Integrated Medicine & Nutrition

 

Hyperbaric Oxygen

Take a breath! The air you just took in is made up of about 21 percent oxygen. When the capillaries in your lungs pick up the oxygen, it dissolves in the plasma of your blood, and gets carried to all parts of your body. And 21 percent oxygen is usually plenty to do the job. A large number of health issues involve, to various extents, oxygen use problems and the production of free radicals (highly reactive destructive molecules) and ultimately organ and tissue damage. Oxygen under various pressures may enhance the deliver of oxygen to cells, tissue and organs. The medical communinity has established that in various health problems, oxygen under pressure can have definate positive effects upon a wide variety of problems. Although the medical and holistic community is divided on just how much, and in which health problems, hyperbaric therapy can help, conflicting reports suggest the following:

- Increases neuronal energy metabolism in the brain
- Can create sustained cognitive improvement
- Wakes up sleeping (idling) brain cells that are metabolizing enough to stay alive but are not actively "firing"
- Enhances the body's ability to fight bacterial and viral infections
- Deactivates toxins and poisons (e.g. side effects from some chemotherapy, spider bites, air pollution, etc.)
- Enhances wound healing by stimulating the growth of new capillaries into the injured area
- Creates an immediate aerobic state
- Removes free radicals
- Reduces tissue swelling
- Acts as an anti-inflammatory