Hyperbaric oxygen therapy reverses aging through modulating multiple pathways. HBOT reduces ROS production by upregulating oxygen-sensitive genes that also support mitochondrial biogenesis, telomere elongation and stem cell proliferation.
Intrinsic physiological aging is caused by senescent cells accumulating, collagen degradation and elastic fiber loss within skin [151], with age-related damages occurring as a result. A repeated interval hyperbaric oxygen protocol has been found to significantly reverse aging processes in humans.
Increased Oxygen Availability
Hyperbaric oxygen treatment increases oxygen availability to the body, helping heal damaged tissues and organs, stimulating stem cells to produce more collagen, regenerating tiny blood vessels which bring more oxygen directly to muscles, joints, bones, skin and hair as well as decreasing inflammatory genes while up-regulating healthy ones and encouraging DNA repair – increasing energy, stamina and overall well-being.
Research has demonstrated that HBOT reverses aging by counteracting the shortening of telomeres that occurs as cells die and is believed to be one of the primary contributors of aging. Furthermore, it can slow cognitive decline and other symptoms of aging like memory loss by stimulating production of new brain cells.
HBOT can also reduce the buildup of toxic molecules in our brains and other tissues that negatively affect mood, memory and thinking processes – known as “oxidative stress.” Oxidative stress contributes to Alzheimer’s Disease as well as other brain disorders; HBOT helps mitigate it by improving blood circulation, decreasing inflammation and stimulating new healthy brain cell growth.
HBOT involves breathing 100% pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. A trained technician will assist in getting into this chamber, about the size of a diving bell with clear glass walls, while a nurse or doctor monitors your condition during your hour-long treatment session, usually lasting about an hour. You must wear a mask or nosepiece during this treatment session and may take decongestants, steroid nasal spray or antihistamines prior to entering; smoking or any other items should not be brought into the chamber to prevent fires; you will experience pressure in your ears during this session and may hear popping sounds during treatment sessions!
Reduced Inflammation
Oxygen is essential to tissue homeostasis, yet too much oxygen can damage cells. HBOT provides an efficient and safe solution to reverse some of the adverse aging effects caused by inflammation by reducing it; in doing so it also lowers risk of chronic conditions and accelerates healing timeframes for recovery.
Hyperbaric oxygen helps stimulate cell repair and regeneration. This occurs because it allows more oxygen into cells, an essential process in healing wounds. Furthermore, hyperbaric oxygen has also been shown to reduce chronic inflammation associated with conditions like arthritis, cardiovascular disease and inflammatory bowel syndrome.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is most widely recognized for treating “the bends”, but it can also be used to address other medical conditions. Patients breathe 100% oxygen in a pressurized chamber for 20 minutes to allow their bodies to absorb more oxygen while decreasing harmful gas bubble build-up. Furthermore, breathing pure oxygen encourages new blood vessel formation as well as collagen production within their bodies.
Studies have demonstrated the benefits of HBOT therapy on increasing telomere length and clearing senescent cells – one of the hallmarks of cellular aging – out of your system by the immune system. Senescent cells cannot reenter cell division and must eventually be cleared away by your immune system, potentially leading to cardiovascular disease, skin aging and tumors among other ailments.
Hyperbaric oxygen may also reversal aging in other tissues by decreasing inflammation. For instance, HBOT can delay cognitive impairment by attenuating inflammatory processes associated with aging and Alzheimer’s disease in the brain – this occurs as it decreases both astrocyte activation and microglial activation within it.
Increased Blood Circulation
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases circulation by increasing blood capillaries and red blood cells within your body, providing your organs, tissues, and cells with additional oxygen needed to combat oxidative stress and promote healing after injuries or surgeries. By helping expand blood vessels in order to provide additional oxygen levels needed by your body for fighting off oxidative stress and healing purposes, blood vessels need to expand. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy enhances this process to assist organs functioning normally as well as speed up healing time post injuries or surgeries.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy does more than reduce inflammation and promote tissue growth; it also reverses aging by increasing the number of healthy cells in your body. This is made possible due to HBOT lowering levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines while stimulating production of anti-inflammatory cytokines which inhibit the formation of toxic free radicals, thus slowing down aging processes.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can also benefit the musculoskeletal system by increasing bone density and muscle mass, providing natural treatment for age-related degenerative conditions of skeletal muscles like sarcopenia and disuse osteoporosis. Furthermore, HBOT promotes proliferation of skeletal muscle stem cells to boost quality and rate of muscle regeneration.
