Treating Chronic Stress and Anxiety with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Many patients report less stress and anxiety after hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), allowing them to live more comfortably and peacefully day to day. HBOT improves general brain function, directly improving autonomic nervous system function which balances our stress systems. Many patients report improved focus, better sleep, and able to handle stressful situations with greater ease, all of which are products of a healthier Neo-cortex (higher brain function) and Limbic system (emotional brain centers), which are responsible for regulating stress, anxiety, and depression.
Stress and anxiety can impact our health in various ways (i.e. increasing chronic inflammation). It is something that many of us have experienced in our lifetimes. Many patients report less stress and anxiety after hyperbaric oxygen therapy, allowing them to live more comfortably and peacefully day to day.
Common symptoms
Chronic Stress and Anxiety can cause a wide range of symptoms, but common symptoms include:
- Aches and pains
- Insomnia or sleepiness
- Low energy
- Unfocused or cloudy thinking
- Change in emotional responses to others
How can hyperbaric oxygen therapy help your Chronic Stress and Anxiety?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may be helpful due to its ability to improve brain tissue function and health at the cellular level by:
- providing abundant levels of plasma-rich oxygen to our brain tissue for healing
- reducing neuro-inflammation throughout our brain and body
- stimulating release of growth factors such as trophic factor to enhance neuroplasticity for the repair and regeneration of brain cells and their connections (synapses)
- stimulating growth of new blood vessels to supply the brain with greater circulation and oxygen to promote brain repair and regeneration by releasing greater amounts of vascular endothelial growth factor
- balancing our fight or flight and relaxation and digestion systems by strengthening the health of our autonomic nervous system, which impacts blood flow within our brain that may lead to cardiovascular changes, dizziness, headaches, slow processing, memory changes, temperature changes, easily stressed or overwhelmed, and many other symptoms
- increasing stem cell production for healing
- improving detoxification
- enhancing cerebrospinal fluid flow
Other benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a quickly evolving science and the full benefits are continually being discovered. HBOT increases the amount of oxygen in our bloodstream and increases circulation to deliver abundant amounts of oxygen to the brain, supersaturating our tissue with energy needed for healing, growth, and repair. This creates a healthier environment for our brain to work and control our autonomic nervous system. Because of this, the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be found in all parts of the body and in a wide range of ways. Some benefits can include:
- Faster healing from trauma
- Reduced inflammation
- Increased stem cell release
- Improved brain health
- Detoxification
- Improved autonomic nervous system function
- …and many more
Learn more about the many benefits of HBOT and how it works.
Supporting Research
- Our analysis revealed an upregulation of antioxidant, cytoprotective, and immediate early genes. This increase coincided with an increased resistance to a lethal oxidative stress. Our data indicate that hyperbaric oxygen can induce protection against oxidative insults in endothelial cells and may provide an easily administered hormetic treatment to help promote healthy aging.
- Military cohort with chronic blast-induced PCS and PTSD. Significant improvements occurred in symptoms, abnormal physical exam findings, cognitive testing, and quality-of-life measurements, with concomitant significant improvements in SPECT (Harch et al.).
- Recent evidence suggests that hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO), which has been used as an effective treatment for certain types of tissue injury, may change neural activities in the human brain and subsequently improve symptoms of psychiatric disorders (Ma et al.)
- HBOT induced significant clinical improvement that correlates with improved brain functionality and brain microstructure in Child sexual abuse (CSA) related FMS (Fibromyalgia Syndrome) patients (Hadanny et al.)
HBOT improved symptoms, brain microstructure and functionality in veterans with treatment resistant PTSD (Doenyas- Barak et al.) - We may infer that HBO2 therapy decreases the severity of symptoms and increases the life quality of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients. It may be a new treatment modality for the management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. However, further studies with larger sample sizes and control groups are definitely awaited (Akarsu et al.)
- Our analysis revealed an upregulation of antioxidant, cytoprotective, and immediate early genes. This increase coincided with an increased resistance to a lethal oxidative stress. Our data indicate that hyperbaric oxygen can induce protection against oxidative insults in endothelial cells and may provide an easily administered hormetic treatment to help promote healthy aging (Godman et al.)
Sources
- Harch PG, Andrews SR, Fogarty EF, Amen D, Pezzullo JC, Lucarini J, Aubrey C, Taylor DV, Staab PK, Van Meter KW. A phase I study of low-pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy for blast-induced post-concussion syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. J Neurotrauma. 2012 Jan 1;29(1):168-85. doi: 10.1089/neu.2011.1895. Epub 2011 Nov 22. PMID: 22026588. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22026588/
- Ma, J., Hong, G., Ha, E., Hong, H., Kim, J., Joo, Y., Yoon, S., Lyoo, I. K., & Kim, J. (2021). Hippocampal cerebral blood flow increased following low-pressure hyperbaric oxygenation in firefighters with mild traumatic brain injury and emotional distress. Neurological Sciences, 42(10), 4131-4138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05094-5
https://pure.ewha.ac.kr/en/publications/hippocampal-cerebral-blood-flow-increased-following-low-pressure - Harch PG, Fogarty EF, Staab PK, Van Meter K. Low pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy and SPECT brain imaging in the treatment of blast-induced chronic traumatic brain injury (post-concussion syndrome) and post traumatic stress disorder: a case report. Cases J. 2009 Jun 9;2:6538. doi: 10.4076/1757-1626-2-6538. PMID: 19829822; PMCID: PMC2740054. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19829822/
- Yan D, Shan J, Ze Y, Xiao-Yan Z, Xiao-Hua H. The effects of combined hyperbaric oxygen therapy on patients with post-stroke depression. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015 May;27(5):1295-7. doi: 10.1589/jpts.27.1295. Epub 2015 May 26. PMID: 26157204; PMCID: PMC4483382. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26157204/
- Hadanny, Amir et al. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Can Induce Neuroplasticity and Significant Clinical Improvement in Patients Suffering From Fibromyalgia With a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse—Randomized Controlled Trial. Front. Psychol., 17 December 2018. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02495/full
- Doenyas-Barak, Keren et al. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves symptoms, brain’s microstructure and functionality in veterans with treatment resistant post-traumatic stress disorder: A prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Published: February 22, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264161
- Akarsu S, Tekin L, Ay H, Carli AB, Tok F, Simşek K, Kiralp MZ. The efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the management of chronic fatigue syndrome. Undersea Hyperb Med. 2013 Mar-Apr;40(2):197-200. Erratum in: Undersea Hyperb Med. 2013 May-Jun;40(3):312. PMID: 23682549.
- Godman CA, Joshi R, Giardina C, Perdrizet G, Hightower LE. Hyperbaric oxygen treatment induces antioxidant gene expression. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Jun;1197:178-83. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05393.x. PMID: 20536847.
Contact Us
Ready to discuss how hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help you heal, rebuild and restore health?
Contact Us