Hypobaric interval hypoxia as a nonmedication method for improving the functional state of aerospace pilots and astronauts

Abstract

Maintenance of health of risky profession workers (such as aerospace pilots and astronauts) and rendering them rehabilitative procedures remains to be one of the major medical issues. There is an apparent necessity to seek and adopt effective methods of rehabilitating the workers of risky professions who usually suffer with fatigue, impairment of body tolerance to negative factors, deadaptation, and asthenization (a condition experienced by astronauts with symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, lack of appetite, and sleep disorders) following stressful situations of aerospace flights. These adverse effects could potentially lead to functional and organic diseases in the pilots and astronauts. A method of hypobaric interval hypoxia (HIH) was devised and test validated for the needs of aviation, space, military, preventive, and rehabilitation medicine. The course of HIH treatment consists of ten 1-h daily sessions of exposure to HIH in a hypobaric chamber simulating high altitude of 3,000-5,000 m. In each of the 10-min periods, 7-min hypoxic air breathing alternates with 3-min hyperoxic air mixture breathing with air pressure simulating same altitude. In the first session, the subjects climb to 3,000 m; in sessions 2-4, the altitude increases in 500 m steps; and finally the sessions 5-10 are performed at the altitude of 5,000 m. HIH has showed high effectiveness in improving human organism functionality and tolerance to the environmental adverse factors, that is, hypoxia, flight accelerations, and motion sickness, as well as in preventing and correcting the impaired functional states.