This Q&A blog focuses on how HBOT works and will answer all your questions about how hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves performance.
Dr. Jason Sonners of HBOT USA was interviewed by Dr. Sanjeev Goel at the Advanced Anti-Aging and Technology Summit.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel is a practicing medical physician and the founder of Peak Human, a practice dedicated to helping his patients live 100x their potential NOW.
He believes in a holistic approach to wellness as has done training in Anti-Aging, Integrative and Regenerative Medicine.
Dr. Jason Sonners is a doctor of chiropractic and serves as Diplomat of the Chiropractic Board of Clinical Nutrition.
He is also a Diplomat of the International Board of Applied Kinesiology. Dr. Jason Sonners is one of only 250 professionals in the world with this distinction.
Dr. Jason and his wife Dr. Melissa Sonners are co-owners of the Core Therapies Family Wellness Center in Northern New Jersey, a holistic center with eight chiropractors whose specialties include functional neurology, functional medicine, hyperbaric oxygen, pre/postpartum pediatric, and sports injuries.
Core Therapies also offers acupuncture, massage, infrared, sauna spinal decompression, yoga, and laser therapies.
They are also owners of HBOT USA. Dr. Jason serves as a faculty member of the International Hyperbaric Association.
In this interview, Dr. Jason Sonners talks to Dr. Sanjeev Goel about how hyperbaric oxygen therapy works and how it helps improve performance and healing. Below are excerpts from part one of the interview:
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
You’ve had a lot of experience in regenerative and integrative medicine. How did you get into this when you trained as a chiropractor in the past?
Dr. Jason Sonners:
Originally, my background was in exercise physiology.
I felt like I could get more people moving their bodies properly which delays certain musculoskeletal issues and improves performance.
Being a chiropractor was my way of getting a better understanding of the mechanics of the human body.
I explored a lot about nutrition and started combining this with exercise and chiropractic work.
Eventually, I ended up going through a whole functional medicine program to help people at a much higher level in regard to chronic inflammatory issues or mitochondrial dysfunction but using a more natural and nutritional approach.
This is what eventually led me to hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
Let’s dive right into hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
From my understanding, you’re giving patients high pressure and high oxygen levels that get into the tissues and cells which causes all types of healing.
Dr. Jason Sonners:
Sure.
When we are breathing oxygen 33 feet below sea level, we receive twice as much oxygen pressure which then boosts the oxygenation into our bloodstream, plasma and cells.
The oxygen is immediately picked up by red cells, in which hemoglobin carries it to wherever it is needed in our body.
The hyperbaric chamber mimics this pressure which allows patients to take in a higher dose of oxygen, exponentially dissolving more oxygen in the plasma in the blood.
With the extra pressure, we are creating a larger gradient which allows for a much higher percentage of diffusion.
This brings more oxygen into our plasmo and offloads right into our cells.
When we breathe normally, we usually take in 97% to 98% oxygenation.
Our body is limited to this and we can’t really get a significant amount of extra oxygen without creating a change in the pressure environment first.
This is where hyperbaric oxygen therapy comes in.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
When people go into the hyperbaric chamber at two atmospheric pressures, do they receive five or six times the amount of oxygen?
Dr. Jason Sonners:
These are very rough numbers but two atmospheres with a hundred percent oxygen provides about nine and a half times more oxygen that when we breathe regularly, so it’s a lot.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
Would it be possible to have any issues or questions that with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, our tissues don’t need such a large amount of oxygen?
Dr. Jason Sonners:
This question comes up a lot and there are a number of cells that get their demand for oxygen met regularly.
Hyperbaric oxygen doesn’t work by only bringing additional oxygenation to damaged areas.
It’s a systemic therapy in which oxygen goes everywhere in the body.
However, with most chronic illnesses and injuries, damaged capillaries surrounding the area are starved of oxygen because red blood cells are unable to get through.
Because the plasma gets highly saturated with oxygen with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, there’s a way to bring oxygen to a starving tissue and allow it to heal.
When a tissue is damaged or chronically inflamed, there is limited blood flow that causes it to lack oxygen. In a hyperbaric environment, the distance that the oxygen is able to move away from the capillary to interact with tissue is four times greater than under normal physiologic standpoint.
In the last few years, many studies have proven that hyperbaric oxygen therapy indeed improves performance, whether it’s motor or mental performance.
If you have any old injuries that haven’t healed properly you’re chronically inflamed and are looking for a way to heal these and perform better, the extra oxygen is massively helpful.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
You mentioned studies that state that hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves performance.
How long do you think the effect of the treatment lasts when it comes to performance, is it half an hour?
A few hours?
Dr. Jason Sonners:
To answer this question, we’ll have to break it down into two categories.
There’s a metabolic component to hyperbaric oxygen therapy where oxygen serves as a nutrient to oxidize your food and ultimately makes ATP, the energy in the cell.
Basically, more oxygen means more energy and is basically a turbocharger for your body.
The more oxygen you can get into the system to a certain point, the more energy your cells can create.
This is the metabolic component to hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
The other component of hyperbaric oxygen is the category of cell signaling and epigenetic effects that occurs because of being exposed to hyperbaric oxygen.
This means that hyperbaric oxygen helps cells communicate and heal parts of the body that need additional support.
In terms of your question, from a metabolic standpoint, there aren’t enough studies to get the exact number of hours that the effect of hyperbaric lasts.
However, most people say with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, improved performance and higher amounts of energy last at least six to eight hours.
Some even say it lasts a whole day or day and a half.
As for the repair of cells and tissues, there is a long-term effect after consecutive sessions.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
That’s interesting.
Are you saying that you don’t necessarily need treatment everyday, but more sessions of hyperbaric oxygen kind of has a cumulative effect on your health and healing?
Dr. Jason Sonners:
Exactly, it’s definitely an additive effect.
A person that does a session of hyperbaric everyday for 12 days would have a much more meaningful effect than someone who got it once a month for 12 months.
There are benefits with each session but real changes usually come with cumulative sessions over a series of hours, days, and months.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
Just to clarify, you’re saying that it makes more sense to do these sessions in a shorter time period than a longer time period, is that right?
Dr. Jason Sonners:
Yeah, for most protocols.
I mean, we get very specific with our protocols but if you just zoomed out and looked for a rough average, I would say it’s somewhere between three to six hours a week for about four to six weeks.
There’s a lot of ways to chop that up depending on the need.
You don’t necessarily need to stick to a strict daily schedule as long as you get the right amount of hours per week, and get treatment for the correct number of weeks.
Dr. Sanjeev Goel:
Okay, awesome. I know that you work with a lot of athletes because you started with a chiropractic background.
How are you seeing improvement in performance?
What type of impact are you seeing with the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Dr. Jason Sonners:
There are two ways to look at this improvement in performance.
The first is shifting performance literally in the next hour or two.
The other is finding the balance between training and ability to perform.
The question here becomes, are we overtraining or under-recovering?
If you start to build in more powerful recovery modalities, then your performance is definitely going to improve the next time.
This has a cumulative effect that improves performance over time.
In terms of improving performance for the next hour or two, a shorter session of hyperbaric oxygen provides a little boost for the athlete’s event.
This has nothing to do with blood doping, which is illegal. Hyperbaric is a safe, legal way to have an edge in performing.
Stay tuned for part two
In next week’s blog, Dr. Jason Sonners talks to Dr. Sanjeev Goel about hyperbaric oxygen therapy and aging. Don’t miss it!
Explore hyperbaric oxygen therapy and improve performance
If you are interested in improving your performance with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or are simply interested in its many benefits, feel free to contact HBOT USA today.
