Haemoglobin mass rose about 1.1% for every 100 hours at 2,100 m or higher, across 17 studies.
Most used 14+ hours a day. Gore et al. 2013, Br J Sports Med · PubMed
For club performance staff
Build it in pre-season. Hold it all season.
Your players sleep at simulated altitude at home, in a Sleep Cloud over their own bed: an 8-week block in pre-season, then two nights a week. On our model, haemoglobin mass sits about 5% above baseline from Round 1 to the Grand Final.
+4.9%haemoglobin mass at Round 1
+5.2%average, Round 1 to the Grand Final
0weeks away from the club
What we'd expect over a season
Choose the plan. The blue line is modelled haemoglobin mass for a player who follows it. The orange line is the same pre-season block with no nights in season.
–at Round 1
–season average
–at the Grand Final
–nights per player
Your plan
Same block, no nights in season
Table view
Model: the Oxygen Coach haemoglobin-mass model, set to the average rate across 17 studies (Gore 2013, about 1.1% per 100 hours), so an 8-week block at 8 hours a night reaches +4.8%. Simulated 2,500 m on the 2027 season dates. A planning estimate for a player who follows the plan.
How it works
1
Pre-season block
8 weeks at 8 to 10 hours a night, finishing just before Round 1.
2
Two nights a week
Through the season, on nights away from game day, to hold what the block built.
3
Second block, if you want it
Six weeks mid-season lifts it again for the run home.
No camp. No weeks away.
An altitude camp takes the list away for weeks, and the gain starts to fade as soon as players come home. In the studies below, about half of it was gone within a month, and athletes who went straight back to sea level were near baseline within 9 days. Sleeping high at home lets you build it when you choose, and keep it.
The research
Building it
Elite runners who slept at a simulated 2,860 m for 46 nights (about 400 hours) raised haemoglobin mass 4.9% more than controls, and used 3.2% less oxygen at the same running speed.
Randomised, 9 runners per group. Saunders et al. 2009, J Sci Med Sport · PubMed
What it does
VFL footballers who slept at simulated altitude for 19 nights improved a repeat 1-km time trial 4.6% more than teammates who didn't.
12 hours a night at 3,000 m; 15 players. Inness et al. 2017, J Sci Med Sport · PubMed
Athletes who lived high and trained low raised VO2max about 2.2 mL/kg/min more than controls, across 62 controlled studies.
Meta-analysis, 610 athletes. Kohlbrenner et al. 2026, Sports Med · PubMed
Holding it
About 7 hours a week at altitude after a camp kept the haemoglobin gain at 30 days: +4.2%, against +1.9% for athletes who stopped.
58 endurance athletes; groups chose their own plan. Peltonen et al. 2024, J Appl Physiol · PubMed
Athletes who kept sleeping at altitude after a camp kept their haemoglobin gain. Those back at sea level were near baseline within 9 days.
Randomised, 18 athletes; running tests were similar in both groups. Yan et al. 2021, Eur J Appl Physiol · PubMed
What a club subscription includes
- Sleep Clouds delivered and set up in your players' homes.
- Oxygen Coach for the whole list, with a staff dashboard (3 or more systems).
- All servicing: oxygen sensor cells every 12 months, air filters every 3 months, repairs, and a replacement unit if a machine stops.
- Optional: an Altitude Room System in a player's bedroom, or Training Clouds at the club to train at altitude.
- 36 months, billed yearly. Simulates altitudes up to 4,000 m. CE marked.
See the plan for your list
A 20-minute call. We'll run the calculator with your staff and your season dates.