Virtually all "good" forms of life on the planet Earth need three things to survive: Light, water and oxygen. Adult humans can live without food for 30 to 40 days and without water for as much as 10 days; but we'd all be acutely aware of having no oxygen, since we can only live for 3 or 4 minutes if our supply was totally cut off.

But many people aren't aware that just having 'a little bit too little" oxygen also causes serious problems. For example:

• We've all heard of the aging (and other problem causing) effects of "free radicals," and know that "anti-oxidants" help to rid our body of them. What few of us realize is that "free radicals" don't come from having too much oxygen in our systems - they're a result of incomplete metabolism, caused by having too little oxygen available when we need it!

•The main reason for aging is the failure of enzymatic systems that are responsible for the body's uptake and and utilization of oxygen. When cells don't get enough oxygen, they degenerate and die and so you degenerate and die.

• The two-time Nobel prize winner, Warburg, postulated that shortage of oxygen destabilizes cells, created mutations leading to cancer. It certainly is well known that "cancer hates oxygen" and dies (or does less well) in its presence - and thrives where there's a shortage of it (as, after much of the blood plasma's oxygen is reduced, after an operation).

• Some of the "invaders" who enter our bodies and do us harm (the anaerobic life forms) are actually killed by the presence of oxygen.

The main way we transport oxygen to our tissues is by loading up the hemoglobin in our bodies as it passes through our lungs. As our red blood cells circulate, they carry the oxygen to oxygen-hungry cells throughout the entire body - exchanging it for waste products (such as carbon dioxide). When the red cells return to the lungs, the waste products are removed; more oxygen is loaded on; and the cycle is repeated.

Two of the things that often interfere with this process are a lower than normal percentage of oxygen in the air that we're breathing (often the case in industrial areas, traffic, air pollution, and planes or buildings where the same air is recirculated); and a slower than optimum rate of "dumping" of the waste products. (More oxygen can't get in until after the waste products leave. It's like being on a bus or plane where the new passengers can't get on until after the previous passengers get off to make the seats available).

Most people's red blood cells carry only 97% of the oxygen that they could. That doesn't sound like a critical shortage - until you consider that we breath 5,000 gallons of air a day! Increasing the percent of oxygen extracted from this volume by 3% would effectively bring about 150 gallons of additional oxygen - the equivalent of a tank of medical oxygen - into the body every day! And it's actually possible to increase the amount of oxygen you get from the local air that much. 

There's a lot of oxygen in the plasma portion of our blood.. the portion of the blood outside the red and white cells; the "juice' within which the red cells flow. And the oxygen content of this fluid can be dramatically increased and thus oxygen will be "pushed" into the body's cells without the aid of the red cells. It's called the Law of Mass Action. If you build up the concentration of a certain component in a chemical mixture high enough, chemical combining will take place with other elements of the mixture that ordinarily wouldn't happen!

Exercising, while breathing gaseous oxygen, dramatically increases the amount of oxygen in the plasma. After 15 minutes of such oxygenated exercise, there's a dramatic "pinking up" of the exerciser's skin. It is obvious that the tiny capillaries, (vessels tinier than a strand of hair) are carrying extra oxygen to the outer cells of the body. Logically, then, every organ (brain, kidneys, heart, eyes... even the tips of the toes) is being bathed in extra amounts of life-sustaining oxygen!

Notice that the emphasis is on the "oxygenated" part of the phrase, rather than on the "exercise' part! You can run ten miles and not increase the oxygen content of your blood. (You will, in fact, temporarily decrease your blood oxygen as the body bums oxygen to cover the work load!) Very moderate exercise (as in walking) has often been confirmed as the best exercise. A recent article by Jane Brody of the New York Times reported on the findings of a University of Iowa study which indicated frequent walks reduced by half the likelihood of developing gastrointestinal hemorrhage. What we are recommending is not strenuous exercise, but exercise for as little as 15 minutes, in the presence of extra oxygen. This will give you "oxygen-rich blood." (If the blood is not "oxygen enriched," the longer you exercise, the less oxygen the blood contains. That's why you feel fatigued after heavy exercise.)

Just get an oxygen concentrator with a 5 to 8 liter per minute gauge; a humidifier; and a nasal canula or delivery system mask that fits over your nose and mouth. Run the oxygen through the humidifier, and breathe the oxygen while exercising for 15 to 20 minutes every day - and enjoy an oxygen status higher than the average 30 year old (safely, for only pennies a day, in the privacy of your own home - unless you want to really look cool, wearing a small oxygen tank on your back as you pedal a real bicycle around town)!

The best, most economical type of exercise equipment is probably a stationary bicycle, if your joints are all functioning and your heart is in pretty good shape - but any form of exercise will do. If you're not up to something like a stationary bicycle or a treadmill, settle for something less strenuous (like light or medium-heavy bar bells, which you can start using even in bed); and work up from there. Your results are going to be slower, but they'll still be gratifying (and will lead to the ability to do more).

Use common sense. Build up, at a reasonable rate, to whatever level of exercise gets your pulse to the range of 130 (and, you can get a pulse monitor to fit on your wrist, finger or ear at many "fitness" stores). If you are not sure just how fit you are and you are a little nervous, just go for two or three minutes at a slow speed the first time and find your) level of tolerance. When you start feeling woozy or really tired, stop and rest! Until your acclimated, it's best to have someone around (like a spouse, or doctor or nurse), "just in case."

To get a medical prescription, print this page and bring it to your regular physician. For oxygen concentrators to exercise with, click here.