Hypoxia

The word hypoxia means “lack of oxygen”. In relation to medicine, it is commonly used to describe a situation where there is blood flow to an organ or a part of the body, but the content of oxygen in the blood is lower than what is healthy for the body.
Let’s discuss a little about oxygen, our blood and our lungs. I’m sure we all know how oxygen gets into the body. If you need a reminder, just take a nice deep breath in… and let it out. It might help jog your memory.
The lungs are the organs which draw in air (with its 20-21% oxygen content). There is a massive surface  area inside the lungs, which diffuses oxygen into the blood stream. If one were to measure the total area of the lungs where blood comes in contact with oxygen, you’d get somewhere around 50-70 Sq. meters.

However, the lungs are just the beginning of the process. Once the oxygen comes in contact with the blood stream, something in the blood has to pick up and store that oxygen for transportation to the rest of the body. That wonderful component of the blood, which picks up and carries oxygen, is called red blood cells. There are quite a few of them in every drop of blood (think 5 billion cells in 1 cc of blood). They are what make blood look the way it does. Unless you are a Vulcan, that color is red.

The red blood cell is a strange beast, more like the Frankenstein monster of the body rather than a normal cell. On an average, red blood cells have a life span of about 120 days. They start their life in the bone marrow where they mature and are then released, to begin their duties circulating.  A red blood cell undergoes a lot of modifications before it can be considered mature. One of the important changes that happens to a mature red blood cell is that, it loses its nucleus (the center of the cell with DNA). Instead of DNA in the center, the cell gets a special protein-mineral molecule attached.

This unique combination of iron and protein is called hemoglobin. That's the miracle worker that carries oxygen. When an empty red blood cell enters the lungs and interfaces with that massive surface air barrier, it sucks in oxygen. This cell, then slowly gives up its oxygen to the rest of the body depending on where the demand is highest. That’s the basic science of it!

Hypoxia is most commonly seen in situations where the red blood cell isn’t doing its job (mutated hemoglobin molecules like in sickle cell) or there aren’t enough red blood cells or they don’t carry enough hemoglobin to get the job done, for example, when anemia occurs. All of these situations end up with the same result. The tissues of the body suffer, one feels fatigued, exercising becomes painful and in worst cases of anemia physical activity becomes excruciatingly difficult.

Specific parts of the body suffer in different ways due to hypoxia. There is pain in the muscles and the nerves. The brain on the other hand, is most sensitive to hypoxia. Depending on how severe the situation is, a hypoxic person can go from a state of being slightly sleepy and confused to having a seizure. There is also a high chance of the person becoming brain dead. In extreme cases of hypoxia, there might be a need to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The two most important things that happen when CPR is performed are:

• Oxygenating the red blood cells through mouth to mouth resuscitation
• Maintaining the circulation of red blood cells to the brain through chest compression

How to prevent hypoxia?

• The population of red blood cells should be maintained with a healthy protein and iron rich diet  
• Exercising and avoiding drugs helps to keep the bone marrow healthy
• As smoking is injurious to health, avoid it to keep the lungs, and in turn the red blood cells, healthy