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Exercise and Breathing: Oxygenation and Oxidation
In this chapter, we will examine two very important complements to oxidative therapies: exercise and breathing. Not only do exercise and breathing offer the opportunity for oxygenation, but they can also increase oxidative stress. While transient oxidative stress can be good for our health, chronic oxidative stress due to years of intense exercise may lead to health problems and premature aging.
AEROBIC EXERCISE
Aerobic exercise provides increased oxidation and oxygenation to the entire body and can be an important part of a holistic approach to health. The term aerobic simply means “taking place in the presence of oxygen”; aerobic exercise encompasses any form of exercise that increases the amount of oxygen in the body while strengthening the heart and lungs.
Years ago exercise was rarely recommended for people who were sick. Patients with asthma, heart trouble, or cancer were advised to avoid physical exertion and rest as much as possible. While this may be appropriate for some individuals, a growing number of physicians have learned that most patients can safely participate in a wide variety of physical activities, including aerobic exercise.
Aerobic exercises appeal to many different tastes and are often fun to do. They encompass a wide range of activities from slight exertion to major physical challenge: walking, swimming, jogging, running, calisthenics, dancing, cycling, cross-country skiing, hiking, playing tennis, and martial arts such as tai chi, aikido, karate, and boxing. Aerobics can also include doing specific exercises (popularly known simply as “aerobics”) and using exercise devices like stair climbers, rebounder-type trampolines, cross-country skiing devices, treadmills, rowing machines, and stationary bicycles.
According to Physical Activity and Health: A Report by the Surgeon General, the amount of energy used is roughly the same for the following exercises, moving from “less vigorous/more time” to “more vigorous/less time”:
Washing and waxing a car for 45–60 minutes
Washing windows or floors for 45–60 minutes
Playing volleyball for 45 minutes
Playing touch football for 30–45 minutes
Gardening for 30–45 minutes
Wheeling self in wheelchair for 30–40 minutes
Walking 1.75 miles in 35 minutes (20 min/mile)
Playing basketball (shooting baskets) for 30 minutes
Bicycling 5 miles in 30 minutes
Dancing fast (social) for 30 minutes
Pushing a stroller 1.5 miles in 30 minutes
Raking leaves for 30 minutes
Walking 2 miles in 30 minutes (15 min/mile)
Doing water aerobics for 30 minutes
Swimming laps for 20 minutes Playing wheelchair basketball for 20 minutes
Playing in a basketball game for 15–20 minutes
Bicycling 4 miles in 15 minutes
Jumping rope for 15 minutes
Running 1.5 miles in 15 minutes (10 min/mile)
Shoveling snow for 15 minutes
Stair walking for 15 minutes1
One of the most positive aspects of aerobic exercise is that we can adapt it to our physical condition and to the exercise goals we want to achieve: we can begin slowly, and then gradually build up to a workout that increases our heartbeat and breathing rate. Aerobic exercise can provide a number of important physical and psychological benefits. These benefits are synergistic, which means that they work together to provide optimum benefits.
Oxygenation
Through regular, moderate, aerobic exercise, the heart and circulatory system can deliver increased amounts of oxygen to the entire body. This increases the amount of oxygen delivered to all body cells and aids in the process of oxidation, which destroys cells that are sick and weak, replacing them with new stronger and healthier cells. When our blood is oxygenated, we feel lighter, healthier, and more alive. We feel more able to perform our tasks and confront the difficulties that sometimes present themselves in daily life.
Cardiovascular Fitness
Aerobic exercise also strengthens the heart and enables it to provide a reserve capacity of endurance when extra demands are placed on the body from time to time, especially if we have been dealing with illness. It also helps us recover our energy faster after physical or emotional burdens are placed on us.
Flexibility
Our bodies are designed to move, and regular aerobic exercise helps us achieve a full range of body motion. Because physical exercise (especially swimming and calisthenics) naturally causes us to move all of our joints, these joints will become more flexible, even if they weren’t exercised much before. This not only enables us to use our bodies to the fullest but also decreases the chances of pulling or spraining our muscles. When used in conjunction with deep breathing, regular moderate exercise can also release tension in the chest, neck, and shoulders.
