Improved body resistance and mental health in students undergoing hypoxic training wearing insulating gas masks

Relevance. Improving mental health of professionals working in extreme environments are an urgent step towards improved health of the urban population.
Objective. The aim is to evaluate the long–term efficiency of hypoxic training wearing a filter gas mask in terms of mental health.
Methods. Mental health assessment was carried out using Spielberger–Khanin questionnaire and the Lusher test. The correlation between the indicators showing changes in the level of anxiety, vital lung capacity and the number of trunk lifts were calculated for the two groups of students, each including 50 participants. Group 1 used a filter gas mask while doing physical exercises within their hypoxic training, whereas Group 2 performed similar amount of exercises without wearing a gas mask.
Results and discussion. Group 1 showed a significant decrease in the level of anxiety and a trend towards having less students with future pursuits and hopes for the best. By the end of the study, moderate negative correlations of reactive anxiety with an increase in the vital lung capacity (r = –0.43; p < 0.05) and the number of trunk lifts in supine position (r= –0.37; p < 0.05) was found in Group 1. Factor analysis in both groups revealed restructured functional body reserves during physical training.
Conclusion. Hypoxic training in students throughout the academic year allowed to significantly increase the vital lung capacity, physical resilience, satisfaction, pursuits and positive perception of the future, while reducing the level of anxiety.

1. Anastasi A. Urbina C. Psikhologicheskoe testirovanie [Psychological testing]. St. Petersburg. 2003. 688 p. (In Russ.)

2. Apal’kova A.M., Polynskii V.V., Gerasimova N.A. Zanyatiya sportom (fizicheskoi kul’turoi) kak sredstvo profilaktiki stressa [Sports (physical culture) as a means of stress prevention]. Yunyi uchenyi [Young scientist]. 2018; (2):140–144. (In Russ.)

3. Baranova K.A. Preventivnaya umerennaya gipoksiya povyshaet soderzhanie kortikosteroidnykh retseptorov v mozge krys v eksperimental’noi modeli depressii [Preconditioning by moderate hypoxia increases the amountof corticosteroid receptors in the rat brain in the model of depression]. Neirokhimiya [Neirokhimiya]. 2020; 37(3):220–227. DOI: 10.31857/S1027813320030024. (In Russ.)

4. Batarshev A.B. Bazovye psikhologicheskie svoistva i professional’noe samoopredelenie lichnosti [Basic psychological properties and self-determination of personality]. St. Petersburg. 2005. 208 p. (In Russ.)

5. Goranchuk V.V., Sapova N.I., Ivanov A.O. Gipoksiterapiya [Hypoxytherapy]. St. Petersburg. 2003. 536 p. (In Russ.)

6. Ziambetov V.Yu., Pyatibrat A.O. Vliyanie gipoksicheskoi trenirovki v izoliruyushchem protivogaze na povyshenie rezistentnosti organizma k vliyaniyu ekstremal’nykh uslovii professional’noi deyatel’nosti [The effect of hypoxic training in an insulating gas mask on increasing the body’s resistance to the influence of extreme conditions of professional activity]. Mediko-biologicheskie i sotsial’no-psikhologicheskie problemy bezopasnosti v chrezvychainykh situatsiyakh [Medico-Biological and Socio-Psychological Problems of Safety in Emergency Situations]. 2021; (4):71–77. DOI: 10.25016/2541-7487-2021-0-4-71-77. (In Russ.)

7. Karymova O.S., Kolodina I.I. Osobennosti proyavleniya trevozhnosti i stressa u muzhchin i zhenshchin s raznym urovnem samootsenki [Features of anxiety and stress in men and women with different levels of self-esteem]. Azimut nauchnykh issledovanii: pedagogika i psikhologiya [Azimuth of scientific research: pedagogy and psychology]. 2021; 10(2):358–361. DOI: 10.26140/anip-2021-1002-0090. (In Russ.)

8. Nikolaeva A.G. Ispol’zovanie adaptacii k gipoksii v medicine i sporte [The use of adaptation to hypoxia in medicine and sports]. Vitebsk. 2015. 150 p. (In Russ.)

9. Rusina N.A., Olenchuk A.B. Vzaimosvyaz’ urovnya trevozhnosti, urovnya samootsenki i prokrastinatsii u molodykh lyudei [The relationship between the level of anxiety, the level of self-esteem and procrastination in young people]. Voprosy psikhicheskogo zdorov’ya detei i podrostkov [Mental health issues of children and adolescents]. 2017; 17(S2):208–209. (In Russ.)

10. Sobchik L.N. MTsV – metod tsvetovykh vyborov: modifitsirovannyi vos’mitsvetovoi test Lyushera [MTSV – the method of color choices. Modified eight-color Lusher test]. St. Petersburg ; Moscow. 2001. 99 p. (In Russ.)

11. Sugonyaev K.V. Mozhno li otsenit’ lichnostnye kharakteristiki s pomoshch’yu testa Lyushera? [Is it possible to assess personality traits by means of Loscher test?]. Psikhologiya. Psikhofiziologiya [Psychology. Psychophysiology]. 2019: 12(2)41–59. DOI: 10.14529/jpps190204. (In Russ.)