When you exercise, your body uses a lot of oxygen to contract your muscles. This is one reason why it’s so important to warm up with light exercises, such as stretching or jogging, before lifting weights.
If you have COPD, using supplemental oxygen can help reduce breathlessness and fatigue caused by physical activity. This article will explain how it works and give you tips on how to exercise comfortably with oxygen.
Warm-up
The warm-up phase of exercise with oxygen helps to decrease the risk of injury and prepares muscles for exertion. It also increases oxygen flow to your muscles, helping them perform at their best. Additionally, the high levels of oxygen reduce lactic acid build-up and improve your ability to burn fat.
A warm-up should consist of a gradual increase in the intensity of physical activity (a “pulse raiser”), joint mobility exercises, and stretching. Generally, it takes about five to ten minutes and should result in a light sweat. During the warm-up, avoiding static stretches or extended holds is important because they may cause injury and muscle soreness. Dynamic stretches, however, are an effective way to warm up because they involve movement and muscle flexibility.
It is also a good idea to ensure that your oxygen equipment is properly calibrated and maintained and that you use it in the right settings. Keeping these tips in mind, you can maximize the benefits of exercise with oxygen and improve your overall health, fitness, and quality of life.
Many people with COPD or other chronic health conditions use oxygen therapy when exercising to help them feel more energetic. However, working out with a tank or concentrator can seem challenging at first, especially when it comes to finding the right workouts and techniques.
In addition to avoiding static stretches and extended holding, it’s important to wear loose clothing that will not get caught up or ripped in the equipment. You should also clip your tubing to the back of your shirt or wear it around your waist so that you can keep it out of the way while exercising.
Fortunately, exercise with oxygen doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, the results are comparable to those without supplemental oxygen. During exercise, the increased oxygen level boosts your energy and endurance and makes it easier to breathe. It also reduces the amount of lactic acid in your blood and allows you to move more quickly while your heart rate remains lower and the perception of exertion is lower.
Exercise
We all know that exercise is good for us – it trims our waistlines, strengthens our hearts, and boosts our moods. But did you know that it also helps keep our lungs healthy? When we are physically active, our body’s oxygen demands increase as the muscles work to burn fuel and move. This forces the lungs to work harder as well, and sometimes this is why people with COPD feel so short of breath during exercise.
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to work out without letting oxygen stop you from being physically active. The best way is to find exercises that are low impact, such as walking, swimming, yoga, tai chi, or weight lifting. These kinds of workouts allow you to keep your oxygen tubing nearby so that you don’t have to worry about constantly rearranging it or lugging around your equipment while trying to focus on your exercise routine.
The use of supplemental oxygen during EWOT improves the effectiveness and efficiency of your workout by increasing your blood oxygen saturation and improving performance. In fact, a study found that oxygen-trained individuals were able to exercise at the same heart rate as their air-trained counterparts and, in some cases, even higher.
Oxygen during exercise may also help to reduce the effects of some diseases and conditions that worsen with age, such as fibromyalgia, diabetes, arthritis, and chronic pain syndrome. This is because it increases the flow of blood to the muscles, which can help speed up the recovery process and relieve symptoms.
Exercising with oxygen can also make it easier to perform high-intensity workouts, such as interval training and weightlifting. Using an oxygen concentrator with high-purity oxygen allows you to train at greater intensities and can enhance the results of your regular workouts. To learn more about how exercising with oxygen can improve your quality of life, speak to a healthcare professional today.
Cool-down
During exercise, your body uses up lots of oxygen, and it needs to be replenished quickly. That’s especially important if you have a chronic respiratory illness like COPD, which makes it more difficult for your lungs to absorb oxygen. Exercise with oxygen can feel challenging, but it’s not impossible. You can exercise more easily with oxygen with the right equipment, techniques, and DIY fixes.
In a healthy person, blood oxygen levels return to normal very quickly after finishing a workout. This is because the heart pumps at an accelerated rate to feed the working muscles with oxygen-rich blood. But if your workout ends abruptly, blood may pool in the lower extremities, and the slower rate of muscular contraction reduces the rate at which oxygenated blood moves back to the heart and brain. This can cause dizziness and light-headedness. A gradual cool-down prevents this from happening and helps your body return to a steady state, including slowing down your breathing.
The cooling-down phase of your workout should be dynamic and involve exercises that are the same or similar to those used during the warm-up. This will help decrease the metabolic rate of your muscles and reduce the buildup of lactic acid. It’s also a good idea to take in some food or drink during your cool-down, which will help you replenish your glycogen supplies. Glycogen is a form of energy that can be converted to ATP, which is the energy source your muscles use during exercise.
Before and during your workout, you should make sure that the tubing attached to your oxygen mask or nasal drug delivery options like nasal cannula is properly secured. Over time, jostling the tubing around can irritate your skin and cause ear pain. You can avoid this by using ear cushions designed to reduce the impact of tugging and rubbing. It’s also important to keep your oxygen tank or concentrator full and ensure you have enough in reserve to last through the entire exercise. Otherwise, your blood oxygen level can drop to dangerously low levels, making exercising with oxygen very difficult.
Breathing
While you are exercising, your breathing will increase in intensity as the muscles of your chest and abdomen contract and relax. At rest, breathing is automatic and controlled subconsciously by the respiratory center in your brain. Sensory organs in your lungs, aorta, and carotid arteries monitor blood oxygen levels, triggering your brain to increase or decrease the frequency and depth of each breath as needed.
Inhaling during exercise is necessary for supplying your body with the oxygen it needs to process the millions of biochemical reactions that make up daily life and make you feel healthy. However, as your body’s need for oxygen increases during activity, it can also cause your lungs to overwork, leading to shortness of breath and other COPD symptoms like wheezing and coughing. Using oxygen while you exercise can help prevent these symptoms and allow you to enjoy regular, vigorous exercise that improves your overall health.
During exercise, supplemental oxygen improves your performance by increasing blood circulation throughout the body, carrying oxygen into the arteries, veins, and small capillaries comprising over 74 percent of the circulatory system. Oxygen carries the energy your cells need to carry out the billions of chemical reactions that keep you alive and well. This oxygen-rich blood can also better deliver the nutrients your body needs for healing and disease prevention.
The supplemental oxygen you use during exercise will improve your ability to carry out physical activity and help your body recover faster after each workout. This will give you the extra endurance, strength, and power to push through difficult exercises and compete in high-stress sports competitions — whether you are an athlete or simply someone who loves to stay active.
During exercise, the tube that connects your oxygen equipment to your nose or mouth may jostle around and rub against your skin. This can lead to irritation, so it’s a good idea to use ear cushions to protect your ears from the tubing and avoid any unnecessary discomfort during your workout. Drinking water daily can also reduce irritation caused by your supplemental oxygen and help to thin mucus in your throat and airways, making it easier for you to breathe.