Is Carbon Dioxide good or bad?
For most people when they hear the term Carbon Dioxide(CO2) they think waste product. But it is actually essential to get in our bodies to stay alive.
The Bohr Effect is at the root of why CO2 is so important for our health.
Named after the physician, Christian Bohr, the Bohr Effect describes the relationship between Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. Essentially it shows that the more CO2 you have in your body the easier it is for the Oxygen you breathe to be used in your organs and tissues. Considering oxygen is the primary ingredient for all energy creation (think life) this is pretty important.
When you breathe in Oxygen hops onto blood cells to get sent out to your muscles and organs to fuel them. When the blood gets there is knows to let go of the Oxygen and distribute it to the muscles/organs based off the amount of CO2 present. No CO2? Then the Oxygen stays on for the ride and could end up back where it started at the lungs.
What to do?
In order to make sure we are actually using the Oxygen we breathe in we also need to make sure we keep in some CO2. Keeping it in (not breathing it all out) requires building your CO2 tolerance.
If you want to build your tolerance try breathing through your nose while keeping your inhale and exhale even. Gradually increase the time each breath takes by :01 once you get to a slightly challenging time frame. Breathe at that pace for 5:00.
