Knowledge is Health

This is not intended as medical advice, but a suggestion to gain readily available knowledge to better care for yourself or loved ones, and/or aid in recovery. 

2022 dawned with more than a few in my world feeling poorly, actively sick, or even hospitalized, some in dire straits. Plenty more were recovering. A word we had rarely even heard a couple of years ago —coronavirus — has become a word we speak too much.

A great deal of fear is attached to that word. Yes, the virus can sicken and kill, but so can undercooked chicken and car collisions. Knowledge is power. 

Demasking the mystery of a virus that can compel frightened people to wear a mask to walk outside, even by themselves with no one else in sight, is a good thing. 

Thankfully we humans adapt. Three years ago, no one could imagine acquiring so much medical knowledge or having so many new things in our homes. Digital thermometers were fairly common but now are ubiquitous in home medical kits for routine temperature checks. Joining them are nebulizer treatments and daily blood oxygen readings on a brilliant little device called a pulse oximeter. 

 Oximeters are readily available in stores and online for under $10. Previously not seen outside a hospital or medical facility, this little battery-operated digital reader lightly clamps onto the end of a finger to deliver a blood oxygen level reading and pulse. 

Nebulizers, in home use for years for those with lung issues including asthma or COPD, in 2022 are viewed as another essential home medical kit item for lungs. Do your research or ask your physician about what meds are best to put in the nebulizer. 

After hearing about blood oxygen readings on a succession of friends in the hospital, followed by one particularly intense period for one in and out of intensive care repeatedly, a light bulb went off. I decided to search the Internet for what foods to eat to increase blood oxygen. 

I was shocked by what I learned. Everyday foods can increase blood oxygen levels. And not over long periods either, or so I read. 

Searching the Internet for “foods that increase blood oxygen levels” revealed that adding fresh squeezed lemon to drinking water was a top contender to increasing oxygen in blood, as were elderberry tea, turmeric, bananas, grapes, blueberries, garlic, cabbage, spinach, beets, meat, nuts and seeds, alkaline foods and water. And here’s the shocker —number one on many lists was just opening the windows to breath in fresh air or getting outside. Exercise was also high on all the lists.

I am putting this information (and my nebulizer) to a test. A lofty New Year’s resolution was made to increase blood oxygen by three percentage points, even if it means walking again, if only to the corner and back.

Do your own search to see what is best for you. We really are what we eat. (I am seeing results!) Knowledge is health.