Carbon Dioxide

Vital functions
- Offloading of oxygen (through Hemoglobin) from the blood to be used by the cells
- Powerful vasodilator
  - The dilation of the smooth muscle in the walls of the airways and blood vessels
- The regulation of blood pH.

Links to this note

Das geheime Band zwischen Mensch und Natur
Regăsirea sensului
Breath - The New Science of a Lost Art

    -   oxygen is delivered to the hungry cells and leaves "room" empty for [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) to embark

        -   blood cells in the veins carry more [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) -&gt; blue color

    -   [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/)

        -   to much [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) leaves the body

        -   they tell the body how to breathe, not by the amount of oxygen but by the level of [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) in our body

        -   the goal is to make the chemoreceptors wide so they get "used" to high amount of [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/)

            -   they have **trained** their chemoreceptors to adapt to extreme fluctuations in [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) without panic

    -   increase of [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) levels has effect on health improvements

The Oxygen Advantage

“What happens to blood pH when you hold your breath? Carbon Dioxide is unable to leave the blood via the lungs, and it dissociates into carbonic acid. As CO2 builds up in the body, blood becomes more acidic, reversing the alkalinity caused by deliberate hyperventilation. As carbon dioxide levels rise, the oxygen held in red blood cells floods to the tissues.”

The Wim Hof Method

-   through breathe exercises you can control the ratio of [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) and oxygen in your blood

Central Chemoreceptors

monitor changes of Carbon Dioxide levels and send alarm signals to the brain, telling the lungs to breathe faster and more deeply

when we’re breathing too quickly, the receptors tell the body to breathe more slowly to increase Carbon Dioxide levels
    -   it it the ability to adapt to different levels of [Carbon Dioxide](/t/carbon-dioxide/) and oxygen that helped humans colonize at different (and high) altitudes

The Bohr Effect The Bohr Effect

Christian Bohr (Denmark) discovered that blood with the most Carbon Dioxide in it, attracted more oxygen from Hemoglobin (a so called divorce lawyer to separate oxygen)