Abstract
People often hold their breath or do not properly breathe during exercise. This limits the amount of oxygen entering the body, causing the body to be in an oxygen deprived state. We anticipate that this oxygen-deprived state will lead to decreased exercise performance. We will examine the overall effects of restricted breathing during exercise to see if it affects performance. Subjects will perform various physical activities while holding their breath and compare their performance to a control group who was actively breathing during exercise. Blood pressure, heart rate, reaction times, and pulse oximetry before, and after exercise will be measured and compared between each group. We expect to see the group who held their breath during physical activity to have decreased oxygen saturation and blood pressure compared to the group who does not hold their breath. Following the physical activity, we expect the group who held their breath to have increased respiration and heart rate.
Introduction
How does the frequency of breathing during exercise affect the body? People often do not breathe properly while working out. Sometimes people do not even realize they are not breathing properly. People often tend to hold their breath but also often breathe too slowly, quickly or not deep enough. During exercise, there is a higher demand for oxygen in order to replenish the muscles. When respiration rates increase, there is more carbon dioxide produced. There are hemodynamic effects when the proper amount of oxygen is not taken in during exercise.1 A major effect is the amount of blood flowing within the tissues and organs of the body. The effects of inadequate breathing during exercise can be analyzed by examining individuals hemodynamic parameters after performing a physical activity when they hold their breath versus not holding their breath. Prior research has shown that holding your breath with no exercise has little effect on heart rate, but both systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased and the oxygen saturation decreased.2 In a study where participants exercised with restricted or obstructed breathing Teal incthen diffusion inc