Oxygen Is Essential, How Hyperbaric Oxygen can Help.

Oxygen is a gas that we breathe in from the air. It is very important for us because it helps us make energy in our cells. Cells are the tiny building blocks of our body, and they need energy to do everything, such as grow, heal, move, and talk. Oxygen helps us make energy by breaking down sugar that we get from food. Sugar is like fuel for our cells, and oxygen is like fire that burns it. When sugar and oxygen combine, they make water, carbon dioxide, and energy. Carbon dioxide is another gas that we breathe out. Energy is like a battery that powers our cells. This process of making energy from sugar and oxygen has four steps. The first step happens in the jelly-like part of the cell, and it does not need oxygen. It splits one sugar into two smaller sugars, and makes a little bit of energy and some helpers that carry electrons. Electrons are tiny particles that have electricity. The second step happens in the bean-shaped part of the cell, and it needs oxygen. It changes each smaller sugar into a helper called acetyl-CoA, and makes some carbon dioxide and more helpers that carry electrons. The third step also happens in the bean-shaped part of the cell, and it needs oxygen. It finishes breaking down acetyl-CoA into carbon dioxide, and makes a little bit more energy and even more helpers that carry electrons. The fourth step is the most important one for making energy. It also happens in the bean-shaped part of the cell, and it needs oxygen. It uses the electrons carried by the helpers to make a lot of energy by spinning a wheel called ATP synthase. At the end of this step, oxygen takes electrons and water to make water. As you can see, oxygen is very important for making energy in our cells, especially in the last three steps. Without oxygen, our cells cannot make enough energy to work properly and may die or get hurt. This is why we need to breathe all the time and have enough oxygen in our blood.

But sometimes our cells may not get enough oxygen because of different reasons, such as getting hurt, being sick, or having a problem with our body. This can make our cells work poorly and cause trouble for us. For example, some bad molecules called ROS may build up in our cells and damage them. ROS are molecules that have oxygen and extra electrons, making them very angry and harmful to other molecules. ROS can break our DNA, proteins, fats, and cells . One way to give more oxygen to our cells is by using a machine called a hyperbaric chamber. A hyperbaric chamber is a big metal box that has pure oxygen inside it at high pressure. High pressure means that there is more force pushing on something. When we go inside a hyperbaric chamber, we breathe in more oxygen than normal because of the high pressure. The extra oxygen goes into our blood and travels to our cells that need it. The extra oxygen can help our cells make more energy, heal faster, fight infection better, and protect against ROS . A hyperbaric chamber can help people who have problems with low oxygen levels or tissue damage, such as wounds,