Conan Shing, SURF 2021

“Hi, my name is Conan Shing; I grew up in the Greater Toronto Area before moving to Kelowna, BC. As an avid cyclist pursuing a degree in exercise science was an easy choice, I hope that once I finish my education, I can join the fantastic team of support staff working with Canada’s national cycling team as an exercise physiologist. My particular project is important as it fills a gap in current literature regarding measures of sleep apnea. Current measures of sleep apnea, like the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), are a crude and unrefined measure of sleep apnea inaccurately representing its duration and severity. Through this project, I hope to find relationships between AHI and several other variables to discover a more accurate and informative way to present sleep apnea severity. Hopefully, this study will uncover valuable insight into how breathing is controlled and the onset of periodic breathing during travel and exposure to high altitudes. I then hope to take that insight and extend it towards more clinical applications. I want to thank the foundation for their generous donation and for creating an unprecedented number of opportunities for passionate undergraduate students in the School of Health and Exercise Science like myself. I know this opportunity will help my peers and I join the next generation of health research professionals and promote the growth of current health research and initiatives.”