RECOVER RESILIENCE
RESTORE VITALITY
IHHT, Altitude Oxygen Therapy for Cell and Health Renewal
IHHT is scientifically proven to promote mitochondrial renewal,
improve stress resilience, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic function.
Once reserved only for astronauts and elite athletes, altitude training, also known as intermittent hypoxic/hyperoxic training (IHHT), is scienctifically proven to help across many areas of health, performance and renewal.
Just a few of the benefits are: Increased energy and endurance, mitochondrial renewal, parasympathetic balance, oxygen efficiency, boosts mood and mental performance, improved immune function, stress resilience and recovery, deeper sleep.
What is IHHT?
IHHT is a safe and well researched approach to oxygen therapy that helps your body and cells adapt to high altitude conditions. By breathing intermittent cycles of low oxygen (9-16%) and higher oxygen (21-35%), IHHT triggers a process of adaptation within your body. At altitude your body has to perform better with less oxygen. IHHT is triggering the same response, giving you all the same health benefits without the hard work. The respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, muscular and nervous systems all improve their function. Any cells which underperform during the training will self renew, giving you new mitochondria and increased energy.
IHHT Benefits
Cardiovascular
Improve cardiovascular function, blood oxygenation and oxygen delivery to tissues. Support tissue repair.
Brain Health
Improve brain oxygenation, cognitive performance and focus. Alleviate brain fog.
Cell Renewal
Reduce fatigue, encourage apoptosis (cell renewal), increase energy (ATP) production.
Mood
Improve mood, psychological resilience and parasymathetic nervous system balance.
Oxygen efficiency
Increases oxygenation and oxygen transportation
Anti Inflammatory
Promotes anti-inflammatory effects and immune function improvements
Thousands of scientific studies have proven that Intermittent Hypoxic Training assists with energy production, weight loss, reduces blood pressure, lowers cholesterol and blood sugar levels, alleviates stress, helps with sleep, immune function and cognitive performance. More recently studies are also showing its efficacy in supporting recovery and prevention from long Covid.
IHHT FAQ’s
What does IHHT do for my body?
IHHT works by introducing a little stress (lower oxygen) to prompt your body to adapt and improve its performance.
IHHT affects the way our body produces and uses energy. The human body consists of trillions of cells which all contain mitochondria. These mitochondria produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the chemical basis for all reactions and metabolic processes and are our source of physical energy. IHHT triggers a process of cell renewal by a process called Apoptosis. Those cells which underperform during the IHHT training will be replaced with new ones containing new mitochondria. Depleted mitochondria are also the cause of over 90% of chronic illness as well as any condition where energy levels are problematic. Read more about mitochondria and how they are indicated in mental health treatment and stress adaptability here.
As your body adapts to the training your respiratory, cardiovascular and your mitochondrial performance start to increase. When your body is ready, the workout level can be increased so that your physical performance and wellbeing continue to increase.
What happens an IHHT session?
In the session you be seated in a comfortable reclining chair while wearing an oxygen mask. The process lasts approximately 40 minutes while you breathe intermittent cycles of low oxygen air (hypoxia, 11-16% O2) with either higher oxygen air (hyperoxia, 35% O2) or normal oxygen levels (normoxia 21% O2), for between 3-5 minutes each cycle. These sessions tend to be deeply relaxing so many people become quite sleepy or fall asleep. I always encourage people to get settled and switch off as much as possible. Some people like to pop in their headphones and listen to their own music which aids relaxation.
You may notice that the oxygen cycles feel different, for example the lower oxygen cycles tend to feel cooler in temperature and the higher oxygen cycles feel a little warmer. This is normal and something you’ll get used to. Most people tend to say that the higher oxygen cycles tend to feel the most relaxing and that they feel relaxed for the rest of the day.
Who would benefit from IHHT?
Anyone looking to support physical and mental recovery as well as boost physiological performance. IHHT has a dual function in that is both restorative and improves function of many bodily systems. The science is robust across many areas of mental and physical health.
In my office I have seen people make improvements in health and wellbeing with a diverse set of symptoms. IHHT has helped with long covid recovery, anxiety reduction, sleep improvement, anxiety, maintenance of fitness while injured, chronic fatigue as well as for help with symptoms of peri-menopause.
Is it safe?
Yes, IHHT is a safe an non-invasive process. It is also monitored with a pulse oximeter so your heart rate and blood oxygen levels will be tracked, ensuring the training is at the correct level and within comfortable levels.
How many sessions will I need?
10 sessions is a good start point to help your body promote the adaptation and renewal process.
The number of sessions is also determined by your state of health at the beginning of the training. Each body is unique and there are trillions of mitochondria in the body so their renewal, in order to achieve your desired health improvements, can take a little time. Sometimes 30 sessions is necessary.
Are there contraindications?
While IHHT is shown to be a safe and natural approach, there are circumstances under which it is contraindicated. Acute illess, hemoglobin-related blood disorders such as sicle cell anemia, heart valve issues, infection of the upper respiratory tract, fever and the first trimester of pregnancy.
Benefits: