Click to see full biographies for Professor Simon Mitchell and Dr Nick Gant

At OZTek2019 Drs Simon Mitchell and Nick Gant presented the latest research on Hypoxia.

The official published research can be found here:

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6704007/pdf/DHMJ-49-112.pdf
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6526050/pdf/DHMJ-49-48.pdf

Presentation Preview:

Hypoxia is an insidious condition. It often gives little warning of onset, particularly if there are other distractions. Unlike hypercapnia (high CO2), which usually produces unpleasant symptoms, a diver can easily pass through a stage of confusion and lapse into unconsciousness with little or no sense that anything is wrong.

Drs Mitchell and Gant presented their results from conducting experiments in which human subjects are intentionally rendered very hypoxic whilst trying to perform a mental task, and the video records of these events are educational viewing for divers.

In this presentation they discuss how hypoxia can occur in diving, and how failure to recognise its onset is common and illustrate these principles with video and results of their experiments.

Finally, they discuss the safety and usefulness of intentional "dry hypoxia experiences" that have occasionally been advocated for divers, and why we doubt these are a good idea.

Other interesting material on this topic can be seen below.

Note: These are not related to the official presentation, but more on the actual topic itself.
Hypoxic training videos:

• https://youtu.be/88jAtA5ws_I 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUfF2MTnqAw