The machines do lower oxygen concentration in the air. I don’t know if “remove” is really the right word, but they basically work by altering the ratios of oxygen and nitrogen. So, the air that’s pumped into the tent has a lower oxygen percentage, and higher nitrogen percentage. The machine I have will only go to 11% Oxygen (which apparently simulates Everest Base Camp, at about 16,000 feet). So, I don’t think there is much, if any, risk of getting airflow with NO oxygen. The tent itself is mostly, but not fully, airtight. So, I think any sort of suffocation risk is overall pretty low (I think there is even a very slight risk of suffocation in a normal bedroom, but really so low it’s basically of no concern). I would think if anything, if the oxygen concentration got too low, you would end up waking in the night really hot and sweaty. That’s happened to me at the lowest oxygen concentration (aka, highest simulated altitude) that I’ve tried so far.
Here’s a college aged athlete who’s been using the tents for years, so this might help alleviate some of the suffocation concerns- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4zIwjbnWNU
As for your concerns with your wife, you’d have to discuss the idea with her. They have king and queen size bed tents, so they are big enough that you could go on this altitude journey together. There are also small canopies, so you could just do it alone, but as Cam Nicholls said in his video, they aren’t that great for romance, and he ended up sleeping in a different bed for the duration of his experiment (the relevant part starts around 5 min)-
Rico Rogers, the former cyclist, used an altitude tent with his wife for a long time, and eventually they did a bedroom conversion, so that would be ideal for a couple, but it’s also the most expensive option, and very permanent.
I think the best option would be to get a big tent and use it as a couple, if your wife is also interested in the idea. The noise of the machine could be an issue, but if you can put it in another room (my current setup), it cuts it down significantly. I’ve been using a white noise machine for a few years now, so any noise that comes from the other room isn’t an issue.
Author