Strength and Endurance
Regular aerobic exercise helps build up our muscles and enables us to breathe easier. This brings about greater strength and endurance and simply allows us to get more out of life. Not only are we able to better accomplish our daily tasks, but we find we are able to enjoy certain activities we couldn’t before. My ninety-year-old aunt is one such example. Years ago she didn’t have the endurance to join her grandchildren in hiking a hilly nature trail in a park overlooking the Pacific Ocean. After going through two angioplasties to open up her arteries (and facing the threat of a coronary bypass operation if the second angioplasty didn’t work), she decided to change her diet and take a walk every morning and every night near her home. After a year of brisk walking for two hours a day around the neighborhood, she discovered that she was able to join her family on the trail again for the first time in fifteen years.
A Positive Mental Attitude
As we saw in the last chapter, our state of mind can have a profound impact on our physical well-being. As part of a synergistic “benign cycle,” aerobic exercise not only is good for the physical body but affects our minds as well. Moderate aerobic exercise helps us develop greater self-esteem, optimism, and the feeling that we are more able to do what we want to do. It also helps us gain a better self-image. After several weeks or months of regular aerobic exercise, we notice that we begin to look better: excess body fat tends to melt away, our posture improves, our complexion becomes clearer and healthier-looking, our eyes become brighter, and different muscles gradually develop, sometimes in places we never dreamed possible! Improved fitness and physique help us feel better about ourselves. This is especially important for people who are dealing with illness: regular aerobic exercise helps us move away from the image of being sick and toward a self-image of attractiveness, health, and vitality.
Oxidative Stress
It was mentioned earlier that cells continuously produce free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) as part of metabolic processes. These free radicals are neutralized by the body’s antioxidant defense system. This elaborate system consists of enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and numerous nonenzymatic antioxidants, such as vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, glutathione, ubiquinone, and flavonoids.
Strenuous exercise—like intense aerobics or weightlifting—can produce an imbalance between ROS and antioxidants, which is referred to as oxidative stress. Though more scientific research needs to be done, some physicians speculate that a short “spurt” of intense aerobic exercise may possibly bring about the type of beneficial transient oxidative stress produced by an ozone or hydrogen peroxide treatment, oxidizing harmful pathogens, delivering more oxygen to body tissues, and strengthening the immune system. The exact “dose” of aerobic exercise would naturally vary from person to person and would depend on his or her level of physical fitness and conditioning. For a person enjoying a good level of physical fitness, a relaxed 10-minute jog including a 1-minute run can produce a “spike” that can bring about such an oxidative event. A half-hour walk that includes a two-block (1-minute) run can do the trick as well.
The effects of long-term oxidative stress due to intense exercise are still not clear. Some researchers speculate that regular exercise brings about oxidative stress that can be linked to muscle damage.2 Others show that oxidative stress can occur during intense exercise, but at the same time, exercise may enhance the ability of the body’s antioxidant defense system to deal with the oxidative stress.3 Others are not really sure. A recent article in Sports Medicine titled “Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress: Myths, Realities and Physiological Relevance” highlighted the controversy:
It remains unclear whether exercise-induced oxidative modifications have little significance, induce harmful oxidative damage, or are an integral part of redox regulation. It is clear that ROS play important roles in numerous physiological processes at rest; however, the detailed physiological functions of ROS in exercise remain to be elucidated.4
Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the benefits of regular exercise far outweigh the risks of chronic oxidative stress, let alone the health problems that occur when we don’t exercise. According to a report by the surgeon general of the United States, regular exercise and physical activity can do the following:
In 2009 in an article in the journal Circulation, researchers at the Department of Cardiology at St. Olav’s Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, described their study that highlighted the beneficial effects of intense aerobic exercise on heart patients.
A group of twenty-seven male patients who had previously suffered heart attacks participated in this study. Patients were randomly assigned to three groups. One group did high-intensity aerobic interval training (AIT) at 95 percent of peak heart rate, another did moderate continuous training (MCT) at 70 percent of peak heart rate, and the third group—the controls—received only standard advice regarding physical activity. Participants in the study continued to take their normal heart medications during the study. Members of the first two groups trained three times a week over a twelve-week period. The goal of the study was to compare training programs with moderate versus high exercise intensity with regard to variables associated with cardiovascular function and prognosis in patients with post-infarction heart failure.
