The Air up There

by KaptainKirk on May 7, 2009 1:06 PM MDT

Ever wonder about the Altitude effect when you see an opposing player sucking on an oxygen mask during a game at Invesco Field? How it affects players during the game, and why the Broncos enjoy a special Home field advantage? I' ve been given to believe that there is a sign at Invesco Field, that is visual to the players just outside the Visitors Locker room, that informs them that they are 5,280 feet above sea level. It's been said that this is to effect Bronco opponents through intimidation. While that may be true, contrary to popular belief, the Air is NOT "thinner." Lets examine a few Facts about the Air up There.

Let's note comparisons between San Diego(sea level) and Invesco Field(Mile High or 5,280 ft.) The Oxygen percentage between the two is the same at both elevations.It is even the same on Mt. Everest. While you would find it more difficult to breathe on Everest, It is the Barometric pressures that are different.

Sea level-760 mmHg with Hg representing Mercury

Invesco-630 mmHg

The Barometric Pressure affects the Lungs,and is what makes it more difficult to breathe when one exerts himself at a higher elevation. Because of the outer pressure change, we struuggle with shortness of breath and it takes longer to "Recover" your normal breathing. To make that recovery time is shorter, Coaches use "Wind Sprints to train and build up endurance to minimalize shortness of breath and to prevent their players from tiring out and getting too winded by the 4th quarter.

But still, Oxygen DOES play a role in "Acclimation" or "Climatizing." To keep track of oxygen levels in the body, a Pulsoximeter or PulsOx is used by Doctors and nurses. You will sometimes see them on Joggers or Hikers. The PulsOx fits over one finger,and takes a reading of the percentage of O2 in the body and also gives you a pulse reading so that you can determine how hard you are exerting yourself. At sea level, a reading of 91-99% is an acceptable level for a person at rest. At Invesco, the acceptable level would be 88-95%. These levels would go down when a player is running around on a football field, and the amount of time it takes to catch his breath from exertion is what is called "Recovery Time", and affects all Atheletes' performance.

To "Climatize" to the altitude the body produces more red blood cells to carry O2 to the Organs and Muscles to help them work properly. So say you are at sea level with an O2 reading of 90%. You then go up to the Mile High city and your O2 reading turns into 85%. The body reacts to the fact that there is not enough oxygen getting to the major organs and starts to produce more cells. And when you go down to sea level, your body has an abundant amount of oxygen carrying blood cells, and begins to get rid of these cells. While Vulcan Logic senses that it exits the body through dissipation, the Mad Doctor on the other side rants about the process of Osmosis, and Pause Acting has.......no effect. BUT......when the Chargers come to town,and try to play a game at altitude, they tire because of the bodys' lack of replenishing Oxygen to the bloodstream. Then they start gasping for breath and become fatigued more rapidly than the Broncos because the Broncos train at a higher altitude and will have a liitle more stamina. The reverse is true for the Broncos when they visit the Chargers.

This Climatizing takes variuos lengths of time depending on the health of the indvidual, and it stands to reason that the time would be shorter in a Professional Athelete. So, in conclusion, it really IS more intimidating than anything else as to the so called "thinner" air up there.

Authors note:

These Hypotheses are based upon classes I took and time spent in Rehab for deconditioned lungs from 3 cases of pneumonia(and almost dying).I have been doing Pulmonary Rehab for about 6 months and my lung capacity has increased from 51% to 59% since then. My "Recovery time" has shortened too. I do 2- 21/2 hours of Cardio training 3 times a week, and I'm on oxygen full time right now.I live in Colorado Springs where the elevation is around 6,200 feet above sea level. I use about 1.5 - 2.0 Litres on my regulator, and when I work out, I must increase the level as high as 6.0 Litres,(I push real hard to try to get better sooner) to keep up in the 88% to 95% range. I'm unable to find out for sure, but, as I sit here in the hospital getting an infusion for the Lupus that I have, no nurse can tell me for sure, but they think that the Oxygen that I'm on is delivered at an hourly rate of 1.5 litres.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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Comments

SHHHHHHHH

dont tell anyone!!! no good post. I did sports up there for years and it takes a while to learn how to play properly but once you do the game is so much better. Its like Drinking at lower elevations you can go FOREVER

http://www.davusx.net/assets/db/la_la_land.gif

"We should have kept Seattle and dumped San Diego from the Division"

Davis and Sharpe to the Hall!

by Jon Tollerud on May 7, 2009 1:11 PM MDT reply actions

Here is to your improving health kaptain!

There is no army so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

by Jeremy Bolander on May 7, 2009 1:42 PM MDT reply actions

thin air

The term thin air refers to the decreasing number of molecules of air as barometric pressure drops. The overall percentage of components such as oxygen (O2) remains at 21%. If you are on supplemental oxygen at 1.5 liters it is actually 1.5 liters per minute. We generally breathe about 6-7 liters per minute to mainatin normal oxygenation. several adaptations occur at residence in high altitude which include increased red blood cell mass (more boxcars to carry oxygen) more hemoglobin in each red blood cell, and an increase in 2,3-DPG which allows oxygen to release into tissues more readily. I sure hope you’re getting well so you won’t need extra oxygen in the future. Keeping many good thoughts going your way Kaptian Kirk

by Ponderosa on May 7, 2009 1:45 PM MDT reply actions

Just to add

The issue is oxygen, and as you said, not because there is a lower percentage of it. Your lungs have a maximum volume capacity, and when you inhale (going on a generalization), you’ll inhale the same volume of atmospheric gas each time. At sea level, that volume is compressed, resulting in more molecules in that volume, which means more oxygen molecules to be absorbed.

