Can you remember the last time you truly breathed easily? Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) comes with a host of symptoms, but the most common are a chronic cough and shortness of breath. We’re here to help you understand the benefits of oxygen therapy and to let you know that deep breaths can be possible again.
Reduced Breathlessness
Feeling breathless is much like feeling helpless, and it contributes to more than just a negative mental and emotional state. Breathlessness can be a deterrent to healthy exercise, too. Supplemental oxygen reduces breathlessness and improves your quality of life physically, mentally, and emotionally.
In addition to making it easier to exercise, supplemental oxygen can also improve sexual performance. COPD and hypoxemia result in erectile dysfunction because of lowered oxygen levels, and many patients experience a reversal in ED after receiving long-term oxygen treatment for one month.
Safer Travel
Hypoxemia is when your blood-oxygen content is too low, and this is a real problem when people with COPD fly. Using a portable oxygen concentrator reduces this risk and leads directly to safer air travel.
Reduced Risk of Heart Disease
Your organs and tissues require oxygen to function at their fullest, and hypoxemia forces your heart and lungs to work harder than they should. High blood pressure, heart failure, and heart attacks are dangers of severe hypoxemia, so using supplemental oxygen will greatly assist in bringing your oxygen levels closer to normal.
Prolonged Life
Most importantly, long-term oxygen therapy increases lifespans. The average survival of COPD patients with severe hypoxemia was doubled for people who used supplemental oxygen at least 18 hours a day. Many people who have supplemental oxygen don’t use it often enough to see the full benefits, so do what you can to ensure this isn’t you.
With a better understanding of the benefits of oxygen therapy, you may want to consider looking for an oxygen concentrator machine for sale so you can experience the benefits for yourself.