasal passages, then it MIGHT help him......but probably not that much.

Den

[LoQ]

Agree with Wulfman. Certainly using CPAP a few weeks before a race would add oxygen to MY blood and improve my performance. If your son has some kind of OSA, then it might help.

Do you have a spare machine/mask, or are you thinking of loaning him yours?

[Slinky]

I would respectfully disagree. 02 in the blood that's been spent is 02 in the blood that's gone. Only new 02 replenishes the blood supply of 02. 02 is not something your blood can "bank" or "deposit" for later use. SAG can correct me if I'm wrong.

[LoQ]

Then how come I feel so tired, utterly exhausted, the entire day after a night without CPAP therapy? According to the theory you posited, once my blood re-oxygenates during the first hour or two of awake breathing, I should be back to normal.

If CPAP therapy were not improving my energy level, I wouldn't be putting up with it.

Perhaps the change is not to oxygen level in the blood, which would support both your theory and my fatigue observation.

I still stand by my statement, though, that if the son has OSA, using CPAP prior to the race could be helpful.

[Slinky]

So staying awake all night and day for 24 hours wearing and using your mask and xPAP every minute of those 24 hours you wouldn't be tired or sleepy???

Hopefully one of our visiting RTs will jump in and answer this question.

[StillAnotherGuest]

As a distance runner myself, whether this approach would help or hurt is academic, I think it would be contrary to the spirit of competition.

SAG

[-SWS]

I would respectfully disagree. 02 in the blood that's been spent is 02 in the blood that's gone. Only new 02 replenishes the blood supply of 02. 02 is not something your blood can "bank" or "deposit" for later use.

I think Slinky's summary of the dynamics of O2 intake and O2 depletion is pretty much true.

Then how come I feel so tired, utterly exhausted, the entire day after a night without CPAP therapy? According to the theory you posited, once my blood re-oxygenates during the first hour or two of awake breathing, I should be back to normal.

I don't believe your theoretical extension is in accordance with Slinky's correct assessment. What she said is fact, not theory. You feel tired that following day primarily for two reasons: 1) sleep deprivation having occurred throughout that night without CPAP (disturbance-based deteriorated sleep architecture), and 2) desaturations that night having hampered cellular regeneration and very likely having even caused hypoxemic cellular damage.

Anyway, the following morning your O2 is back to normal, simply because you fail to have additional sleep disordered breathing problems once you're awake. Regardless of your O2 being instantly jettisoned back to normal that morning, your woeful body then spends days or longer suffering the ill effects of that terrible sleep architecture and cellular damage. That morning your endocrine and cardiopulmonary systems are adversely skewed in pathophysiology and cognition is also impaired despite your O2 being right back to normal. Had you slept with CPAP the previous night's damage and devastating systemic effects would have been avoided. There was never any "banked" O2 because of CPAP use---only avoidance of tragic nightly damage to your sleep and health.

[Billy6]

As a distance runner myself, whether this approach would help or hurt is academic, I think it would be contrary to the spirit of competition. SAG

I had that talk with him, and we concluded there is no outside agent such as a drug, or an oxygen rich decommpression chamber involved.
Anyway, I bought him the mask and let him use the machine last nite. He asked me to kick the pressure up to various levels. He settled on 15. Our deal was he couldnt remove it at all during the night. He said he slept some, and definitely feels different this AM, but "would never climb into that f!@%$#@ face mask again".

[Julie]

That's good, because using the machine, let alone at quite a high level (15) is not good unless the person does have OSA and has had their pressure titrated and set properly at such a level. The pressure can cause and/or aggravate other problems and it was not a good idea for him to have arbitrarily done that.

[rested gal]

Just my opinion, and I'm not a doctor or anything in the health care field....

If a person were going to use a cpap machine and had no idea whatsoever how much pressure to use (no prescription, no sleep study, nada) a pressure of 10, whether or not they OSA, is what I'd choose.

I agree with Slinky and -SWS about why effective cpap treatment helps a person's sleep be refreshing and restorative, beyond just keeping O2 levels up during sleep. And that you can't "bank" 02 for future by using CPAP.

[sagesteve]

I agree with Slinky...O2 can't be "stored" and by the time you would think it would be an advantage?(IF you COULD store it)...it would be gone VERY quickly. Even when you hyperventilate [with an O2 meter on your finger], say you can bring it up to 98...it goes back down to a 97-96(95) within seconds.

[areese]

The partial pressure of oxygen in the blood is increased by either increasing the fraction of oxygen or increasing the pressure. So, even though BiPAP uses room air, there is still an increased partial pressure of oxygen in the blood. In addition the positive pressure increases recruitment of of alveoli which also adds greater exchange. The effect by it's use in a healthy individual, however, is probably not significant. Increased sports performance has not to my knowledge been studied using BiPAP in healthy athletes, but I seriously doubt it would have any impact. Using a full blown high quality, high dollar hyperbaric chamber might, but the increase of partial pressure of oxygen here is far more dramatic. We do know that in individuals with chronic sleep apnea, there can be a measured increase in brain grey matter with the use of BiPAP, but this is a result of restoring sleep oxygen levels to someone who has been chronically deficient so it's a different situation.