Intermittent Hypoxic Hyperoxic Training

Why Train with Less Oxygen?

It might sound surprising, but short, carefully managed periods of oxygen reduction can be good for you. While oxygen is essential for survival, temporary exposure to lower levels—if done correctly—can actually enhance your body’s resilience, energy, and ability to heal. This idea has been inspired by how athletes and mountaineers benefit from time spent at altitude.

Proven Benefits of IHHT

1. Athletic Performance
   Elite athletes have long used altitude training to improve endurance, strength, and speed. In fact, more than 80% of Olympic medalists have trained at altitude (Gough, Saunders et al., 2012). Australia’s top sports institutions, including the NSW Institute of Sport, use altitude chambers for this reason.
2. General Fitness – For Everyone, especially Older Adults
   It’s not just for athletes. IHHT has been shown to help older adults and those with lower fitness levels by improving aerobic capacity, circulation, and breathing (Burtscher, Pachinger et al., 2004).
3. Better Health and Vitality
   Spending time at moderate altitudes—or mimicking the effects through IHHT—has been linked to stronger immune function, improved metabolic health, better blood sugar control, and increased antioxidant activity (Singh, 1977; Larsen, Hansen et al., 1997; Lee, Chen et al., 2003).

Conditions like asthma, diabetes, depression, anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, and obesity have shown improvements in altitude-like environments (Singh, 1977; Kayser & Verges, 2013; Kong, Zang et al., 2014; Wang, Liu et al., 2014).

Decades of research in the former Soviet Union have confirmed that intermittent hypoxia, delivered via a mask, can offer similar benefits to being in the mountains (Serebrovskaya, 2002).

How Does IHHT Work?

The alternating exposure to low and high oxygen levels activates the body’s natural ability to adapt and heal. These short “doses” of hypoxia and hyperoxia stimulate gene expression and cellular repair. Benefits include:

• Enhanced oxygen use and blood circulation
• Improved mitochondrial function (the body’s energy factories)
• Greater resistance to physical and environmental stressors
• Boosted antioxidant production and reduced inflammation
• Mobilisation of stem cells to support healing (Serebrovskaya, Nikolsky et al., 2011)

 

IHHT also promotes healthy nitric oxide (NO) regulation, which supports brain health, cardiovascular function, and reduced oxidative stress (Lyamina et al., 2011; Malyshev et al., 2001; Manukhina et al., 2016).

The ReOxy system

The ReOxy machine is state of the art engineering with AI assisted programing to provide optimum therapy, continually adjusts your oxygen levels in real time based on your body’s feedback!

Is It Safe?

Yes. In fact, when done within an individual’s adaptive range, IHHT is not only safe but highly beneficial. Unlike chronic or uncontrolled oxygen deprivation seen in conditions like sleep apnea, IHHT uses precise doses tailored to each person’s health status and goals (Navarrete-Opazo & Mitchell, 2014; Burtscher, Haider et al., 2009).

To date, there have been no reported adverse events in the clinical use of IHT, according to an unpublished literature review (Courtney, 2015).

What to Expect

During an IHHT session, you’ll breathe through a mask that alternates between:

• Hypoxic (low oxygen) air
• Hyperoxic (oxygen-enriched) air

 

Each session typically lasts 30–60 minutes, with a full course ranging from 10 to 30 sessions depending on your goals.

Programs are personaliSed to fit your individual health profile and training objectives.

—————–

Further information can be found in Rosalba’s blog – ‘Intermittent Hypoxic Hyperoxic Training – Altitude training at sea level’

For an assessment or to book an IHHT course contact Rosalba here

 

Read Dr Courney’s detailed 5 page article (PDF):