#219 The physiology of Hypoxia, Sleep and Aging with Dr. Bill Beninati

Dr. Bill Beninati has a lifelong love of flying that led him to a career in the Air Force. He served as a physician specializing in pulmonary/critical care medicine, sleep disorders and operational fatigue, and flight medicine focused on medical and physiologic fitness to fly. For 13 years he was physician leader for the Air Force critical care air transport teams, and deployed multiple times to interesting and unfriendly places to do this mission. His civilian career led him to Utah where he is the Intermountain Health chief medical officer for a virtual hospital that includes comprehensive telehealth, advanced clinical command, and patient transport programs. He has an active research partnership with the Stanford Program in AI-assisted Care developing computer vision for patient safety. The not-for-profit air medical team operates over 50 aircraft across the spectrum from wilderness lift-hoist rescue through international critical care transport. They have rescued over 100 free flight pilots! He brings this expertise to the Global Rescue XRedRocks where he helps look after the safety of the athletes. His recreational aviation has included flying sailplanes, paragliders, and speed wings as well as skydiving. Today he is most active flying paragliders and sailplanes in the mountains of Utah.

In this episode Bill takes us on a deep dive into the physiology of hypoxia, sleep and aging and what we can (and should) do to help combat the effects of each when it comes to flying. Hypoxia can greatly reduce our mental acuities, often without our knowledge. It can be sudden and can be radically different from day to day. The bottom line- when operating at altitude even the most prepared and acclimatized need to build in more margin. Come along as we explore three subjects which can really impact our safety and ability in the air.

If you want to take a deeper dive on sleep hygiene Bill gave a very comprehensive talk on the subject for the XRedRocks participants last year. It’s a fascinating talk: