The urge to inhale after such a brief period is, I believe, a reflex
driven largely by CO2. Assuming you do not do this habitually, hundreds
of times per hour, day after day, it seems unlikely anything bad will
happen.
"Mild" chronic hyoxia (e.g. as in respiratory or circulatory problems)
has been correlated with small but measurable cognitive impairments;
but whether these are permanent is uncertain (perhaps unlikely).
What some people inhale for recreational purposes is, I believe, NO2
(not N2O), i.e. nitrous oxide. I believe there has been some evidence
published that suggestts long-term abuse of this gas may cause brain
damage. I believe tthe interpretation has been that this is due to
hypoxia, but it occurs to me that the (as yet little studied) possible
consequence of increased brain levels of NO (nitric oxide) might also
play a role...
F. Frank LeFever, Ph.D.
New York Neuropsychology Group
In <36fd1aee.4153210 at nntpserver.swip.net> not-available at home.se
(Neogen) writes:
>>I'm wondering about for how long the brain can go w/o oxygen, before
>braindamage occurs? (And also, how the damage occurs..)
>>For example, if I breathe out as much air as possible, in less than 10
>seconds I will feel the need to inhale. Does this mean that if I could
go on
>longer w/o inhaling, something ..bad would happend?
>>I've read reports of people inhaling pure N2O (as opposed to the
dental 30%/
>70% mix, or whatever amount it is :) and holding it in for minutes,
would
>this mean that some sort of damage occurs?
>>Regards,
>Neogen