Health-enhancing results were reported in both exercise groups but were greatest among subjects doing the more intense aerobic exercise (AIT). These included increased lung capacity, lower blood pressure, increased blood circulation, improved endothelial function (the endothelium is the thin layer of cells that lines the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels), and reverse LV remodeling, which relates to beneficial changes in the size, shape, structure, and physiology of the heart. (Though a positive-sounding term, LV remodeling describes negative changes in the heart due to myocardial infarction or other types of heart disease.) In addition, the MacNew global score for quality of life in cardiovascular disease increased in both exercise groups. No changes occurred in the control group.
The researchers concluded: “Exercise intensity was an important factor for reversing LV remodeling and improving aerobic capacity, endothelial function, and quality of life in patients with postinfarction heart failure. These findings may have important implications for exercise training in rehabilitation programs and future studies.”6
The benefits of intense, short-term exercise were recently reported by a team of researchers at the Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Institute of Ulster University in Northern Ireland who studied the effects of exercise intensity on post-exercise endothelial function and oxidative stress. Their goal was to measure endothelial function and oxidative stress immediately after, 90 minutes after, and three hours after exercise of varying intensities.
The researchers found that acute exercise at different intensities produced a variety of positive effects on oxidative stress and other blood measurements but did not appear to mediate changes in endothelial function. The researchers concluded: “A single bout of maximal exercise may be a more time efficient approach than traditional exercise based on physical activity guidelines and this may have important implications for future public health recommendations.”7
Before You Exercise
Before beginning an aerobic exercise program, make sure you undergo a complete fitness assessment, especially if you have a history of heart disease or are undergoing treatment for a health problem. The assessment should include an electrocardiogram, a treadmill test, and other tests to determine lung function, strength, and flexibility. Even if you are enjoying good health, it is always a good idea to consult with your physician before undertaking any exercise program.
Proper warm-up before exercise is also important. Many people do stretching exercises before running or walking, which warm up the muscles gradually and help prepare the body for exercise. When your exercise session is complete, a cooling-down period of several minutes is also recommended.
Points to Keep in Mind
In the context of oxidative therapies, there are two additional points of caution worth noting. The whole idea behind aerobic exercise is to produce transient oxidative stress and to oxygenate the blood in order to achieve a higher level of health and well-being. For many people, jogging or running is a favorite aerobic exercise. Unfortunately, when we run or jog in a polluted environment, such as along city streets jammed with traffic, this type of exercise can be dangerous. As we breathe more frequently, fully, and deeply, we take in increased amounts of environmental pollutants (such as nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, sulfuric acid, and other noxious compounds that mix with ozone) that increase the number of free radicals in our bodies. In The Oxygen Breakthrough, Dr. Hendler cites a number of cases of runners suffering from a variety of diseases because they run in polluted areas.
Dr. Hendler also spoke about the dangers of excessive aerobic exercise. In his book, he cites cases of individuals (often marathon runners and triathlon athletes) who felt guilty unless they ran for hours each day, or who believed in exercising to the point of absolute exhaustion. Many of them became his patients because excess aerobic exercise depressed their immune systems (especially with regard to the production of antibodies and natural killer cells) and opened the door to a variety of health problems, including chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, intestinal bleeding, allergies, and respiratory infections.8 These health problems may be related to chronic oxidative stress in athletes who partake in intense physical activity several hours a day over long periods of time.
Moderation: The Key
This chapter stresses moderate exercise on a regular basis. Studies have found that weekend athletes—those who don’t exercise regularly—tend to increase the number of free radicals in their bodies, while those who exercise regularly are able to easily get rid of them. In addition, by avoiding overexertion, we tend to enjoy our exercise more and are more likely to want to continue doing it.
