It is, not to put too fine a point on it, false. An excess of oxygen doesn’t really help out your brain under ordinary conditions. Try hyperventilating (breathing significantly more quickly and deeply than you need to satisfy your energy requirements) and you’re just liable to become dizzy and see spots.
I googled to see if there are any known benefits to doing headstands, and the answer is “maybe, but the only people claiming so are new-agey yoga sources.”
An excess of oxygen doesn’t really help out your brain under ordinary conditions. Try hyperventilating
Hyperventilation’s primary effect is to reduce CO2 levels in your blood, although it also increases oxygen. Decreasing CO2 beyond normal levels makes blood bicarbonate combine with hydrogen ions to form more CO2, which increases blood alkalinity, which makes blood vessels constrict and reduce blood supply to the brain, which makes you lightheaded. So hyperventilation is low-quality evidence about the effects of extra oxygen on your brain.
...Now I kinda want to put Gwern into a hyperbaric chamber and have him record his dual-n-back and math performance for comparison.
...Now I kinda want to put Gwern into a hyperbaric chamber and have him record his dual-n-back and math performance for comparison.
I don’t think that’s necessary. Besides oxygen being poisonous and dangerous, it’s been studied before, and it seems to be less oxygen that matters after a point than carbon dioxide. This was discussed somewhere on Greg Cochrane’s blog.
Yup. Was about to make a similar comment. Hyperventillation will not hyper-oxygenate the brain.
That said, the “hyper-oxygenated brain → brain function” hypothesis has been raised to the level of our attention for a very bad reason. We should let it die.
Hum, in my own experience, going down to the sea level after spending time in high altitude does a similar dizziness than hyperventilating, I always assumed it was hyper-oxygenated brain in both cases. Any explanation for the “reverse altitude sickness” ? Placebo effect (well, nocebo effect) ?
It is, not to put too fine a point on it, false. An excess of oxygen doesn’t really help out your brain under ordinary conditions. Try hyperventilating (breathing significantly more quickly and deeply than you need to satisfy your energy requirements) and you’re just liable to become dizzy and see spots.
I googled to see if there are any known benefits to doing headstands, and the answer is “maybe, but the only people claiming so are new-agey yoga sources.”
Hyperventilation’s primary effect is to reduce CO2 levels in your blood, although it also increases oxygen. Decreasing CO2 beyond normal levels makes blood bicarbonate combine with hydrogen ions to form more CO2, which increases blood alkalinity, which makes blood vessels constrict and reduce blood supply to the brain, which makes you lightheaded. So hyperventilation is low-quality evidence about the effects of extra oxygen on your brain.
...Now I kinda want to put Gwern into a hyperbaric chamber and have him record his dual-n-back and math performance for comparison.
I don’t think that’s necessary. Besides oxygen being poisonous and dangerous, it’s been studied before, and it seems to be less oxygen that matters after a point than carbon dioxide. This was discussed somewhere on Greg Cochrane’s blog.
Yup. Was about to make a similar comment. Hyperventillation will not hyper-oxygenate the brain.
That said, the “hyper-oxygenated brain → brain function” hypothesis has been raised to the level of our attention for a very bad reason. We should let it die.
Hum, in my own experience, going down to the sea level after spending time in high altitude does a similar dizziness than hyperventilating, I always assumed it was hyper-oxygenated brain in both cases. Any explanation for the “reverse altitude sickness” ? Placebo effect (well, nocebo effect) ?