Does nitrox make one feel less tired? Are oxygen bars still popular?
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2002/602_air.html
A few quotes from the above article...
"And people with healthy lungs don't need additional oxygen, says Mary Purucker, M.D., Ph.D., a pulmonary specialist in CDER. "We've evolved for millions of years in an atmosphere of about 21 percent oxygen."
"The American Lung Association says that inhaling oxygen at oxygen bars is unlikely to have a beneficial physiological effect..."
"We've all seen it on TV--a football player runs off the field after a play and dons an oxygen mask. "They don't need it," says Conrad Earnest, Ph.D., director of exercise physiology at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. "It's one of the biggest placebo effects going," he adds. "It's a combative activity, so yes, the players are going to be out of breath, but it's because of massive exertion--not because of lack of oxygen." The exception, says Earnest, might be athletes who play at higher elevations than they are used to, and don't have time to acclimate. "If the New York Giants go to play the Washington Redskins, the benefit of oxygen--if any--would be so small it wouldn't be measurable. But if they go to play the Denver Broncos--going from sea level to a mile-high altitude--they may be helped by oxygen while recovering from a play."