IMR Press / RCM / Volume 23 / Issue 5 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2305161
Open Access Review
Hypoxic Therapy as a New Therapeutic Modality for Cardiovascular Benefit: A Mini Review
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1 Department of Sports Medicine and Science, Graduate School, Konkuk University, 05029 Seoul, Republic of Korea
2 Physical Activity and Performance Institute (PAPI), Konkuk University, 05029 Seoul, Republic of Korea
3 Department of Physical Education, Konkuk University, 05029 Seoul, Republic of Korea
*Correspondence: exercise@konkuk.ac.kr (Kiwon Lim)
Academic Editors: Osama Hamdy and Joanna Mitri
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2022, 23(5), 161; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2305161
Submitted: 9 February 2022 | Revised: 11 March 2022 | Accepted: 18 March 2022 | Published: 28 April 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cardiovascular Benefits of Lifestyle Modification)
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are recognized as one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Generally, most CVDs can be prevented by addressing behavioral risk factors, including smoking, unhealthy diet and obesity, lack of physical activity, and alcohol abuse. Therefore, it is important to have a healthy lifestyle by performing regular physical activity to improve cardiovascular health and diseases. However, a majority of adults worldwide do not meet the minimum recommendations for regular aerobic exercise, and overweight and obesity ratio continues to rise. In addition, obese individuals, with a high prevalence of CVDs, have a lower participation rate for exercise because of the strain on the musculoskeletal system. Hypoxic therapy, including exposure or exercise intervention under hypoxia, has been utilized as a new therapeutic modality for cardiovascular benefit and amelioration of CVDs. Hypoxic therapy shows various physiological and pathophysiological properties, including increased appetite suppression and dietary intake reduction, increased energy consumption, improved glycogen storage, enhanced fatty acid oxidation, improved myocardial angiogenesis or ventricular remodeling, augmentation of blood flow within the skeletal muscle vascular beds, and reduction of the burden on the musculoskeletal system making it applicable to patients with CVDs and obesity with attenuated cardiovascular function. In particular, hypoxic therapy is very effective in improving cardiovascular benefits and preventing CVDs by enhancing arterial function, vascular endothelial function, and hemorheological properties. These observations indicate that hypoxic therapy may be an important and essential strategy for improving cardiovascular health and reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Keywords
cardiovascular diseases
cardiovascular health
hypoxic therapy
hypoxic exposure
hypoxic training
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