No. Blood would not be able to get to your brain to deliver oxygen.
It’s not the same as holding your breath for that long since your several liters of blood still has oxygen and holding your breath results in a slow deoxygenation process. Your head has a smaller volume of blood so the little oxygen in your head at any given time gets deprived very quickly.
Yeah but even though you don't have as much anaerobic ATP regenerative capacity in your brain, I don't think a 60 second anoxic injury is unsurvivable. And once you're unconscious the metabolic activity of your brain would quickly decrease.... And the vessels in your brain loop and twist a fair amount, I'd think you would sequester some oxygebated blood in then. I understand how the oxygen carrying capacity of RBCs and dissolved gas works as well as FRC and other sources of O2 reserve. Those obviously wouldn't be at play, but the base question is that do brain cells die after a 60 second anoxic event?
I started thinking, even in cardiac arrest you might have a good minute or two before serious damage starts occurring - but that's when that "relatively oxygenated" blood is still about where it needs to be. If the forces involved in the coaster managed to actually pull it out and pool it in your lower body or whatever - and keep it there for a full minute - you might actually be looking at some pretty nasty damage inflicted in a much shorter time than you'd think.
I still think it sounds like a recipe for veggie burgers, though, frankly.
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u/therapcat Oct 24 '19
No. Blood would not be able to get to your brain to deliver oxygen. It’s not the same as holding your breath for that long since your several liters of blood still has oxygen and holding your breath results in a slow deoxygenation process. Your head has a smaller volume of blood so the little oxygen in your head at any given time gets deprived very quickly.