Question High Altitude Athletes.... Less efficient at depth?

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As others have said, there are many other factors that determine your air consumption.

As an anecdote, one of my diving buddies is a Mt. Everest climbing guide. He is shorter than me and weighs less than me, but our air consumption is the same. Our wives consume 40% less air than we do, so we always get the bigger tanks on holidays.
 
Really? So we can breathe pure nitrogen or helium?
You would suffocate, but you wouldn't feel it. More like falling asleep.
That's why working with liquid Nitrogen is so dangerous.
 
Hi @Sure Squintsalot

The main effect of living and exercising at altitude is an increase in your hemoglobin/hematocrit to increase your oxygen carrying capacity to compensate for the decrease in atmospheric pressure. Do you happen to know your hgb/hct? I do not intuitively see why this would adversely affect your gas consumption while diving at sea level.

The major stimulus for breathing is the carbon dioxide concentration in your blood, dictated by CO2 production and elimination. Good buoyancy and trim, efficient propulsion, and relaxation may result in less exertion and CO2 production. A good breathing pattern may increase the efficiency of CO2 elimination. There are individual factors that contribute to gas consumption that are more difficult to pin down. There is much more to it than gender and body size/composition.

Average gas consumption has been the topic of an ongoing thread for 7 1/2 years and illustrates the wide spectrum of consumption rates. Do you happen to know your gas consumption rate?
 
No we get much more oxygen than we need when diving, especially deep and with nitrox. The challenge of respiration when diving is primarily eliminating co2. About the opposite of the situation for an athlete at altitude.

Learn how to efficiently remove co2 ( primarily by deeper exhalation and reduction of dead airspace in respiratory system) and air consumption should decrease if the person in calm, comfortable and not cold.
I believe, the solution is in adopting to higher levels of CO2.
 

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