Oxygen: the Essential Roles it Plays in Breathing
by Joe Somodi, Mental Performance Coach
The Importance of Oxygen: Basics of Breathing for Athletes
As an athlete, understanding the role of oxygen in breathing is essential for improving performance. Oxygen is vital for providing energy to the muscles. An insufficient oxygen supply can lead to fatigue and reduced performance. Let’s explore the specific role of oxygen in breathing and how it impacts athletes and their performance.
Breathing is the process of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. When you inhale, oxygen enters your body and travels to your lungs, where it combines with glucose in your muscles, creating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the primary source of energy for your muscles. This process is known as aerobic respiration, and it's crucial for sustained, high-intensity exercise.
Oxygen Delivery and Athletic Performance: Scientific Insights
Research has shown that oxygen availability during exercise directly affects an athlete's performance. For instance, in a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers found that increasing oxygen delivery to muscles during exercise resulted in improved endurance performance in trained athletes. This highlights the importance of oxygen in providing energy to the muscles and improving athletic performance. And it also highlights the importance of carbon dioxide, which is the primary way oxygen is released into the working tissues. (This is called the Bohr Effect and is discussed in good detail in the next article.)
Removing Waste Products: The Role of Oxygen in Reducing Fatigue
In addition to providing energy to the muscles, oxygen plays a critical role in removing waste products such as lactic acid. During intense exercise, your muscles produce lactic acid as a byproduct of anaerobic respiration, generating energy without oxygen. Lactic acid is a waste product that accumulates in the muscles and can cause fatigue and muscle soreness, hindering athletic performance. However, oxygen helps remove this waste product by converting it into carbon dioxide and water, which are exhaled from the body. Therefore, increasing the oxygen supply to the muscles during exercise can help remove lactic acid and reduce fatigue, improving an athlete's performance.
The body has mechanisms to remove lactic acid from the muscles, and oxygen plays a crucial role in this process. When oxygen is available, lactic acid can be converted into pyruvate through a process called oxidative phosphorylation, which occurs in the mitochondria of cells. Pyruvate is then used to generate ATP, the primary source of energy for the muscles. This process is known as aerobic respiration, and it requires a constant supply of oxygen to occur.
Increasing Oxygen Supply: Endurance Training and Breathing Techniques
To increase oxygen supply, athletes can engage in endurance training, which involves long-duration, low-intensity exercises such as running, cycling, or swimming. Endurance training improves the body's ability to transport and utilize oxygen, allowing for better oxygen delivery to the muscles during exercise. This leads to improved aerobic respiration and reduced lactic acid accumulation, resulting in increased endurance and performance. Athletes can also use specific breathing techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing, which involves using the diaphragm, a muscle beneath the lungs, to control breathing, improving the efficiency of oxygen delivery to the muscles and reducing the buildup of lactic acid. The Oxygen Advantage and working with a coach experience in this method will help you focus on the specific exercises you need to improve your breathing so in turn it improves your performance.
It's important to note that too much oxygen can be harmful. Breathing in too much oxygen can lead to oxidative stress, which can damage cells and tissues in the body, negatively impacting overall health and athletic performance.
Understanding the role of oxygen in breathing is critical for athletes looking to improve their performance. Oxygen is essential for providing energy to the muscles and removing waste products, both of which are crucial for sustained, high-intensity exercise. By understanding the importance of oxygen in breathing, athletes can optimize their training and improve their overall performance.
References:
Bailey, S. J., et al. "Hyperoxia improves 10-km time trial cycling performance in trained cyclists." Journal of Applied Physiology 109.1 (2010): 156-162.
Powers, Scott K., and Edward T. Howley. Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.
Ristow, Michael. "Oxidative metabolism and lifespan regulation." Mechanisms of Ageing and Development 131.7-8 (2010): 463-466.
