Here’s a non-invasive way to combat asthma symptoms that’s popped up in natural health news circles. It’s called “interval hypoxic training.” This drug-free technique could help those who have been relying on puffers to open their airways, from which they often suffer prescription drug side effects.
Interval hypoxic training, or IHT as it’s known for short, consists of repeated exposures to five to seven minutes of steady or progressive “hypoxia,” interrupted by equal periods of recovery. Hypoxia is a fancy word used to describe being oxygen-deprived. “Why would an asthma sufferer want to deprive themselves of oxygen,” you are no doubt asking? The question is valid and its answer lies in the method in which hypoxia is used.
IHT has been used for training in sports, to treat a variety of clinical conditions, including heart disease, and even to acclimatize to high altitude. This is because IHT can modify the way your body and lungs use oxygen. It can also alter respiratory and blood pressure control mechanisms, triggering some pretty significant changes in your cardiovascular system. IHT increases the hypoxic ventilatory response (meaning it helps you get more oxygen when you really need it), increases red blood cell count, and increases your aerobic capacity.
Given this track record, it’s not surprising to find that Russian scientists discovered that IHT was able to help 285 patients with mild to moderately severe bronchial asthma. After treatment with the therapy, the research team noted improvement of oxygen supply to various organs and enhanced oxygen consumption by tissues. Together, these two effects promoted normalization of the function of the respiratory system in the patients.
IHT might be worth investigating if you’ve been having breathing troubles and you don’t want to rely on steroids to get more oxygen into your body. Talk to your health-care provider to get more information.
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