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A man starved his brain of oxygen, explaining that it 'might save my life'.
Jack Schneider, a pilot and aerospace engineer, had a camera at the ready for when he entered a room that had 'most of its oxygen sucked out', making it the equivalent of being at 28,500 feet in the air. Watch the experiment below:
The lack of oxygen in the room had an immediate effect on the YouTuber, who described feeling lightheaded as he narrated his experience.
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“Everything just kind of felt funny. I was lightheaded and a little bit dizzy,” he said.
His pulse oximetry or ‘pulse ox’ - measuring the amount of oxygen in his blood - and symptoms were measured at one-minute intervals. There were also three other people taking part.
“I also felt my intelligence plummeting,” he said. “By four minutes in, everybody else had their masks on because they were starting to black out leaving just me.”
At this point it looks like Schneider is still able to function fairly normally and doesn’t need an oxygen mask. The instructors also seem to be talking to him throughout the experiment, before the situation takes a turn.
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The instructors tested Schneider’s cognitive abilities and one instructor can be heard speaking to him from outside the room.
In the last minute of the test, Schneider is asked how he feels and although it seems he’s able to answer normally, the effect of oxygen deprivation is extremely clear.
“I feel lightheaded,” he responds, as he breathes heavily.
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He’s then given pilot instructions, like putting his arms out in front of him and turning left, a right climbing turn and levelling-off.
He struggles to touch his nose when asked several times, but Schneider later reveals in his narration that he doesn’t even recall the latter.
When he puts the oxygen mask on you can see the relief in his eyes.
He said: “When my mask finally went on, my SpO2 was down to 62 percent.”
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SpO2, which is also known as oxygen saturation, measure the amount of oxygen-carrying haemoglobin in the blood relative to the amount of haemoglobin not carrying oxygen. Healthy levels are 95 to 100 percent.
“The mask almost immediately brought me back and you can see it in my eyes,” he shared.
“The crazy part though is I have absolutely zero recollection of him asking me to touch my nose.”
People in the comments were amazed.
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“This was very cool,” one YouTube user said. “Was interesting to see what happens when you don't have enough air. I kinda want to try it at some point.”
Another person penned: “Wow. Very interesting. I think many people take oxygen for granted. Many people just breathe without even thinking about it. This makes me thankful for oxygen in a weird way.”
Someone else responded: “Pretty scary stuff, actually.”
Schneider signs off by calling the training ‘valuable’ for anyone who is a pilot.
The goal of the experiment was to identify Schneider’s symptoms of hypoxia, when there’s an inadequate amount of oxygen in the body’s tissues. Hypoxia usually causes confusion, blueish skin and changes in breathing and heart rate.
If Schneider ever experienced hypoxia while flying, he’d be able to ‘fix the problem’ after identifying his symptoms seen during the experiment - potentially saving his and his passengers' lives.