Oxygen in blood - saturation??

[Noggin]

When I was visiting friends last weekend we got on to chat about exercise, weight training, bpm and oxygene levels.

Ourse, now I'm home I can't remember what he said about oxygen levels - TBF, I think we didn't really go into it much except to laugh at how high mine was (99% I think) compared to his. But that's cos I was suddenly at 500m above sea level instead of 2000m above!!

So - what is the usual, recommended, expected, whatever???

I'm currently between 95-97% (have done it three days in a row, at different times of day - not sure if that's what you should do!!).

[demographic]

Err, no idea but I do know that the Nepalese Sherpas are pretty shit hot at it.

[Noggin]

Err, no idea but I do know that the Nepalese Sherpas are pretty shit hot at it.

I know that if you live up high, the doctors can tell when they do a certain blood test!! I'm guessing its something to do with how the blood reacts to living high up - I had a doctor say that to me "this is an interesting result, but that just means you live at altitude"!!!

I just wondered as have seen a couple of people I know post about oxygene in the blood on FB and always wondered why they're aiming for 100% as I didn't really think that was possible.

Equally, I don't know anything about it!!

[Count Steer]

Normal SpO2 range is 95-100% (Just checked mine...98).

[demographic]

Think there's more to it than just one persons lifetime adaptations with Sherpas.
IIRC, it's genetic.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandso ... of-sherpas
That's not to say that a person can't acclimatise and make a massive difference to how they cope at altitude.
Bloke down the road from where I lived as a kid was one of the UK (and to be fair, the worlds) prominent high altitude cimbers and acclimatisation was a tough regime on his expeditions. I can't remember much details from when I used to knock about with one of his daughters but more recently I've read some of his books.

[Cousin Jack]

Reaction to altitude is weird. Some people swear there is no effect below about 14k, other people say anything above 5k and you feel it

I have been (briefly) to 14k. It was bloody cold, so I didn't linger. I have stayed at 9k with no noticeable effect.

[Horse]

Normal SpO2 range is 95-100% (Just checked mine...98).

Almost

94-100
COPD is lower, up to 92

[Noggin]

Think there's more to it than just one persons lifetime adaptations with Sherpas.
IIRC, it's genetic.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandso ... of-sherpas
That's not to say that a person can't acclimatise and make a massive difference to how they cope at altitude.
Bloke down the road from where I lived as a kid was one of the UK (and to be fair, the worlds) prominent high altitude cimbers and acclimatisation was a tough regime on his expeditions. I can't remember much details from when I used to knock about with one of his daughters but more recently I've read some of his books.

This is really why we got on the subject. I arrived at their place after 5.5 hours of mostly motorway ridin and was fully expecting to crash and burn when I saw a sofa!! Instead we went out for pizza and I wasn’t really tired till Monday, after another days group ride on the Sunday!!

A few years ago I had to visit Barnstaple for a weekend from here. So landed in Bristol and drove to Barnstaple. The next day I had to get something in town and parked at the bottom not realizing the shop I needed was up a hill. First time I’d ever walked up a hill without running out of breath!!

TBF, I never 100% feel right at my relatively low altitude (for mountains!! 6500ft) but I do really notice a change when I get closer to sea level . Last weekend it was like a drug

[Noggin]

Reaction to altitude is weird. Some people swear there is no effect below about 14k, other people say anything above 5k and you feel it

I have been (briefly) to 14k. It was bloody cold, so I didn't linger. I have stayed at 9k with no noticeable effect.

Apparently a lot depends on how many red (or maybe white) blood cells you have. If whichever it is is low, your reaction to altitude is worse.

I’ve seen people really suffer even here. For me, I just never quite have enough breath for walking uphill! But that could also just be that I’ve been pretty unfit the whole time I’ve lived here

Normal SpO2 range is 95-100% (Just checked mine...98).

Almost

94-100
COPD is lower, up to 92

Cheers. Pretty sure it’s not remotely important to me but I was interested after the conversation at the weekend. Guess it’s less likely I’d get to 100% here

[Horse]

PS I haven't googled it to check what CS said about 95 against my 94, but an ambulance crew won't be connecting you to a cylinder at 94

[Flux]

96-98 according to fitbit, but no idea how accurate it is.

[Count Steer]

PS I haven't googled it to check what CS said about 95 against my 94, but an ambulance crew won't be connecting you to a cylinder at 94

95-100% swot the instructions with my pulse oxymeter says.

As for altitude,there's less oxygen up there so I think acclimatisation involves producing more red blood cells (hence altitude training for athletes). So when you come down the hill you have more oxygen and more haemoglobin - double plus good.

PS iirc oxygen bonds with haemoglobin to form oxyhaemoglobin, which is red so I think oximeters measure redness density somehow. However carbon monoxide bonds in preference to oxygen to form carbomonoxyhaemoglobin which is pink. So CO poisoned folk go quite pink.

