Hydrogen Gas Breathing Causes Muscle Weakness in Deep Sea Divers

TL;DR

A deep dive using a special gas mixture showed that high pressure can weaken both hand and breathing muscles, with breathing muscles taking longer to recover.

Key Finding

Breathing dense hydrogen-helium-oxygen gas at extreme depth caused a 55% reduction in inspiratory muscle strength that persisted for at least one month after the dive, while hand muscle strength showed only temporary decreases.

Summary

During an extreme deep dive to 7.1 megapascals (about 700 times normal atmospheric pressure), three professional divers breathed a dense mixture of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen. Researchers measured the strength of hand muscles and breathing muscles before, during, and after the dive. Hand muscle strength temporarily decreased by 22% during the dive, while breathing muscle strength dropped by up to 55% and remained weakened even one month later. The breathing muscle weakness was likely caused by the extra effort needed to breathe the thick gas mixture.

Practical Takeaway

This study examined extreme conditions (7.1 MPa) far beyond normal hydrogen water use and involved only three professional divers in a record-setting dive scenario. The findings relate to breathing pressurized hydrogen gas at extreme depths, not to consuming hydrogen water, so they have limited relevance to typical hydrogen water applications. The study does not provide information about hydrogen water's effects on muscle performance in normal conditions.

Abstract (excerpt)

During the 7.1-MPa hydrogen-helium-oxygen record human dive, we tested the hypothesis that the increased ambient pressure would alter the maximal muscle performance, specifically that breathing dense gas would lead to fatigue of the respiratory muscle. A group of hand muscles (adductor pollicis…

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