Question

Daniel, a swimmer on the SVU swim team, routinely hyperventilates before a meet. He calls it oxygen loading, as he says, “it puts more oxygen into my lungs so I can swim longer without having to breathe.”

a. What is hyperventilation?

b. What basic fact about oxygen loading has Daniel forgotten?

c. How is Daniel jeopardizing not only his time but his life?

Answer 1

a. Hyperventilation is defined as the excessive rate and depth of respiration leading to abnormal loss of carbon dioxide from the blood.

b. Daniel has forgotten the fact about oxygen loading that it's the CO2 level, and not the O2 level, that causes a person to have the urge to breathe, that is, once the CO2 level in the blood is high enough, the brain will trigger a breathing response, causing the person to try to gasp for air.

c. Daniel is jeopardizing not only his time but his life as well because hyperventilation itself reduces the CO2 concentration of the blood to below its normal level, raising the blood's pH value, initiating constriction of the blood vessels which supply the brain, and preventing the transport of certain electrolytes necessary for the functioning of the nervous system.