Side effects of oxygen inhalation

When we visit patients, especially those who have just undergone major surgery, doctors will recommend oxygen inhalation. Is it true that the more oxygen they inhale, the better for the body? In fact, this is a wrong idea. Because patients have just undergone surgery, their bodies are relatively weak. Increasing the amount of oxygen inhaled is beneficial to the recovery of wounds and the body. However, for normal people, the oxygen in the body is in a balanced state and does not need additional intake. If it is forced to increase, it will cause a poisoning reaction.

Oxygen inhalation can relieve angina pectoris and prevent myocardial infarction. Oxygen inhalation has a good therapeutic effect on asthma. But healthy people do not need oxygen.

From a physiological point of view, it is not necessary for healthy people to breathe oxygen. Oxygen cannot improve intelligence? It is only a "fuel" for the oxidation metabolism of the nutrient sugar. During intense mental work, the brain's oxygen consumption increases, but it is very limited and can be met by increasing blood flow through autonomic regulation. For healthy people, if they want to be healthier, they can regularly do some aerobic exercises, such as swimming, running, etc., to strengthen their cardiopulmonary function and improve their lung function, instead of blindly breathing oxygen. Instead of trying to improve your health by breathing oxygen, it is better to go to the suburbs more often to breathe fresh air, which is more beneficial to your health.

"Oxygen poisoning" may occur. The capillary barrier of the lungs is destroyed, leading to pulmonary edema, pulmonary congestion and bleeding, which seriously affects the respiratory function and causes hypoxia and damage to the various respiratory organs. In a pure oxygen environment of 0.1 MPa (1 atmosphere), a person can only survive for 24 hours before developing pneumonia, which will eventually lead to respiratory failure and death from suffocation. A person can stay in a 0.2 MPa (2 atmospheres) high-pressure pure oxygen environment for a maximum of 1.5 to 2 hours. If the stay time exceeds this limit, it may cause brain poisoning, life rhythm disruption, mental confusion, and memory loss. If 0.3 MPa (3 atmospheres) or even higher oxygen is added, the brain cells will degenerate and die, and the person will convulse and become comatose, leading to death within minutes. In addition, excessive oxygen intake can also promote aging. Oxygen that enters the human body reacts with oxidase in cells to produce hydrogen peroxide, which then turns into lipofuscin. This lipofuscin is a harmful substance that accelerates cell aging. It accumulates in the myocardium, causing myocardial cell aging and decreased heart function; it accumulates on the blood vessel walls, causing blood vessel aging and hardening; it accumulates in the liver, weakening liver function; it accumulates in the brain, causing a decline in intelligence, memory loss, and people becoming demented; it accumulates on the skin, forming age spots. Doesn’t it mean that iron rusts when it is oxidized? Same principle!