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Why You Should Put YOUR MASK On First (My Brain Without Oxygen) - Smarter Every Day 157

SmarterEveryDay · 11.6M views · 2016-07-22 · 10:18

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Overview

Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day undergoes hypoxia training and experiences his own impaired thinking as oxygen is withdrawn. The video shows how quickly and unnoticeably oxygen deprivation degrades judgment, illustrating why you put your own mask on first.

On Hacker News

It is the go-to demonstration of how hypoxia silently disables decision making, cited in threads on altitude, flying, diving, CO2 and breathwork.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2016–2025

Topics

Everyday physics & science demosAviation & aerospace engineeringNeuroscience & the brain
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hypoxiaaviation safetyoxygen deprivationcognitionsmarter every day

What people said

j_bum · 2025-04 · Strong recommendation

Destin from Smarter Every Day (YouTube) has a wonderful video demonstrating this effect [0]. I’d recommend watching the whole thing, but you can see how much of an effect it has starting around the 6:00 mark. [0] [VIDEO]

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sithadmin · 2022-01 · Recommendation

30-40k ft is absolutely a problem. Even if you remain conscious, you're completely unable to think coherently and generally have no idea what you're doing. Stay there long enough and you will unquestionably suffer brain damage and probably death as well. SmarterEveryDay did a good video about hypoxia training that demonstrates the very rapid onset and severe effects of hypoxia at cruising altitudes: [VIDEO]

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mikejb · 2019-01 · Recommendation

Destin from the 'Smarter Every day' YouTube channel did something similar (in a PSA-sort of style), and it's partly funny, partly scary to watch: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by SmarterEveryDay, played through YouTube.

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