We all know that oxygen is absolutely necessary for life. It’s required for our cells to function properly, for energy, and it’s a vital component of systemic alkalinization.
So the question is, are you getting enough oxygen each day? It may surprise you to learn that there is more to oxygenating the body than simply breathing.
Today’s four valuable tips will help you get the oxygen your bones and your body need. But first, I’d like to briefly explain how oxygen works in the body.
What Is Oxygenation?
When you breathe, you take in many gases besides oxygen – nitrogen, argon, and carbon dioxide are a few of the main ones present in the air. About 20 percent of this gaseous mix is oxygen.
Your body has a remarkable and complex system for regulating the amount of oxygen in your blood. The ideal level of blood oxygen is 95 to 100 percent, with anything below 90 percent considered abnormal. Below 80 percent, an organ function may be compromised, including the brain and heart.
To obtain this vital gas, your lungs oxygenate your blood each time you inhale. The freshly oxygenated blood circulates throughout your entire body, delivering oxygen to various tissues and leaving behind metabolic waste products like carbon dioxide. These wastes bind to hemoglobin and bicarbonates, which then transport the blood cells back to the lungs to be re-oxygenated.
This is the moment-by-moment process by which your body stays alive and keeps functioning.
Benefits Of Proper Oxygenation
While total oxygen deprivation is deadly, we rarely consider the effects of slight, chronic oxygen deprivation that can occur when we are not taking in enough air on a regular basis.
For example, a chronic problem in the world today, poor posture, can greatly affect your ability to breathe deeply and take in enough oxygen. Other factors can deprive your body of oxygen as well, such as not drinking enough water, a sedentary lifestyle, and sealed homes and buildings with closed windows and no access to fresh air.
As we’ll see in a moment, these factors can be overcome with a few simple steps. Then, with adequate oxygen intake, you’ll enjoy various benefits, such as:
- Increased energy
- A more alkaline blood pH
- Greater mental clarity
- Stress reduction
- Better immune system function
- Stronger, more youthful bones
As you can see, your whole body benefits from the air you breathe!
Optimal oxygen intake involves more than just breathing, however. As we look into the following four ways to oxygenate your body, you’ll see that oxygenation goes beyond deep breaths (although that is also very important), and that the same steps you can take to oxygenate your blood are also excellent boosts to your bone health.
1. Exercise Regularly
Bone-building exercises like walking, jogging, and other aerobic, weight-bearing exercises give the oxygenation process a boost. Of course, you take in more oxygen while exercising as your breathing and heart rate increase. But exercise also helps with oxygenation in another way: by stimulating the lymphatic system.
Although it parallels the circulatory system, your lymphatic system does not have a “pump” like the heart. It relies on exercise and movement to flush out toxins and enhance the immune response. It’s a one-way system, with the circulation of lymphatic fluid ending in the elimination of byproducts via various organs, such as the kidneys, liver, and lungs.
Lymph itself contains oxygen. The lymphatic vessels transport the fluid into your veins, playing a role in oxygenation and defense against pathogens. And as Savers know, a healthy immune system is an important aspect of bone health.
2. Practice Proper Breathing
Breathing is something we do all the time, even in our sleep, so it’s easy to disregard it. When it comes to oxygenation, though, how you’re breathing makes a big difference in your blood oxygen levels.
One of the most common breathing errors is shallow, rapid breathing that doesn’t draw in enough oxygen. Also, too-rapid breathing doesn’t allow time for thorough oxygenation of the blood and tissues.
Slow, deliberate breaths are optimal. Inhaling deeply and exhaling thoroughly not only increases blood oxygen levels, but it also alkalizes your whole system. Exhalation is just as important because it aids the elimination of the byproducts of oxygenation.
In order to take in deep, slow breaths, you need to be sitting up straight and have your shoulders back. In this way, deep breathing plays into proper posture, which is crucial for optimal bone health.
3. Drink Plenty Of Pure Water
Most of us do not think of oxygen and water together, but water’s chemical formula is H2O; the molecule itself contains oxygen. Without adequate water, your cells simply can’t perform their various functions, and that includes the transport of oxygen to your vital organs and muscles. Amazingly, cells are made up of about 70 to 90 percent water by mass.
While it’s a somewhat controversial topic, distilled water is best, particularly in this application. It’s pure H2O, which is precisely what is needed for the water to carry oxygen to the various cells without the presence of inorganic minerals and various other additives. Pure water is essential for carrying oxygen throughout your entire body.
And let’s not forget how important hydration is for your bone health. The human body is more than 70 percent water; without it, no body system can thrive. And that includes your bones.
4. Eat An Alkalizing Diet
A pH-balanced diet, rich in alkalizing foods to balance the acidifying ones, helps to maintain the body’s pH within the desirable range , preventing tissue acidification. Research has shown that a diet full of alkalizing foods has multiple health benefits that go beyond bone health.
And as Savers know, a chronically acid body environment weakens bones by utilizing their alkalizing calcium to balance the pH. So where does oxygen come into play? You see, the pH scale refers to the concentration of negatively-charged hydroxyl ions, composed of oxygen and hydrogen (OH-), and positively-charged ions (H+), with only hydrogen present , in a solution. Greater quantities of H+ lowers the pH and therefore acidifies the solution. Conversely, an alkaline solution is rich in OH- ions.