Another problem we face when we begin an exercise program is an “all or nothing” attitude. Many of us feel that if we cannot run a mile, we shouldn’t run at all. This not only makes exercise unpleasant, it sabotages many an exercise program. Again, modification is important at the start of an exercise program. Instead of running for a mile, you can cut down your run to a half mile. If you don’t feel like running, take a brisk walk instead. Rather than spend 30 minutes on the stationary bicycle at full throttle, ride at half speed for 15 minutes. After several days, we can gradually build up to faster speeds and longer distances. Exercise instructors often suggest that it is better to begin an exercise regimen slowly and build up our level of activity by about 10 percent a week. They also suggest the importance of pacing ourselves: when we are on the running track, we can run for a while and then walk briskly. Or we can rest frequently during the exercise period when we feel that we need it. As we gradually build up our strength and endurance, we are better able to participate in longer periods of physical activity.
Exercise Should Be a Pleasure
In general, it is important to grow to like exercise, because if we enjoy what we are doing, we are more likely to continue with it. For this reason, we should choose an activity we enjoy doing. We can also enhance our enjoyment of exercise by choosing the right time or situation. For example, if you get lonely walking alone, do it with friends. If you don’t like to walk outdoors, walk at the mall. Over the past few years, I have used a cross-country skiing machine at home. Sometimes I find it gets boring, so I play music, listen to a recorded book, or watch television while I exercise. I not only fulfill my need for exercise but also catch up on the morning news or enjoy new story plots.
How Much Exercise?
Many physicians recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise several days a week, although 30 minutes may be too long for people who are just beginning an exercise program or who are going through a period of healing. Ask your physician or exercise instructor how you can build up your exercise level gradually and safely.
BREATHING
Although all of us breathe, we are often not aware of the quality of our breathing. We tend to take partial, shallow breaths using only the upper part of the lungs, or we often hold our breath (especially when we are tense or nervous) without being conscious of it. When this type of breathing becomes habitual or chronic, we limit the amount of air that we take into our body, which impairs our body’s ability to oxygenate the blood and other vital tissues.
Deep, rhythmic breathing is essential for proper oxygenation, and learning how to breathe in a way that involves both the upper and lower parts of the lungs has been viewed as vital by yogis for centuries. Perhaps the most important breath to learn is known as “the Yogi Complete Breath,” first introduced by Yogi Ramacharaka to the West in the early part of the last century. He described performing this breath as follows:
Stand or sit erect. Breathing through the nostrils, inhale steadily, first filling the lower part of the lungs, which is accompanied by bringing into play the diaphragm, while [distending] exerts a gentle pressure on the abdominal organs, pushing forward the front walls of the abdomen. Then fill the middle part of the lungs, pushing out the lower ribs, breastbone and chest. Then fill the higher portion of the lungs, protruding the upper chest, thus lifting the chest, including the upper six or seven pairs of ribs. In the final movement, the lower part of the abdomen will be slightly drawn in, which movement gives the lungs a support and also helps to fill the highest part of the lungs.
Yogi Ramacharaka also reminds us that this breath consists not of three distinct movements, but rather one continuous, fluid movement. He then recommends that we retain this breath for a couple of seconds and then exhale slowly, drawing in the abdomen slightly as the air leaves the lungs. He then suggests that we relax the chest and abdomen after the air is released.9
The Yogi Complete Breath can be done whenever we feel like it, although we may at first want to do this breath during a period of quiet contemplation or just before we begin our exercise program. Gradually, we can begin consciously breathing fully and deeply in more and more of our daily activities, until deep, rhythmic breathing becomes a normal part of our lives. In addition to Yogi Ramacharaka’s classic work, many books about yoga offer instruction on deep, rhythmic breathing.
Limbic Breathing
Majid Ali, M.D., author of Oxygen and Aging and other books, recommends what he calls limbic breathing to allow more time for oxygen to pass from air sacs in the lungs to the capillaries in the lungs. The limbic system is a complex network of nerves in the brain that are connected to instinct and mood. Dr. Ali believes that limbic breathing reduces stress, promotes relaxation, and strengthens the immune system. He suggests that this breathing method can be practiced for several minutes a day, plus whenever we feel stressed, are upset, or need to relax.
Donald M. Epstein, the developer of network chiropractic, always points out, “Only living people breathe. Dead people don’t.” The more we breathe, the more alive we are. And the more we practice deep, rhythmic breathing, the more we partake of oxygen, the essence of life itself.