Your brain relies on oxygen
By Clara and Justin Hamel
The Source Newspaper
Try something. Hold your breath while you read this paragraph. Just a few seconds. Notice how quickly your body starts to object. Not politely, either. It’s insistent, and it gets more insistent fast.
That urgency isn’t coming from your lungs. It’s coming from your brain.
Last week, we talked about fuel. But fuel by itself does nothing. To turn it into energy, your cells need oxygen. If fuel has almost no reserve tank in the brain, oxygen has none at all. Not a small one. None. Your brain is running on whatever oxygen arrived in the last few seconds. That is why it lets you know almost immediately when that delivery slows down.
So, if oxygen is that important, could someone be getting less than they need without realizing it?
Absolutely.
The surprising part is that the oxygen shortages that matter most usually aren’t sudden or dramatic. They’re small, they happen repeatedly and they are cumulative.
Let’s start with one of the most common examples, snoring. Snoring is more than an annoying nighttime habit. It’s often a sign that your airway is struggling to stay open. For many people, snoring is linked to obstructive sleep apnea, a condition where breathing repeatedly slows or stops during sleep. Each pause can briefly lower oxygen levels and interrupt the deep, restorative sleep your brain depends on.
One night may not seem like a big deal. However, when it happens night after night, year after year, it becomes more than a sleep problem. It becomes a slow drain on your brain, your body and your overall health. It is more than just a poor nights sleep. It is chronic stress on almost every system in your body.
The story doesn’t end when you wake up. How you breathe throughout the day can have just as much impact on your health. When we’re under chronic stress, breathing often becomes shallow and moves into the upper chest. That pattern is adaptive and helpful if you’re running from danger. It is much less helpful when it’s happening all day, every day. Many people have been breathing this way for so long that they don’t even realize it has become their normal.
We often think about oxygen as something controlled only by our lungs, but getting oxygen where it needs to go also depends on what we do with our bodies throughout the day. Oxygen travels through your bloodstream, and regular movement helps blood circulate throughout the body. When we spend most of the day sitting, oxygen delivery becomes less efficient. The brain, which has one of the highest demands for oxygen, feels the effects.
The result of the decrease in oxygen is often overlooked. It doesn’t cause an overt, dramatic change. The change is subtle and builds over time. It simply makes everything feel a little harder. Concentration takes a bit more effort, afternoons feel like they drag and evenings have just a little less energy than they used to. It is easy to take this gradual change and chalk it up to the natural consequence of aging.
So, here’s this week’s homework. Two simple things, and neither costs a dime.
First: Check in with your significant other or someone who would know if you snore. This simple conversation can be the first step toward identifying a problem that could significantly affect your long-term health.
Second: Check in with your breathing three times today. Is it low and slow, into the belly? Or is it high and shallow, up in the chest? The goal isn’t to judge it or force a change. It is simply to become aware of the patterns your body has developed.
Oxygen delivery, like fuel, isn’t a mystery. It can be measured, and it can be supported.
*Dr. Justin Hamel and Clara Hamel have a combined over 30 years of experience in health fields. Reach them at 1° Performance & Longevity, located at 46 N. Central Park Plz., Suite 101, in Jacksonville, on Facebook or by phone at 217-243-6358.