HBOT therapy has long been used to treat illnesses like decompression sickness and chronic wounds, but recently has also gained attention as an anti-aging therapy. Researchers discovered that regular HBOT treatments significantly lengthened telomeres in participants’ blood – protective regions at either end of every chromosome that naturally shorten with age, leading to cell death if left alone; with HBOT treatments being able to halt this natural decline by lengthening telomeres by up to 25%! Historically speaking, this process had long gone unchecked – now being recognized as an anti-ageing therapy!
HBOT proved beneficial in strengthening immune function by reversing immunosenescence. Immunosenescence is a normal part of aging but can lead to impaired cognitive abilities among older adults. Hyperbaric oxygen increased proliferation of T lymphocytes while simultaneously decreasing astrocyte and microglial activation activity in an animal model.
Increased Collagen Production
Hyperbaric oxygen treatment works to reverse aging at the cellular level and is a noninvasive solution to numerous conditions. Patients simply lie or sit in a pressurized chamber and breathe 100% pure oxygen, which saturates their plasma blood levels and reaches areas with injury or disease that require less oxygen than healthy cells – activating stem cells, reducing inflammation, up-regulating reproductive genes and stimulating DNA, eventually prompting bone, organ, skin, and brain tissue regeneration.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy accelerates recovery from surgeries and injuries by speeding up healing times, relieving pain faster, increasing collagen production, eliminating toxins, increasing energy levels and cognitive function, as well as slowing cellular aging processes. Its use also provides energy benefits and cognitive improvement benefits; helping individuals feel younger for longer.
HBOT is an effective anti-aging treatment, having been shown to increase telomere length, enhance cellular regeneration, and improve cognitive function. Furthermore, it has also been proven to clear away senescent cells – old, malfunctioning cells which become toxic to healthy ones and lead to damage and inflammation – from the body by stimulating mitochondrial biogenesis, increasing reactive oxygen species production (ROS), decreasing chronic inflammation rates, and activating sirtuin1 as an antioxidant enzyme in cells.
One study conducted at Tel Aviv University by scientists showed that people over 64 who received 60 days of hyperbaric oxygen treatments reversed biological aging and saw their cellular levels return to those seen in 39 year olds. Other research indicated HBOT increased cellular longevity as well as lengthened mouse lifespan.
Cleared Senescent Cells
Cellular senescence is a natural phenomenon, occurring when extensive DNA damage leads to G1 cell cycle arrest and complex paracrine signaling that releases pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, matrix remodeling metalloproteases and growth factors that have various autocrine or paracrine impacts on tissue environment.
Long-term accumulation of senescent cells has been linked with major age-related diseases, including neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, eye diseases and cancer [82]. Senescent cells also release numerous Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype (SASP) proteins that disturb tissue homeostasis – these include pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemotactic factors which induce epithelial mesenchymal transition and suppress stem cell niche formation [84,85].
The secretome also contains other factors associated with senescence, including increased expression levels of CDK inhibitors p16 and p21 as well as reduced activity of beta-galactosidase enzyme lysosomally associated with cellular senescence; changes in overall nuclear conformation; accumulation of lipofuscin; un-degradable byproduct of cell senescence.
Recent investigations have suggested that eliminating these senescent cells through genetic or pharmacological intervention could dramatically slow or reverse the aging process and prevent age-related diseases. Therapies which either impede development of SASP or selectively eliminate them (often known as “senolytics”) have gained significant interest, and HBOT therapy in particular has proven its worth as an anti-SASP measure in animal models; furthermore it has also been demonstrated to rapidly reduce populations of senescent cells among human subjects after 60 sessions at 2 ATA.
