How Lack of Oxygen Stops You From Burning Fat

Oxygen is something we all take for granted since we really don’t ever think about it.  But it’s the most important element that’s responsible for the existence of life.  Without oxygen there wouldn’t be any living thing on this earth! 

It’s amazing how the most important element in our life is taken for granted.  It’s estimated that in the last 10,000 years the level of oxygen in the atmosphere has dropped by 50 %!  Now 10,000 years may seem a long time, but in earth time, it’s just a blink of an eye. 

Scary thought considering the explosion of global population and industrialization is crippling our oxygen producing environment faster than ever before.
And in addition to less available oxygen, we’ve also become less efficient at consuming oxygen.  This means that you’re functioning with lower levels of oxygen in your body.  Since oxygen is needed in essentially all of your metabolic processes including burning fat - without proper levels of oxygen, these metabolic processes slow down or get halted altogether, seriously compromising your health and stopping your weight loss and fitness progress dead in it’s tracks.

Needless to say having enough oxygen in your body is critical for a healthy body.

I’ll show you how to effectively increase oxygen levels in your body, so it can function at an optimal level, ensuring that your fat burning and weight loss efforts are realized to it’s maximum potential and protect you from any serious health problems.

You have many metabolic processes occurring throughout your body at one time.  A metabolic process that occurs in your body with the utilization of oxygen is called the oxidative process.  And essentially majority of all these processes are oxidative in nature, meaning that oxygen is required.  This is why, oxygen is an essential part of life.  The by product of all oxidative process is a free radical, which in itself is quite destructive if it’s not gotten rid of.  But when bound to oxygen, these free radicals are neutralized and eliminated.  So oxygen is required for both the initiation of the oxidative process and the elimination of the harmful by products.  Therefore, lack of oxygen in your body can cause toxic waste (free radicals) buildup and essentially force your body to have to operate in a toxic environment.

And so it should come as no surprise that an oxygen deficient body is susceptible to developing all kinds of serious diseases and health problems, such as acid stomach, bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, bronchial problems, circulation problems, depression, dizziness, fatigue, irrational behavior, lowered immunity to colds, flu and infections, memory loss, muscle aches, overall bodily weakness, poor digestion and cancerous tumors…just to name a few.

We breath about 20,000 times a day which is roughly equivalent to 10,000 liters of air.  It’s amazing when you think about how much oxygen we take in a day.  And with all that air our bodies still suffer from low levels of oxygen!

The problem is, according to some experts, we’ve become completely inefficient breathers.  A century ago, people had more oxygen capacity on average than people today.  They were able to breath less and retain more oxygen.  A hundred years ago people had an oxygen reserve of approximately 40 - 60 seconds compared to 25 - 30 seconds worth of oxygen storage seen today.  And back in the day, they didn’t need to breath as much either…about 4 - 6 l/min compared to the current population that breathes much heavier at about 7 - 9 l/min.  This is largely in part to do with the increase in the size of people as well.  And so even though we breathe in more air, we can’t retain as much oxygen in our body, making us poor, inefficient breathers.

So what’s causing our current population to become such poor breathers? Here’s a list of some common reasons why we’ve become so air deficient.

• Poor posture - Posture believe it or not, plays a very large part in the breathing process.  Having an upright posture is essential in allowing your rib cage and diaphragm to expand fully and maximize air intake.  Nowadays people spend majority of their time sitting in front of computers or television in a slouched position severely compromising your ability to intake oxygen.
• Chronic stress - Chronic stress causes many negative physiological effects including muscle tightness.  Tight muscles caused from chronic stress are quite different from tightness caused by working out or doing other physical activities.  These muscles are chronically tight and diminishes blood flow and hence reduces the amount of oxygen going into these areas.  The constant lack of blood flow further perpetuates the problem and causes a vicious cycle leading to an overall lower oxygen content in your body.
 
• Pollution - The quality of air has an inverse relationship with population and industrial growth.  And so air quality steadily declines as industries and global population continue to grow.  And even though environment protection and sustainability has gotten more attention as of late…it has long ways to go before enough impact is made to stop the destruction of our environment.
• Allergies and Intolerances - As pollutants in the air increase and the presence of genetically altered foods become a mainstay, people are suffering more and more from all kinds of allergies and intolerances.  Allergies and intolerants can cause inflammatory reactions in your body which can compromise your lung capacity and increase the need for more oxygen due to increased metabolic demands.
• Poor diet and overweight -  Eating unhealthy is one of the main reasons why people are becoming overweight and obese.  Being overweight compromises every body function including breathing ability and lung capacity.  And the larger your are the more oxygen you need to function, but since your oxygen intake is compromised, you’re faced with chronic low levels of oxygen in your body.
 
• Lack of exercise - Lack of exercise is the another reason for the overweight population in the US.  Exercise is not only essential to helping lose weight, but it’s also necessary to help increase the efficiency of oxygen consumption.  Exercise increases blood flow into muscles and hence increases oxygen transport into your body.  And the most effective types of exercise you can do to increase your oxygen content is high intensity exercises.  The intensity creates an energy/oxygen deficit and your body ends up having to work extra hard to replenish it.  This essentially means your body intakes more oxygen during the recovery phase, after working out, to make up for the deficit.  It also happens to be the best way to burn more fat…since you end up taking in more oxygen (which is required for fat burning) and expending more energy in the process.

So even though the availability of pure oxygen in our atmosphere may have been cut in half, you can make sure that your getting enough oxygen in your body by implementing these simple changes into your life.

So here’s a quick summary:

• Avoiding sitting for long periods and stand up often.  Watch you posture.  Sit or stand up straight, pull your shoulders back and give you rib cage and your diaphragm the space it need to work properly and inhale and exhale as much oxygen as it needs to.
• Try and avoid pollutants, allergens and intolerants.  You may not be able to avoid getting stuck in traffic and inhaling fumes, but you can avoid eating genetically modified foods that can increase your susceptibility to allergies and intolerance.  Stick to unrefined whole foods so you can minimize inflammatory reactions in your body.
• Eat well and nourish your body.  Eliminate all processed foods.  Allow your body to get the necessary nutrients it needs from real unrefined whole foods so it can function at it’s optimal level.
• Exercise and get in shape.  The better shape you’re in, the more efficient your body functions, which means more oxygen your body can retain.  If possible, incorporate high intensity exercises to really boost your oxygen intake and fat burning capacity.

Are you low on energy and irritable?  If so, you may be suffering from low levels of oxygen.

I’d love to know what you think about the article.  Please leave your comments below

About The Author

Shin Ohtake is a widely recognized strength coach and fitness & fat-loss expert. His unconventional, no-nonsense approach to getting fit has made him the go-to source for fitness enthusiasts and trainers alike. Shin is also the author of the world famous, MAX Workouts book, which has transformed and reshaped the bodies of thousands of people across the globe - without requiring hours in the gym. To learn more about how MAX Workouts can help you achieve your fitness goals, visit maxworkouts.com.

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