Oxygen is the Most Important Gas – is it YES or is it NO?
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- May 1, 2025
Amazingly, we’ve all been taught that oxygen is the most essential gas for our bodies. The more we breathe, the better, and taking big, deep breaths is generally advised.
The truth is a little more complicated!
True. without oxygen we would all die, but it matters a lot how we get it and how much we take in.
There are two other gases vital for our life and health: carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitric oxide (NO).
We live in a sea of oxygen, and so long as we have healthy lungs and breathe normally, there will be no shortage.
However, to deliver oxygen to every cell in our bodies, we must have the two other vital gases, CO2 and NO.
Without CO2, then oxygen held in our blood will not be released into the cells in our body that need it, and without NO, all our blood circulation will be reduced as arteries and capillaries constrict.
Fortunately, we have an automatic system to ensure that just the right amount of both these gases is produced by our bodies, as long as we breathe normally, have a good diet, and exercise enough.
From my experience checking the breathing and diets of hundreds of patients, I have found that around 75% breathe poorly and that most diets are not optimal for our body’s oxygenation.
Most people overbreathe or suffer from some degree of hyperventilation, which lowers the level of CO2 below the normal levels required for optimal oxygenation of the body. This may be due to chronic stress, bad breathing habits such as mouth breathing and also to their diet. Since a substantial amount of our NO is produced in our nasal and sinus passages when we nose-breathe, breathing through the mouth reduces this and can cause poor circulation, tissue hypoxia, and hypertension.
Research shows that NO production declines by 10% each decade with age. Low NO production is also due to inadequate intake of green vegetables in our diet, the use of mouthwash that destroys bacteria aiding its production, the use of antacids as NO production relies on stomach acidity, fluoride toothpaste, antibiotics, and insufficient exercise. The fuller account of the significance of NO is in “The Secret of Nitric Oxide” by Nathan S. Bryan, PH.D.
My research over a decade has shown a link between how we breathe and how we eat. Our diet affects the quality of our breathing, including nitric oxide (NO) production, and our breathing habits influence what we eat! Learn more and how you can help yourself with my book “Be Your Own Doctor of Health and Happiness”, available from Amazon.com, Lulu.com or directly from the author at: TotalHealthMatters
Michael Lingard, BSc (Econ). DO
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Michael Lingard, a regular contributor to Wellbeing Magazine for the past 18 years. A passionate promoter of real health care and would like to see a paradigm shift in modern medicine; from a disease & pathology based system to a health and ethology based system.
