Oxygen - The Vital Link

Oxygen - The Vital Link

Oxygen - breath of life, prana, universal life energy and fuel. Without oxygen we die. Pollution of the atmosphere with toxic chemicals, degradation of the ozone layer by fluorocarbons, destruction of the tropical rain forests with its plethora of life forms, all ultimately affect that which we breathe in which fuels life. In addition to food, raw materials, splendour and spiritual enrichment derived from the many forms of plant life, our lives depend on our green co-inhabitors of this planet for oxygen which is evolved from photosynthesis.

A person can live for perhaps months without food, perhaps several days to a week without water, but within about five minutes of stopping breathing, irreversible damage occurs to brain cells. Many health-enhancing practices are centred around increasing our supply of oxygen. Aerobic exercise is known to benefit the immune system as well as the heart; hence today's emphasis on fitness, in activities ranging from walking and swimming to dancing and running. The breath is used in meditation practices as a means of focusing one's concentration, in rebirthing to help people re-live and more positively integrate experiences which they may have blocked from consciousness. Breathing deeply is an effective way of easing pain and fear, and in certain clinical practices, hyperbaric oxygenation is used therapeutically to increase the body's oxygen supply. Life saving emergency procedures of rescusitation stress the importance of starting and maintaining a person's breathing, and hence their oxygen connection. From the most ancient to the most modern practices, the breath and oxygen perform vital roles.

Oxygen is a vital as well as a precious substance; oxygen supports our life; it is the substance which is required to drive our cellular metabolism. Cells deprived of oxygen simply cannot sustain normal metabolic functions. A condition known as hypoxia (low oxygen) invites cellular vulnerability which may lead to cellular degeneration, ageing and cancer. Our primary mode of metabolism is oxygen-driven. The nutrients we ingest are digested via biochemical pathways, in which complex molecules are broken down into simpler substances, and energy is generated and stored as molecules of Adenosine Tri-phosphate (ATP). Oxygen is required to provide to fuel this process. If there is not an adequate supply of oxygen, non-oxygen (anaerobic) biochemical pathways go into operation. An anaerobic environment in our bodies encourages the proliferation of pathogenic microflora, such as candida; it also supports cancer cells, which are thought to revert to an anaerobic form of metabolism.

Oxygen is literally a life-sustaining substance to our bodies.

A few of the oxygen-requiring processes that are constantly going on are: digestion and absorption of nutrients we ingest; detoxification of poisonous substances we inhale from the air we breathe, ingest in the food we eat, and absorb from toxic heavy metals such as mercury which are placed in our mouths as dental fillings. When we stress our bodies through consumption of caffeine, excess sugar, meat, alcohol, drugs, lack of sleep, mental and emotional pressure, oxygen is needed to repair the damage done to our cells, tissues and organs. The immune system requires oxygen to protect the body from foreign attack; the phagocytic white cells which engulf and destroy foreign invaders, actually "zap" their targets with a dose of toxic superoxide (63,64).

Reactive Oxygen Toxic Species (ROTS)

For all of oxygen's vital, life-giving properties, there is also a negative side: this is in the form of certain toxic oxygen species generated during metabolic process, which are extremely reactive and are now thought to be the primary cause of cellular degeneration, ageing and many diseases including cancer. These reactive oxygen toxic species (ROTS) include superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen. These oxygen species are toxic because they have acquired an extra electron which makes them extremely unstable. They are "free radicals", are incomplete by themselves, and are extremely reactive and damaging to cells. (Hydrogen peroxide is not, strictly speaking a free radical, but is an incompletely reduced form of molecular oxygen). A more comprehensive discussion of ROTS and their role in many diseases is outlined in an elegant and articulate book entitled "Oxidology", by Bradford, Allen and Culbert, published by The Robert W. Bradford Foundation, 1985 (10).