Mobilizing Your Own Stem Cells With Intermittent Hypoxia
Did you ever notice how much better you feel when you go up in the mountains? Did you ever breathe in that thin air and wonder why you felt so good? You are actually getting less oxygen, but cleaner, fresher air.
This combination of less oxygen, with clean air for short periods of time can do amazing things. It is also the entire foundation of a relatively new and little known branch of medicine called "Adaptive Medicine". Doctors who specialize in this, help your body ward off and prevent the challenging stressful events and diseases that come your way on a daily basis. Many people have recurrent illnesses or chronic diseases that modern drug-orientated medicine could not solve for them. But there may be an answer for this type of person, and it is also the answer for those of us who just want to become healthier overall and more resistant to injuries and infections while warding off the ravages of aging. This therapy enhances your body's defenses, its nonspecific resistance, its metabolic efficiency, and its repair processes by mobilizing your own stem cells
The therapy is called intermittent hypoxia and we now have an altitude simulator in our office that creates intermittent hypoxia. Call and ask for an appointment for a session - just say you're calling for a session in the CVAC™ (cyclic variation in altitude conditioning). In your session, you will sit comfortably for 20-60 minutes in the altitude simulator (which is reminiscent of a space capsule) while a trained technician is standing by (see photo above). For optimum results, daily or every other day sessions are done.
What does the CVAC™ session accomplish? Experience and scientific data suggest that the use of CVAC™ causes a surge of your own stem cells from your bone marrow. These stem cells are released from the bone marrow by the intermittent high altitude environment produced in the CVAC™ which triggers the kidneys to produce more of a special stem cell-stimulating hormone called erythropoietin. This hormone as well as various growth factors (e.g., VEGF and BDNF) released during the CVAC™ session enhances the health of the entire body MOBILIZING YOUR OWN STEM CELLS With Intermittent Hypoxia through a process called "high-altitude adaptation" or "pre-ischemic conditioning" or "intermittent hypoxia training" which are all essentially the same thing.
Stem cells, erythropoietin, VEGF, BDNF and more are stimulated to be produced and released by an intermittent hypoxic session, and all stimulate the formation of new capillaries throughout your body. New blood capillaries make your body more "energy efficient" since more blood can be delivered to the tissue at any point in time. This increased "capillary density" of the tissues is one of the big reasons so many people who are vitally interested in improving their athletic abilities are rushing to get in line to have intermittent hypoxia sessions. Of course, aging and inactivity go hand in hand and this inactivity contributes to a loss of tissue capillaries. This loss of blood vessels produces inefficient metabolism which contributes to the aging process by the production of free radicals (damaging scavenger molecules) that are released when the tissue tries to burn its fuel without enough oxygen (due to the decreased number of capillaries). Regular use of the intermittent hypoxia creates more blood capillaries, increases the efficiency of metabolism and decreases the quantity of free radicals produced because your tissues actually become healthier!
The substance ubiquitin is also stimulated to be produced. As a part of our daily living, certain substances within our cells are damaged by bio-logical "rusting" (oxidation) or denaturation due to a variety of insults. The substances that are damaged no longer work correctly and this creates further deterioration of your body's tissues. Ubiquitin is a protein found in cells that "tags" a damaged substance for intracellular destruction. Thus, ubiquitin's job is to search out damaged proteins within the cell and to escort them to the garbage disposal unit of the cell (the lysosome) or to correct the damaged molecule right where it is. Thus CVAC™ sessions can help your precious cells purify and cleanse or repair the damaged molecules that have been accumulating in your tissues from the drugs, poisons, infections, injuries, stresses, etc. that have been affecting you over the years and now causing your chronic health problems.
By itself, intermittent hypoxia training (IHT) is an amazing but very simple procedure! It consists of breathing low levels of oxygen for a few minutes then alternatively breathing normal levels of oxygen for a few minutes. This is done repetitively for 20 minutes to an hour daily or every other day for a few weeks. A great Russian scientist by the name of Felix Meerson, MD has done the bulk of research on this subject and was honored by the International Oxidative Medical Association in Colorado Springs in 2000 for his lifetime of work. I was the organizer of this meeting and President of the Association at the time, and I can tell you it was a great meeting during which Dr Meerson pointed out the great benefits to a person doing intermittent hypoxia training. To the present day, it has been used throughout the world extensively for:
1) Altitude pre-acclimatization-(useful for
people having to climb mountains)
2) Chronic lung diseases like bronchitis, cystic
fibrosis, and asthma
3) Angina, coronary artery disease, congestive
heart failure
4) Hypertension
5) Diabetes mellitus
6) Parkinson's disease
7) Emotional disorders
8) Radiation toxicity
9) As a prophylaxis of certain occupational
diseases
10) Athletic and sports conditioning.
CVAC™ goes one step further than the mere use of intermittent breathing of low levels of oxygen. When you are in the chamber, the pressure around your body becomes much less very rapidly as if you are suddenly transported to the top of a mountain. This creates two effects. The first, of course is the intermittent breathing of low levels of oxygen but the second and more exciting new feature is the actual cycling pressure effects on your body. It actually flexes and tightens every cell of your body and all of its tissues in a rhythmic fashion so that your whole body is given an overall "Internal Massage".
Intermittent hypoxia can reduce swelling in swollen tissues, increase blood supply to various organs, improve the circulation, decrease or eliminate angina, reduce high blood pressure, help detoxify and improve lymphatic drainage, while "toning" the autonomic nervous system and improving oxygen transport to tissues that are not getting enough oxygen.
I have had patients report cessation of their asthma, bronchitis and angina with the use of intermittent hypoxia. I once used this therapy to help train an overweight, totally out of shape bicyclist for a major race and in three months it had helped him so much he almost beat a worldclass champion! The race was 12 miles and my guy finished within two minutes of this worldclass athlete! He also lost 40 pounds and never felt so good in his life.
Instead of asking what conditions a CVAC™ session would be helpful for, it is better to ask what conditions it should not be used for: Cancer, colds, or other conditions where the ear tubes (eustachian tubes) are partially or totally blocked, abscesses and sinus infections are probably all best avoided. Most all other conditions should be helped with intermittent hypoxia. Indeed, there are hundreds of studies showing benefit from intermittent hypoxia conditioning. It is safe, easy to do, inexpensive, and most of all beneficial for overall health and wellbeing!
Not intended to treat disease, support or sustain human life, or to prevent impairment of human health.
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