Real-Time Monitoring System to Evaluate Exercise Load, Hypoxic Load, and Safety in a Normobaric Hypoxic room

One way to increase the effectiveness of exercise is to use a normobaric hypoxic environment. However, exercise in a normobaric hypoxic environment is not always safe to non-athletes because the safety and influences are still unclear. Therefore, in this study, 24 non-athlete subjects aged 20–39 and 40–59 years were subjected to the analysis of a 15-min exercise load test on a self-propelled treadmill at three different oxygen concentrations (16%, 18%, and 20%) to determine the safe oxygen concentration of normobaric hypoxic exercise in non-athletes and to select and validate the indicators to be measured for the development of a real-time monitoring system. The measurement indicators were electrocardiogram, heart rate (HR), blood pressure, arterial oxygen saturation (SpO
2
), the product of the HR and systolic blood pressure and treadmill velocity. The experimental results showed that normobaric hypoxic was sufficiently effective and safe at an oxygen concentration of 16% in both age groups of 20–39 years and 40–59 years. In addition, HR and SpO
2
were shown to be indices that can evaluate exercise load and hypoxic load in real-time. These results suggest that non-athletes can safely perform normobaric hypoxic exercise and that increased use by non-athletes may lead to improved health.