Did you know we can survive without water for 3 days, food for 8-21 days….but only 4 minutes without oxygen? Like food, oxygen is actually a nutrient defined as ‘A substance that provides nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of life.
So what is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, often shortened to and known as HBOT? Let’s start with deconstructing the word ‘Hyperbaric’. Hyper = increased, and ‘baric’ = pressure.
Despite our increased technological advancement, more people are suffering chronic illnesses than ever before, and this is due largely to 2 factors: inflammation and toxicity. These are linked to: autoimmune responses such as allergies, poor diet/nutrition, lack of exercise, medications, lack of sleep, and stress. These cause toxic overload and inflammation.
HBOT involves increasing the level of oxygen in the body through pressure. This helps clear out dead cells, and rejuvenate those left resulting in more energy which helps the body heal itself. This is particularly effective for wound healing. You might remember a certain advertisement for a beverage that ‘reaches the parts other beers don’t, well this works on the same principle. If you imagine inflating a tyre, it is only useful when it is fully inflated by the air being pumped in. For a bodily example, imagine if you have numbness in your toes, pressurised oxygen will reach it whereas normal breathing won’t. This will help it heal faster!
Functional medical practitioners have expanded the above analogy over the years with clinical trials which have shown how HBOT is beneficial in a wide range of areas including:
- Pain relief: arthritis and fibromyalgia
- Enhancing the immune system
- Repairing injured and diseased tissue, sports injuries, wound healing post-surgery
- Stamina: Physical and mental energy
- Addiction recovery
- Neurological: Strokes, Traumatic Brain Injury, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Depression
- Stem cell growth and anti-ageing