[Mr. Dazzle]

PS iirc oxygen bonds with haemoglobin to form oxyhaemoglobin, which is red so I think oximeters measure redness density somehow. However carbon monoxide bonds in preference to oxygen to form carbomonoxyhaemoglobin which is pink. So CO poisoned folk go quite pink.

Yeah they're pretty much just measuring the colour of your blood! Shine in a red light, see how much comes out. Most also shine in an infra-red light too, so you can measure both oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood to get a ratio of the two.

Pretty simple and pretty clever really. AFAIK they're not super super accurate but they're also just "clip on the finger and away you go" which is of course way easier than in depth blood gas analysis.

[Noggin]

PS I haven't googled it to check what CS said about 95 against my 94, but an ambulance crew won't be connecting you to a cylinder at 94

95-100% swot the instructions with my pulse oxymeter says.

As for altitude,there's less oxygen up there so I think acclimatisation involves producing more red blood cells (hence altitude training for athletes). So when you come down the hill you have more oxygen and more haemoglobin - double plus good.


PS iirc oxygen bonds with haemoglobin to form oxyhaemoglobin, which is red so I think oximeters measure redness density somehow. However carbon monoxide bonds in preference to oxygen to form carbomonoxyhaemoglobin which is pink. So CO poisoned folk go quite pink.

That's the doodah!! LOL No idea why I can't remember that!

In my first season I thought I was dying. Literally thought there was something terminal going on. Then a friend pointed out that I needed to drink a LOT more water because of the 'new' exercise I was doing (I was walking 20-30 minutes each way to the chalet twice a day, learning to ski, and rushing around a chalet cooking and cleaning, and all at altitude!! - from an office job to that was a massive change!). Amazing how bad dehydration can make you feel when you don't even realise you are dehydrated

Even after that I really struggled with getting out a breath and the same person explained about red blood cells and that some people naturally have less and so take longer to aclimatise to altitude. So, I'm keeping that excuse for my not being able to walk and talk without running out of breath! LOL (even though when I have blood tests, the docs can tell I live at altitude, so I guess that now I have more red blood cells but I'm just seriously unfit!! But when I was in Treignac, we walked around the town and I could walk and talk, even up and down hills, without running out of breath - which I put down to the extra oxygene

All I'm using is the little finger clip thingy - Not even sure why TBH except that my mate used one on us both while we were chatting last week!! I'm not worried at all, I'm just interested as he's seriously into health and fitness (was a personal trainer in the uk) and we had some interesting conversations

[Noggin]

Also I just looked up resting beats per minute and surprisingly I'm generally in the above average fitness line for my age mostly, sometimes average (did get to good once!! LOL).



Good job I don't take this seriously I am so not above average in fitness!!

Equally, all my life I had low blood pressure, not low enough for concern, but lower than normal. My recovery rate after sport was ridiculously quick for someone so heavy and so unfit!

Age has upped the blood pressure to normal (of course, because I've changed systems, my records don't show that here, but normal is ok!) but it turns out that even as a pretty unfit person, I'm still ticking the ok boxes on bpm Still bloody surprised on that!!

[Horse]

All I'm using is the little finger clip thingy - Not even sure why TBH except that my mate used one on us both while we were chatting last week!!

It's worth knowing your usual Oxygen sats, resting heart rate and blood pressure.

Large moves away from your normal can be useful indications of problems.

Paramedics may ask you whether you know them.

The finger clip devices are calibrated to work on some people, under (ironically) good conditions.

If you are a person of colour, who is very cold, and wearing dark nail varnish ... Results may vary down, even to 'not at all'.

[MrLongbeard]

Also I just looked up resting beats per minute and surprisingly I'm generally in the above average fitness line for my age mostly, sometimes average (did get to good once!! LOL).



Good job I don't take this seriously I am so not above average in fitness!!

I'd be taking a massive pinch of salt with that one. mostly because it puts me in excellent / athlete category

[Mr. Dazzle]

My Garmin (and presumably lots of other people's) does O2 sat and heart rate all the time. As Horse says, the absolute values aren't as informative as the trends.

[Noggin]

Also I just looked up resting beats per minute and surprisingly I'm generally in the above average fitness line for my age mostly, sometimes average (did get to good once!! LOL).



Good job I don't take this seriously I am so not above average in fitness!!

I'd be taking a massive pinch of salt with that one. mostly because it puts me in excellent / athlete category

TBF, I take a massive bucket of salt with most of these type of charts. The BMI one basically says I should be dead

I'm just interested, definitely not being serious. But as Horse and Dazzle say - the trends might be interesting

[Horse]

But as Horse and Dazzle say - the trends might be interesting

Give you an example.

Went to a patient, breathing problems. Obs showed low O2. But had COPD, so above that 'normal' range.

But ... had own fingertip device, knew own 'usual' was much higher.

Onto the cylinder (although I checked in for confirmation first) to get a higher saturation.