Optimize Your Oxygen Uptake: Maximizing VO2 Max for Peak Cognitive Performance

10/31/2023

3 min

Most people have never heard of VO2 max. A few know it has something to do with oxygen consumption. But how is it measured? And what does a high or low figure mean?

And even more importantly for most of us...what does it say about my ability to perform well cognitively?

What is VO2 Max - a definition

As a concept, VO2 max was first studied in the 1920s by researchers who observed that oxygen consumption increases with running speed up to a certain limit, and then no more. At this point, your body has to rely on other sources of energy, and can’t sustain that level of effort for long. Your number, then, represents that peak: the maximum amount of oxygen (O2), measured by volume (V), that your body can take in while exercising.

It is considered a key indicator of aerobic fitness and reflects an individual's cardiovascular endurance capacity

It decreases by age and differs between men and women. Also your genes play determine for a big part your score.

A high VO2 max indicates a greater ability to take in and utilize oxygen during exercise, indicating excellent cardiovascular fitness and endurance potential. In contrast, a low VO2 max suggests a lower capacity to consume oxygen during physical activity, which may indicate reduced cardiovascular fitness and endurance levels.

But what else does it say about your health?

What does VO2 Max say about my health?

There is an incredible amount of evidence indicating that your VO2 max can predict your risk for cardiovascular disease.

What’s more, the association of VO2 max with morbidity and mortality is stronger than that for the risk factors usually considered, like cholesterol, BMI and blood glucose. In one large-scale meta-analysis in 2022, for instance, subjects who ranked in the top one-third of aerobic fitness – as measured by VO2 max – had a 45% reduced risk of death from any cause compared with individuals in the lower third.

There is an incredible amount of evidence indicating that your VO2 max can predict your risk for cardiovascular disease

But there is not only a link to your cardiovascular health, but there is also a link to your cognitive performance.

How is VO2 Max linked to cognitive performance?

A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2016 examined the association between VO2 max and cognitive function in healthy older adults. The researchers found that higher VO2 max levels were positively correlated with better cognitive performance, including improvements in memory, attention, and executive function.

Another study published in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research in 2017 investigated the relationship between VO2 max and cognitive function in young adults. The findings indicated that higher VO2 max was associated with enhanced cognitive performance, particularly in tasks related to attention and information processing speed.

Researchers found that higher VO2 max levels were positively correlated with better cognitive performance, including improvements in memory, attention, and executive function.

A last study worth mentioning was done on Medical students. A significant "positive" relationship was observed between aerobic capacity and some domains of cognitive performance, especially problem solving.

How to measure VO2 Max?

With technology advancing at a fast pace, almost every consumer nowadays can quite easily get an indication of his or her VO2 Max. Ten years ago you had to go to a laboratory and do an intense threadmill exercise wearing a mask over your head. Now, almost every smartwatch can calculate your VO2 max quite accurately based on a fitness walk or short run.

A 30 min Fitness Level walk done in the early afternoon to calculate my VO2 max

A recent measurement done by myself indicates my VO2 max is 54, which is not bad for my age group.

But to what extent can a VO2 max be improved? Until quite recently, the common wisdom was that the measure is largely genetic: some people have a high number naturally, others don’t, and training might only give you a 10% bump. Studies are thin on the ground because training to specifically improve VO2 max is difficult and lengthy.

Most coaches advice to combine long slow endurance workouts with high intensity to have the best effect on your cardiovascular fitness level. So if your training includes both styles of workout, you’ll be doing plenty to improve your health.

Be your best,

Lieven