Hello and welcome to The Progress Theory where we discuss scientific principles for optimizing human performance. In this episode, we're joined by sports physiologist, Dr Becky Neal.Â
Have you ever done an obstacle course race such as Spartan or a Tough Mudder? Now think about doing one of those, but at Everest Base Camp. That's exactly what Dr Becky Neal has done. And not only that, she did it as part of a massive research study. So in this episode, we discussed her experiences in the Himalaya and also how her research is helping us understand how people function in high altitude.Â
In this episode, we discuss:
0:46 - Introduction
2:07 - The world’s highest OCR
12:28 - The freezing temperatures
15:47 - Racing and avoiding mountain sickness
26:08 - The results from the world’s highest race study
30:44 - What could warn us of potential mountain sickness
40:02 - future high altitude challenges for research
46:41 - Would you climb Mt Everest?
Key Thoughts
Obstacle Course Races: "The highest ones in obstacle course races are, like, in toughest, which is 4.2 or 4.5 meters."
Overcoming Challenges in Competitive Athletics: "I was very aware that what I was about to do the next day was gonna probably be the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life, and I was already the most exhausted I'd ever been. And I thought, this is ridiculous. How am I gonna how can I possibly do this?"
Himalayan Ultra Marathon Challenge: "Didn't I was kind of they had cutoff times as well, and I was, like, an hour and a half ahead of the cutoff time, at some points. And then at the end, it was 5 minutes, and then Then I was cut off."
Physiological and Cognitive Responses to High Altitude: "A lot of the work has already been done in labs, you know, to isolate the mechanisms and why things change, and how they change, and how much they change, and who they change in, and things like that."
"Improving Safety on High Altitude Expeditions: 'We're kind of looking to see whether there are, like, certain criteria or monitoring things that we can do to add a bit more information to all those decisions to help people and, help expedition leaders or guides make some calls, that will be better for everyone else. So the kind of that you need to have that needs to be evidence based.'"
Cognitive Function Tests: "So it's kind of like a speed versus accuracy trade-off activity."
"The Link Between Altitude and Cognitive Function: 'It changes with altitude. We think it's related to, like, the pressure in your brain, in your head.'"
Wearable Technology and the Effects on Oxygen Saturation: "We'll be looking at monitoring oxygen saturation continuously. You know, I put it on participants' ear throughout the race And tried to collect continuous data there, which is really, really interesting to see, like because my oxygen saturation was, like, 81, but somebody else's might have been 90."
Hypoxic tents and ecologically valid scenarios: "Ultimately, you know, we wanna see how some of these things happen in the situation, in an ecologically valid scenario, because that is the information that's gonna inform choices, and success."
The Power of Engaging in Different Cultures: "You know, the success of it isn't just for that moment. It's the quality of life in the future as well and whether you continue to Engage with these kinds of activities."