The effects of inhaling oxygen during recovery on lactate response and blood acidity in trained young swimmers

There are strong evidences that exposure to hyperoxia improves performance during continuous exercise with positive effect on recovery.  The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of inhaling oxygen during recovery on lactate response, blood PH and bicarbonate in trained young swimmers.

In this semi experimental study, 20 trained swimmers (20-28 years) were randomly divided into two groups as experimental group (10 people) and control group (10 people). After warming up, subjects performed Crawl swim at 80 to 90% of record achieved during the 12-minutes and  1:30 minutes recovery time in the pool. Protocol of oxygen inhalation was including oxygen inhalation at a concentration of 40% and 10 liters per minute, which was used as supplemented by the mask attached to the cylinder in recovery stage (break 1:30 minutes). The control group performed recovery stage by inactive manner. Fasting blood samples were taken before and after training from vein arm. Data were analyzed with Independent t-test and paired t-test at p>0.05.

The results significant difference before and after of the training in two groups (the mean blood lactate and PH in swimmers) (p=0.000). Moreover,  significant difference was found between the mean lactate, PH and bicarbonate between two groups after the interval training (p>0.05).

According to the findings, it seems that Oxygen inhalation is effective during high-intensity exercise on lactate, blood pH and bicarbonate and it can be considered as an effective method of intervention during training.