To prevent or reverse bone loss and other undesirable health conditions, it’s best to balance the pH within the alkaline range of 7.35 to 7.45 (reflected by a saliva and urine pH between 6.4to 6.5) by consuming more alkalizing foods than acidifying foods in an approximate 80/20 ratio respectively.
That’s why an alkalizing diet is also called a pH-balanced diet – it includes some acidifying foods, because many of them contain vital nutrients (such as the antioxidants in blueberries and the Omega-3 fatty acids in salmon, to name just a few).
Stop Worrying About Your Bone Loss
Join thousands of Savers from around the world who have reversed or prevented their bone loss naturally and scientifically with the Osteoporosis Reversal Program.
This pH-balancing diet is at the heart of the Osteoporosis Reversal Program. And because the Osteoporosis Reversal Program offers an integrative, whole-body approach to bone health, it also includes exercise and stress reduction (which involves deep breathing).
All of these techniques and lifestyle habits boost oxygen levels, leading to an alkaline environment that helps rebuild and rejuvenate your bones.
Now take a deep breath and have a great week!
Thank you Vivian for all these helpful information ,I’m feeling much better since I read what is good and what is bad for our bones
Thank you !!!
Hi Dr Vivian,
I love your program very much. Thank you so very much for all the energy and time you put into it trying to help us keeping our bones healthy.
I have a question for you and would love your Input regarding Kombucha.
I started drinking Kombucha tea a week ago, but am very concerned regarding the high acidity it contains as well as the fluoride in the black tea.
Is the Kombucha tea damaging to the bones?
I would love and appreciate hearing back from you.
Thanks in advance.
With regards,
Marianne Farber
Hi Marianne,
Kombucha has beneficial bacteria, which is bone-healthy. Tea also contains antioxidants that are good for bones. But as you mentioned, the fluoride in tea is a concern. So as with all things of this nature, in moderation, kombucha can be a healthful addition to a bone-smart diet.
I’m recently taking Alendronate for bone loss. Now I feel I don’t have energy after stopping caffeine. Please orient me on how to get my energy back and not loose bone mass.
Thank you
Thank you very much Vivian for always sharing different
valuable information for our bone health.
I truly appreciates your commitment and vision for all
of us. May GOD richly bless you and your family.
Have a wonderful day . Marlene
You are welcome, Marlene. 🙂
How do I access the article about distilled water?
I drink spring water and/or reverse osmosis water with lime or lemon juice to alkalize it. What your take on this?
Hi Ming,
To access the article referred to in today’s post, just click on the words “distilled water is best.” I’ve written quite a few posts on water, so you may also like to use the search feature – just type “distilled water” into the search box – to look for more information. 🙂
Reverse osmosis water is a good second choice if distilled is not available. A few drops of lemon juice is a great idea – I recommend doing just that in the Program.
I see distilled water in plastic bottles in the grocery store. Is that water ok or do you recommend a certain brand?
Distilled water should not be taken at all as it draws out chemicals and minerals from the container it is in.
A well known fact about distilled water in the industry is the fact that when distilled water runs thriugh pipes, these pipes corrod a lot faster than with ordinary water.
So in your situation, the distilled water in plastic containers may have chemicals in it that would not be in ordinary tap water.
As a biochemist I advise against using distilled water unless supervised by a knowledgeable health practitionner.
I beg to differ… My husband is a chiropractor, and he tells all his clients to drink distilled water. The minerals in spring and other water is full of inorganic chemicals that we can’t use, and they cause damage to arteries and other. We only drink distilled water for that reason, and also because as Vivian writes, it’s pure.
Vivian! Distilled water? Pure H20? Best for oxygenation?
Drinking water doesn’t occur in the world or in our bodies in this form; stripped of minerals that our body needs. Distilled water is acidic, as well, without these minerals. I am a fan of yours, but your assertions are misleading and certainly not a ‘trick to increase bone density, let alone energy’. Check your sources.
Thanks for your commitment to helping folks and our bones.
Joan,
We distill our water,and of course we then add Pure Organic Himalayan salt,
which contains 84 minerals and trace elements.
Sadly the drinking water in most towns and cities is not what it should be.
I know that you have always recommended distilled water as being best for bone health and that, in this current article, you acknowledge this view as a bit controversial.
Here’s my own long-held concern: doesn’t the distillation process strip the water of minerals and other micro-nutrients thought essential for bone health? My naturopath recommended another water filtration system (“Multi-Pure”) that leaves such things within the water.
Hi Charles,
Yes, distillation does remove minerals from the water, but this is not a problem. Since we’ve all heard that minerals are important, we immediately assume that
drinking mineral or spring water is a good idea. But here’s where the confusion happens: the body only uses organic minerals. Inorganic minerals, such as those found in spring and mineral water, cannot bring life into the cells because the body does not treat them as nutrients.
Furthermore, organic minerals have an ionic bond which the body can break down into usable material for tissue repair and function, while inorganic minerals do not.
Plants, not humans, are designed to draw inorganic minerals from the soil by way of the roots, and convert them into organic minerals by photosynthesis and chlorophyll.