Acute and chronic hypoxia: implications for cerebral function and exercise tolerance

Abstract

PURPOSE: To outline how hypoxia profoundly affects neuronal functionality and thus compromise exercise-performance. METHODS: Investigations using electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) detecting neuronal changes at rest and those studying fatiguing effects on whole-body exercise performance in acute (AH) and chronic hypoxia (CH) were evaluated. RESULTS: availability and corticospinal excitability. CONCLUSIONS: The attenuated development of central-fatigue in CH might explain, the improvements in locomotor exercise-performance commonly observed after acclimatisation to high altitude.