Long-term stay at low altitude (1,200 m) promotes better hypoxia adaptation and performance

Acute exposure to high altitude hypoxia is known to decrease physical performance. The exercise performance increases during moderate altitude training (2000-3000 m) but benefits are overshadowed by adverse effect associated with hypoxia. Therefore, the study was designed to address whether low altitude of 1200 m could increase exercise performance without any adverse effects and a correlation with stay period (stay > 6 month) was optimized. In the present study residents of lower altitude (1200 m altitude) (LA) and sea level (SL) residents were subjected to sub-maximal exercise test and their exercise response in terms of post-exercise heart rate and change in oxygen saturation was compared. Post-exercise peak heart rate (129.89 ± 13.42 vs 146.00 ± 11.81, p < 0.05) was significantly lower and arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) after exercise had a significant fall (95.3 ± 2.26% vs 98 ± 0% p < 0.001) in LA residents. The hematological parameters like hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Hct) taken as markers of physiological adaptation, were also found to be significantly higher in LA as compared to SL residents (Hb 16.13 ± 0.70 vs 14.2 ± 0.87, p < 0.001 and Hct 47.4 ± ?2.08 vs 44.0 ± ?0.72, p <0.001). Overall, the study highlights that physiological adaptation at 1200 m results into a better exercise response and hematological benefit compared to sea level residents.