The mitochondria in daily practice

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Fortunately, our mitochondria don't suddenly fail. But in many people they weaken. This initially leads to chronic fatigue, exhaustion, lack of concentration, memory disorders, burnout, muscle weakness and shortness of breath when under stress. As a result, chronic diseases often develop. Mitochondrial weakness is also known as mitochondrial disease. This can be congenital or arise through aging processes. If an older person can no longer climb the stairs as quickly as they did when they were young, it is due to a weakening of the heart's mitochondria. Heart failure means mitochondrial weakness, because with a volume share of 36% of the heart, mitochondria determine the pumping capacity of the heart. In every cell there are better and worse functioning mitochondria. The powerful mitochondria generate a lot of energy and cause little emission of harmful free radicals. The weak mitochondria are ineffective at producing energy, but release many free radicals that not only attack the cell structures, but also the better mitochondria. This also hinders the good mitochondria in the tedious production of energy.

 

The Interval-Hypoxia-Therapy (IHT)

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Since combustion and energy production is oxygen-dependent, therapists have previously had the idea of simply inhaling oxygen to improve performance. After all, engine performance can also be increased by adding oxygen. Such approaches are often successful in technical developments, but in medicine the connections are not as simple as they seem. This was also determined by researchers from the Russian and US American space travel agencies. Astronauts experienced an increase in performance when consistently exposed to high-altitude air with reduced oxygen levels. How could that be? With the cell division in the course of our life, the mitochondria have to be constantly copied, with errors creeping in that lead to further losses in quality and performance of the mitochondria. The bad mitochondria are smaller and can multiply faster than the good mitochondria, compounding the problem. How would it be if we could only multiply the good mitochondria and sort out the bad ones according to the motto: "The good ones go to the potty, the bad ones go to the crop"? This is possible with the IHT. The ailing mitochondria do not survive the IHT-related lack of oxygen and the powerful power plants multiply under the therapy. There is also debate as to whether devices that deliver intervals of high altitude air followed by intervals of elevated oxygen (called IHHT devices)  are more effective._cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_In studies, however, the effect on the mitochondria could only be proven for the inhalation of the mountain air and not for the oxygen-rich air, so that a better effect of the IHHT devices cannot be assumed. When purchasing the device, it seemed more important to me that the oxygen concentration should be adjusted to the patient's needs with the help of built-in biofeedback sensors. Many devices deliver fixed oxygen concentrations that do not meet the patient's needs. For oxygen therapy using O2 concentrators: Does it even make sense to treat patients solely with increased oxygen concentrations? The answer is: YES. In the case of other diseases, pure oxygen therapy is also justified, but not to improve mitochondrial performance. Some patients with respiratory diseases, such as COPD, are not suitable for IHT because IHT affects the lungs -May make symptoms worse.

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