The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques for a Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter You

Dr. Joseph Mercola
It has been well documented that those who live at higher altitudes tend to live longer. The precise mechanism behind this is not known and could be a result of several factors. However, one of the leading candidates for this explanation is a reduced pressure of oxygen at higher altitudes.
Research is very clear that calorie restriction extends life span. But another nutrient many of us don’t frequently consider is oxygen. Just as excess calories can cause metabolic damage, excess oxygen can also prematurely damage your tissues through the generation of excess free radicals. These are highly reactive and destructive molecules that cause damage to the fats in your cell membranes, proteins, and DNA. Free radicals are generated by the normal breakdown of oxygen

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short, our body’s relationship with carbon dioxide determines how healthy we can be, affecting nearly every aspect of how our body functions.

In addition to determining how much oxygen is released into your tissues and cells, carbon dioxide also plays a central role in regulating the pH of the bloodstream: how acidic or alkaline your blood is. Normal pH in the blood is 7.365, and this level must remain within a tightly defined range or the body is forced to compensate. For example, when the blood’s pH becomes more alkaline, breathing reduces to allow carbon dioxide levels to rise and restore pH. Conversely, if the pH of the blood is too acidic (as it is when you overconsume processed foods), breathing increases in order to offload carbon dioxide as acid, allowing pH to normalize. Maintaining normal blood pH is vital to our survival. If pH is too acidic and drops below 6.8, or too alkaline and rises above 7.8, the result can be fatal. This is because pH levels directly affect the ability of our internal organs and metabolism to function.

why is it that the benefits of light breathing are relatively unknown? It is difficult to know the exact answer, although a number of points are worth bearing in mind. The first is that air is weightless and therefore difficult to measure, and breathing can change quickly and effortlessly during the measuring process. The second is that doctors learn how oxygen is released from the red blood cells early on in their studies—the Bohr Effect is described in most basic medical school physiology textbooks—so it is possible that this information is simply forgotten by the time of graduation. Another reason may be that overbreathing affects each person individually, resulting in a wide variety of problems that may not necessarily appear to be connected, from cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal issues to general exhaustion. To add even more confusion, not everyone who overbreathes will develop obvious symptoms, as the effects of hyperventilation depend on genetic predisposition.

Who feels that they are more tired than they should be?” Usually about 80 percent raise their hands. My job is to help them understand why. With the aid of a pulse oximeter, I have measured the oxygen saturation of thousands of people, and the vast majority display normal blood oxygen saturations of between 95 and 99 percent.* Why would this be? Their blood oxygen saturations are normal, yet they constantly feel tired. The problem is not a lack of oxygen in the blood, but that not enough oxygen is being released from the blood to tissues and organs, including the brain, resulting in feelings of lethargy and exhaustion. This happens because too much carbon dioxide has been expelled from the body. As we shall see further on, habitual overbreathing influences the release of oxygen from red blood cells, the consequences of which can affect day-to-day well-being as well as performance during exercise. This ties back to the Bohr Effect, which I touched on in the introduction and will expand on in a few pages.

However, instead of monitoring fluctuations in temperature, these receptors monitor the concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your blood, along with the acidity or pH level. When levels of carbon dioxide increase above a certain amount, these sensitive receptors stimulate breathing in order to get rid of the excess gas. In other words, the primary stimulus to breathe is to eliminate excess carbon dioxide from the body.

Oxygen saturation (SpO2) is the percentage of oxygen-carrying red blood cells (hemoglobin molecules) containing oxygen within the blood. During periods of rest the standard breathing volume for a healthy person is between 4 and 6 liters of air per minute, which results in almost complete oxygen saturation of 95 to 99 percent. Because oxygen is continually diffusing from the blood into the cells, 100 percent saturation is not always feasible. An oxygen saturation of 100 percent would suggest that the bond between red blood cells and oxygen molecules is too strong, reducing the blood cells’ ability to deliver oxygen to muscles, organs, and tissues. We need the blood to release oxygen, not hold on to it. The human body actually carries a surplus of oxygen in the blood—75 percent is exhaled during rest and as much as 25 percent is exhaled during physical exercise. Increasing oxygen saturation to 100 percent has no added benefits

One branch leads to the right lung, the other to the left. Within your lungs, the bronchi further subdivide into smaller branches called bronchioles, and eventually into a multitude of small air sacs called alveoli. To visualize this complex system, imagine an upside-down tree. Your trachea is the trunk, and the bronchi form two large branches at the top of it, from which the smaller branches of the bronchioles grow. At the end of these branches are the “leaves”—the round sacs of the alveoli, which transport oxygen into the blood. It is quite a striking example of evolutionary balance and beauty that the trees around us that give off oxygen and the trees in our lungs that absorb it share a similar structure.