From KMUD Herb Doctors - Altitude July 2013 :
HD: So why are hospitals so concerned, especially in emergency rooms, you know, they test your oxygen saturation by putting this meter over your fingertips and then they give you oxygen to breathe?
RP: Well, for one thing, I’ve tested those things on my finger and everyone feels really good when they have a 99% saturation, but I’ve noticed that when I am feeling really the best I can get mine down to 89%. And I have thought about that a lot, and watched the different conditions that cause it, and hyperventilating will cause the saturation to go up and having just cold fingers will make the oxygen go up. If you are not using the oxygen, it doesn’t do you any good to have your haemoglobin saturated if you’re not using it. So those finger meters aren’t really very informative unless you know what temperature your fingers are at.
So Ray has said these. And it makes sense to me.
So there are two aspects about oxygen in the body: one is the transport, and the other is the delivery. They're not the same thing. Oxygen transport is about oxygen molecules being attached to hemoglobin in the blood, as blood goes through the lungs and exhale CO2 and inhale air and attaching oxygen to hemoglobin in blood. And oxygen delivery is about oxygen being released by hemoglobin to the tissues, and enabling tissue oxygenation, which is important as it supplies the cells with oxygen for use in metabolism and producing energy for our body's needs.
When we measure oxygen saturation with a pulse oximeter at our fingertips, we are easily drawn to the idea that the higher the oxygen saturation value, or spO2, the better it is for us. And this is the myth that hospital doctors and nurses don't dispel. But we now know better.
We know that it isn't necessarily so. The purpose of oxygen is to oxygenate our tissues. As blood is coursed through the body, it should be doing its job of releasing the oxygen to tissues. As oxygen is released, there is going to be lower oxygen being carried by the blood. For a healthy individual with no lung problems or mercury toxicity, blood that passes through the lungs loads up on oxygen, and starts off with 100% oxygen saturation. Because oxygen is released as blood circulates through the arteries, the oxygen saturation will naturally go down. If the body has high metabolism, it will use up more oxygen, and it will have the effect of lowering oxygen saturation to a greater extent. This is why Ray Peat says that when he is feeling best, his oxygen saturation is showing a value of 89%.
The 89% value would normally be frowned upon by the hospital nurses and doctors, but with a better understanding of metabolism and oxygen demand from a higher metabolism, and as to how it relates to oxygen saturation, they should not be so one-dimensional with their thought processes. In my opinion, they should consider both heart rate and temperature. If heart rate is high and temperature is normal, they may consider it highly probable that the patient is healthy. If the heart rate and the temperature is low, they need to look further into the state of the patient. They may at this point provide oxygen ventilation, for example (although I wish they could use carbogen).
But in thinking about this, I wonder if we could be able to affirm in our own individual experience what Ray Peat has said. For those of us with the tools to measure heart rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation easily, could we start logging these values daily, at opportune moments of rest (waking up, before turning in, when sitting down reading), and then see if we can find a relationship between heart rate and oxygen saturation? Would we see that as our resting heart rate increases, our oxygen saturation decreases?
If you have a pulse oximeter, you can easily get this information. If you have a Samsung Galaxy S6 and higher model, you can easily measure and log in your spO2 and heart rate info on the Samsung Health app.
@Janelle525, you have a high heart rate in the mid to high 80s. Would you be open to doing this? I, on the other hand, have a much lower heart rate at around 70. Who else is interested in doing this?
It would be interesting to see if we can validate what Ray Peat has said, not that I'm doubting him. It's just that he's said so many things that have been proven right, but there are so many things (like this) that he's said that hasn't really taken full hold of our consciousness. Doing a group validation would go a long way in drilling this into our mind.
@tara @lisaferrero @Mito @Jon @tankasnowgod @x-ray peat @ecstatichamster @Regina @Jennifer @charlie @Blossom @Captain_Coconut what do you say? Who else?
HD: So why are hospitals so concerned, especially in emergency rooms, you know, they test your oxygen saturation by putting this meter over your fingertips and then they give you oxygen to breathe?
RP: Well, for one thing, I’ve tested those things on my finger and everyone feels really good when they have a 99% saturation, but I’ve noticed that when I am feeling really the best I can get mine down to 89%. And I have thought about that a lot, and watched the different conditions that cause it, and hyperventilating will cause the saturation to go up and having just cold fingers will make the oxygen go up. If you are not using the oxygen, it doesn’t do you any good to have your haemoglobin saturated if you’re not using it. So those finger meters aren’t really very informative unless you know what temperature your fingers are at.
So Ray has said these. And it makes sense to me.
So there are two aspects about oxygen in the body: one is the transport, and the other is the delivery. They're not the same thing. Oxygen transport is about oxygen molecules being attached to hemoglobin in the blood, as blood goes through the lungs and exhale CO2 and inhale air and attaching oxygen to hemoglobin in blood. And oxygen delivery is about oxygen being released by hemoglobin to the tissues, and enabling tissue oxygenation, which is important as it supplies the cells with oxygen for use in metabolism and producing energy for our body's needs.
When we measure oxygen saturation with a pulse oximeter at our fingertips, we are easily drawn to the idea that the higher the oxygen saturation value, or spO2, the better it is for us. And this is the myth that hospital doctors and nurses don't dispel. But we now know better.
We know that it isn't necessarily so. The purpose of oxygen is to oxygenate our tissues. As blood is coursed through the body, it should be doing its job of releasing the oxygen to tissues. As oxygen is released, there is going to be lower oxygen being carried by the blood. For a healthy individual with no lung problems or mercury toxicity, blood that passes through the lungs loads up on oxygen, and starts off with 100% oxygen saturation. Because oxygen is released as blood circulates through the arteries, the oxygen saturation will naturally go down. If the body has high metabolism, it will use up more oxygen, and it will have the effect of lowering oxygen saturation to a greater extent. This is why Ray Peat says that when he is feeling best, his oxygen saturation is showing a value of 89%.
The 89% value would normally be frowned upon by the hospital nurses and doctors, but with a better understanding of metabolism and oxygen demand from a higher metabolism, and as to how it relates to oxygen saturation, they should not be so one-dimensional with their thought processes. In my opinion, they should consider both heart rate and temperature. If heart rate is high and temperature is normal, they may consider it highly probable that the patient is healthy. If the heart rate and the temperature is low, they need to look further into the state of the patient. They may at this point provide oxygen ventilation, for example (although I wish they could use carbogen).
But in thinking about this, I wonder if we could be able to affirm in our own individual experience what Ray Peat has said. For those of us with the tools to measure heart rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation easily, could we start logging these values daily, at opportune moments of rest (waking up, before turning in, when sitting down reading), and then see if we can find a relationship between heart rate and oxygen saturation? Would we see that as our resting heart rate increases, our oxygen saturation decreases?
If you have a pulse oximeter, you can easily get this information. If you have a Samsung Galaxy S6 and higher model, you can easily measure and log in your spO2 and heart rate info on the Samsung Health app.
@Janelle525, you have a high heart rate in the mid to high 80s. Would you be open to doing this? I, on the other hand, have a much lower heart rate at around 70. Who else is interested in doing this?
It would be interesting to see if we can validate what Ray Peat has said, not that I'm doubting him. It's just that he's said so many things that have been proven right, but there are so many things (like this) that he's said that hasn't really taken full hold of our consciousness. Doing a group validation would go a long way in drilling this into our mind.
@tara @lisaferrero @Mito @Jon @tankasnowgod @x-ray peat @ecstatichamster @Regina @Jennifer @charlie @Blossom @Captain_Coconut what do you say? Who else?
Last edited:
