ICU nurse confirms I'm not "nutz" for breathing less
Blazing Reader,
My recent posts about the benefits of higher carbon dioxide levels in the blood have received praise and perplexity. Starting with some of the praise, Dr. Gary Magder, a dentist in Ontario, wrote:
"I just ordered the Shut Your Mouth book. Sounds brilliant. Love your stuff. I confess I thought you were nutz promoting CO2 and saying masks do not physically harm us regarding re-breathing CO2 or reducing blood oxygen BUT this now resonates with me."
On the other hand, I received this email from a friend and colleague concerned that I might be practicing some sort of slow suicide over the loss of my wife:
"Is everything alright with you? I'm concerned by some of your recent posts and emails. Are you seeing a grief counsellor?"
This was followed up by an email from Andrew Brannan, an ICU nurse, who hates masks as much as I do, yet agrees they aren't guilty of causing hypoxia:
"I completely agree with you on your scientific position regarding masks. Feel free to mention that I offer full endorsement, as a veteran health care professional, of your analysis on masks and the Bohr effect."
Andrew also confirmed that over-breathing is a life-threatening issue which ICU staff are well aware of.
"This is particularly relevant when caring for intubated and mechanically ventilated patients whereby complete control over a patient's breathing rate is managed by a dial on the machine," says Andrew. "By causing the patient to breathe too much it would cause all the problems of hypocapnia (low CO2) you are talking about."
Problems such as death: According to the research of Dr. Konstatin Buteyko, it is fatal when carbon dioxide falls below 2% in the lungs. Ideally, you want to keep it at 5-6%. Most people's rarely goes above 3.5%.
"There's a whole body of medical literature on the use of [increasing CO2 levels] in mechanically ventilated patients," continues Andrew, "it's very uncontroversial to say that higher levels of C02 will relax the smooth muscle and dilate the bronchioles."
Andrew also pointed out that lowering CO2 is intentionally used in ICU cases where they want to purposely restrict blood flow to the brain or other organs:
"Correspondingly, there's the opposite ventilation strategy [that] is useful with other conditions. For example, in the case of severe head trauma, where you are deliberately trying to reduce brain swelling and minimize the risk of bleeding, we can dial up the ventilation rate on the patient and induce hypocapnia (low CO2) because it constricts blood flow to the brain."
Of course, you do not want to use a ventilator or even a mask to regulate your CO2 levels. Far better to learn how to breathe exclusively with one's nose and diaphragm while running and/or lifting weights (including your body weight).
One of the best books to learn how to retrain your brain and belly so that you breathe less air but absorb more oxygen is The Breathing Cure by Patrick McKeown. If you want to increase blood flow to your brain, feel more energized and sleep better than ever, you can order a copy here: https://blazingpinecone.com/shop/the-breathing-cure/
—John C.A. Manley
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/
