Cora Galm is conducting research on hypoxia at HFU
Early-career researcher Cora Galm is conducting research at Furtwangen University into the effects of high-altitude training
When Cora Galm is working on her research topic, she sometimes hops on her bike – in a very special setting. Instead of a ride in the countryside, alongside around 60 other participants, she undertook regular training sessions at the Villingen-Schwenningen Hypoxia Centre for her Master’s thesis. There, in special facilities simulating an altitude of 3,000 metres, she cycled, rowed and ran to find out to what extent the perception of psychological stress is altered by high-altitude air.
The early-career researcher, who works at Faculty II: Engineering & Technology at Furtwangen University (HFU), became aware of the topic when a lecturer reported on the establishment of the altitude centre. “There is already a great deal of research into the positive effects of hypoxia training on the body and how athletes can make use of this effect,” she explains. “But the psychological effects – the extent to which high-altitude training influences stress parameters – have not yet been tested by anyone.” To this end, she examined various parameters such as heart rate variability, microcirculation and subjective stress perception during a five-week training programme. She also received support from the team at the Altimed Hypoxia Centre and her two supervisors at the HFU, Prof. Dr Folker Wenzel and Prof. Dr Thomas Schiepp.
She herself was a little surprised by the huge interest her research approach generated amongst experts. “I was thrown in at the deep end, so to speak, and was asked to present the topic straight away at specialist conferences and showcase it with a poster,” she explains. And it proved a success; for her work, she was awarded a conference scholarship for the Rehabilitation Science Colloquium in Leipzig, which included giving her own presentation at the Early-career Researchers’ Forum. Last autumn, she was also awarded the first poster prize by the German Society for Clinical Microcirculation and Haemorrheology.
She has particularly vivid memories of the rehabilitation conference in March, “I’ve never been so nervous in my life,” she says with a laugh. The conference attendees had lots of questions – about the measurements, methodology and results of her study. “Although the results showed that subjective stress perception does not appear to be strongly linked to altitude, but rather to physical activity, heart rate variability in particular showed significant improvements in the hypoxia group,” reports Cora Galm. “However, I would like to examine this in even greater detail if possible.”
Cora Galm could envisage exploring the topic of hypoxia research in greater depth in relation to various areas of rehabilitation. Having already completed her degrees in Medical Engineering and Technical Physician at the HFU, she is now aiming to pursue a PhD in this field. Her findings could help to ensure that altitude training is seen in future not only as a means of improving performance, but also as an option in the field of rehabilitation.
Further impressions
