The Effects Of Singlet Oxygen Energy On Repeated Sprint Performance In Basketball Players

Singlet oxygen is a type of excited state of molecular oxygen. Previous studies showed inhaling singlet oxygen energy (SOE) increased antioxidant activity and decreased heart rate and blood lactate production during exercise. It seemed to produce energy through aerobic pathway during endurance exercise after inhaling SOE. However, it is unclear the effects of SOE on athletes engaging in high intensity intermittent exercise. PURPOSE: To explore the effect of inhaling SOE on repeated sprints performance in basketball players. METHODS: 19 male collegiate basketball players (age:20.5 ± 2 yrs, height:181.3 ± 10.2 cm, weight:76.9 ± 13.2 kg) participated in a single-blinded, randomized crossover study using 15 × 6 s all-out repeated sprinting test separated by 20s active recovery on a cycle ergometer. Subjects inhaled either SOE or normal gas for 30 min including 10 min warm up before test, with a 7-day washout between conditions. The SOE inhalation rate was 2.5 L/min. Blood samples were collected at baseline, pre-test and post-test to analyze blood lactate and arterialized venous blood gas. Rate of perceive exertion (RPE) were recorded at the end of the test. Peak power (PP), mean power (MP), minimum power (MinP), work done (WD), fatigue index (FI) and decrement score (Sdec) were measured during the test. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and were presented as mean ± SD. RESULTS: Blood lactate concentrations (13.6 ± 4.1 vs. 14.7 ± 4 mmol/L, p < 0.05) was found lower in the SOE at post-test, which corresponded to the trend of blood HCO3- concentrations (19.4 ± 3 vs. 17.3 ± 3.6 mmol/L, p < 0.01), indicating less metabolic waste production. The sprints performance, PP (2851 ± 725 vs. 2675 ± 626 W, p < 0.05), MP (2306 ± 601 vs. 2169 ± 513 W, p < 0.05) and WD (13843 ± 3396 vs. 13081 ± 2986 J, p < 0.05) were found higher in the SOE trial during the final 5 sprints. The Sdec (45.3 ± 12.2 vs. 49.6 ± 11 %, p < 0.05) showed lower in SOE trial during the last 5 sprints. In addition, RPE (16.9 ± 1.5 vs. 17.7 ± 1.5, p < 0.05) was also found lower in the SOE trial. CONCLUSIONS: Inhaling SOE prior to repeated bouts of sprint exercise might be beneficial to team sport athletes through maintaining higher power output and feeling less fatigue during the later stage of exercise. The underlying mechanism may be explained by the less lactate production during exercise.