Jump up to Denver, and there is pressure from atmosphere above you. The percentage of oxygen is the same, but the number of molecules in a given volume is reduced, resulting in fewer oxygen molecules to absorb in your given lung volume.

And as Jon noted above…it makes drinking at lower altitudes amusing…although I’ve become hung over before getting really buzzed before. THAT is not fun.

Not correcting anything in the post…just filling in a couple small details. Thanks for the post!

"Don't feed the trolls. Remember to be polite. And please show self-restraint in comment length!" -Me, to myself, because I need constant reminding.

by Disco_Stu on May 7, 2009 1:49 PM MDT reply actions

exactly

One does seem to have much greater capacity to consume alcohol at sea level, but it’s just as dangerous to drink in excess, witness the hangover.

by Ponderosa on May 7, 2009 1:57 PM MDT up reply actions

Agreed

Thank you for the good wishes also. I just figured I would put out some info that the average person does not yet know. I am definitely no expert but I wanted to share something that I am dealing with.

My Dad told me about the 4 seasons:
Pre-season
Regular-season
Post-season
Off-season

by KaptainKirk on May 7, 2009 2:06 PM MDT up reply actions

Great Post Kaptain

I was raised in the high East plains of Utah at an elevation of nearly 8,000 ft. Driving to Park City was a net downhill trip. Hikes to High Moutain Lakes often had me running or walking at nearly 10,000 ft.

The net effect on me physically showed up when my Parents moved to Boise, Id—elevation around 1700ft. They joined a Golf course called Hillcrest Country Club which had a wonderful olympic size pool.

Your article explains why I could do 200 meters (four lengths) under water on a single breath. I must have made $25 (big bucks for a 12 year old) that summer betting people I could do it.

Good luck with your fight back to 95% Kaptain—I just said a little prayer for you—I had a horrible bout with pneumonia about 9 years ago and still have pains in one lung from the damage.

Guardian of the Gate to La La Land!
Little, Wright, Atwater, Davis, and Sharpe...
Why are they not in the Hall...I just don't understand.

by Mike Clark on May 7, 2009 3:34 PM MDT reply actions

Good stuff...glad you made it through your struggles.

Verbose in style, dispersion of thought, procrastination in life.

by Tim Lynch on May 7, 2009 3:35 PM MDT reply actions

Prayers for a speedy recovery

And here I used to take comfort the my wheezing while backpacking in the Rockies and the Sierras was due to “thin air”; dang, come to MHR and get an education in all kinds of things.

Great post Kapt’n.

Pray for the best, prepare for the worst, and hope you come down somewhere between the two.

by Brian Shrout on May 7, 2009 7:10 PM MDT reply actions

Informative post....

And get well soon KK!

Those that cant coach, compete!
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
All I want is 53 Rod Smiths. Is that asking too much????

by boydy2669 on May 7, 2009 7:20 PM MDT reply actions

Get Well Soon KK

Great point to bring up about Mile High, It was my understanding coming from a cycling background that the most efficient way to train for a endurance athlete was to live high and train low, i.e your body produces more oxygen carrying red blood cells at altitude to compensate for the lower oxygen density, but to train effeciently to V02 max you need to train at lower altitudes with denser volumes for the best training efficiency.

(this increased red blood cell count is measured as the Hemocrit level, which if the hemocrit level is unusally high i.e higher than naturally attainable when living at altitude, when tested is one of the ways the drug testers pick up EPO use i.e Blood Doping in endurance athletes)

I don’t know how this affects fast twitch athletes like most of the NFL skill position players but I believe that for short fast sprints the altitude is not a issue, till you repeat those sprints many times i.e till the 4th quarter or run the no huddle alot.

Some one else may be able to give a more scientific explanation on the affects of the lower oxygen density on fast twich athletes at altitude.

I assume it affects their ability to recover quickly between downs and why you see the oxygen masks come out to help this.

Get well soon KK! Our prayers are with you.

Cheers

Scotto

by Scotto on May 7, 2009 8:04 PM MDT reply actions

Thanks

I believe that it only takes say, 1-2 weeks tops to “acclimate,” but some people that I’ve met say they didn’t feel better until a month had passed. I would think world class Atheletes would be able to cut that time in half maybe even 3-4 days. I’d bet that a lot of them do conditioning Excersises such as wind sprints to increase their wind.

My Dad told me about the 4 seasons:
Pre-season
Regular-season
Post-season
Off-season

by KaptainKirk on May 7, 2009 9:32 PM MDT up reply actions

When I lived in Colorado Springs I read an article

on the effects of altitude, and in that article it stated ( if my memory serves me right), that people who live at high altitude do quite well when they go down to sea level for about two weeks, then the energy level starts to drop until the red blood cells replenish. When I moved from the San Joaquin Valley in ’97 to CS, I stayed at the RV park where the big bug is on 115. It took me 4-5 days to acclaimate to the altitude so I could jog. Beautiful country by the way, and hope everything works out with your condition.

by bfree2bronc on May 8, 2009 12:28 PM MDT reply actions