Anesthesiology 1975 Jun;42(6):658-61. doi: 10.1097/00000542-197506000-00003.
The anesthetic effect of air at atmospheric pressure
P M Winter, D L Bruce, M J Bach, G W Jay, E I Eger 2nd
PMID: 1130736
DOI: 10.1097/00000542-197506000-00003
Abstract
Nitrogen has recognized narcotic potential at hyperbaric pressures. No narcotic effect of helium has been demonstrated at any pressure. We evaluated the effect of nitrogen in air at one atmosphere on human performance by comparing it with helium-oxygen using a four-alternative divided-attention task that requires rapid response to auditory and visual signal changes. There was a 9.3 per cent decrease in response time when subjects breathed helium-oxygen, a significant change (P less than 0.001). This change could not be ascribed to practice since the order of presentation of gases did not have a significant effect. It concluded that the nitrogen in ambient air slightly but measurable impairs human performance compared with a non-anesthetic gas such as helium.
For those who don't follow along here: the thrust of this paper is a finding that, because nitrogen is narcotic under pressure and makes up just under 80% of air, normal air you usually breathe actually makes you slightly high compared to a custom air blend in which nitrogen is replaced with helium.
Reminds me of a shitty Lithuanian sci-fi book where humans are superpowered, but Earth actually dampens their powers as its their prison.
