Oxygen Advantage Quotes

If you are ever forced to take a chemistry class, you will probably see, at the front of the classroom, a large chart divided into squares, with different numbers and letters in each of them. This chart is called the table of elements, and scientists like to say that it contains all the substances that make up our world. Like everyone else, scientists are wrong from time to time, and it is easy to see that they are wrong about the table of elements. Because although this table contains a great many elements, from the element oxygen, which is found in the air, to the element of aluminum, which is found in cans of soda, the table of elements does not contain one of the most powerful elements that make up our world, and that is the element of surprise. The element of surprise is not a gas like oxygen, or a solid, like aluminum. The element of surprise is an unfair advantage, and it can be found in situations in which one person has sneaked up on another. The surprised person - or, in this sad case, the surprised person - are too stunned to defend themselves and the sneaky person has the advantage of the element of surprise.

We are not human doings; we are human beings.

We should not be too quick to dismiss our own [ocular] arrangement. As so often in biology, the situation is more complex.....we have the advantage that our own light-sensitive cells are embedded directly in their support cells (the retinal pigment epithelium) with an excellent blood supply immediately underneath. Such an arrangement supports the continuous turnover of photosensitive pigments. The human retina consumes even more oxygen than the brain, per gram, making it the most energetic organ in the body.

Efficient breathing means that fewer free radicals are produced, reducing the risk of inflammation, tissue damage, and injury. Free

The moon is a world of rough terrain, with an extent the size of Africa. Such a world cannot be adequately explored on foot, or by ground vehicles. To get around the moon in any serious way, we are going to have to be able to fly. The moon, of course, has no air, so airplanes are out of the question. But by taking advantage of its polar ice to produce hydrogen/ oxygen propellant, we will be able to fly all over the moon using rocket-powered ballistic flight vehicles.

Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, were the first photosynthesizers. They breathed in carbon dioxide and breathed out oxygen. Oxygen is a volatile gas; it causes iron to rust (oxidation) and wood to burn (vigorous oxidation). When cyanobacteria first appeared, the oxygen they breathed out was toxic to nearly all other forms of life. The resulting extinction is called the oxygen catastrophe. After the cyanobacteria pumped Earth’s atmosphere and water full of toxic oxygen, creatures evolved that took advantage of the gas’s volatile nature to enable new biological processes. We are the descendants of those first oxygen-breathers. Many details of this history remain uncertain; the world of a billion years ago is difficult to reconstruct.

•  Mouth-breathing children are at greater risk of developing forward head posture, and reduced respiratory strength. •  Breathing through the mouth contributes to general dehydration (mouth breathing during sleep results in waking up with a dry mouth). •  A dry mouth also increases acidification of the mouth and results in more dental cavities and gum disease. •  Mouth breathing causes bad breath due to altered bacterial flora. •  Breathing through the mouth has been proven to significantly increase the number of occurrences of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.

If you are ever forced to take a chemistry class, you will probably see, at the front of the classroom, a large chart divided into squares, with different numbers and letters in each of them. This chart is called the table of the elements, and scientists like to say that it contains all the substances that make up our world. Like everyone else, scientists are wrong from time to time, and it is easy to see that they are wrong about the table of the elements. Because although this table contains a great many elements, from the element oxygen, which is found in the air, to the element aluminum, which is found in cans of soda, the table of the elements does not contain one of the most powerful elements that make up our world, and that is the element of surprise. The element of surprise is not a gas, like oxygen, or a solid, like aluminum. The element of surprise is an unfair advantage, and it can be found in situations in which one person has sneaked up on another. The surprised person—or, in this sad case, the surprised persons—are too stunned to defend themselves, and the sneaky person has the advantage of the element of surprise.

History favors the bold. Compensation favors the meek. As a Fortune 500 company CEO, you’re better off taking the path often traveled and staying the course. Big companies may have more assets to innovate with, but they rarely take big risks or innovate at the cost of cannibalizing a current business. Neither would they chance alienating suppliers or investors. They play not to lose, and shareholders reward them for it—until those shareholders walk and buy Amazon stock. Most boards ask management: “How can we build the greatest advantage for the least amount of capital/investment?” Amazon reverses the question: “What can we do that gives us an advantage that’s hugely expensive, and that no one else can afford?” Why? Because Amazon has access to capital with lower return expectations than peers. Reducing shipping times from two days to one day? That will require billions. Amazon will have to build smart warehouses near cities, where real estate and labor are expensive. By any conventional measure, it would be a huge investment for a marginal return. But for Amazon, it’s all kinds of perfect. Why? Because Macy’s, Sears, and Walmart can’t afford to spend billions getting the delivery times of their relatively small online businesses down from two days to one. Consumers love it, and competitors stand flaccid on the sidelines. In 2015, Amazon spent $7 billion on shipping fees, a net shipping loss of $5 billion, and overall profits of $2.4 billion. Crazy, no? No. Amazon is going underwater with the world’s largest oxygen tank, forcing other retailers to follow it, match its prices, and deal with changed customer delivery expectations. The difference is other retailers have just the air in their lungs and are drowning. Amazon will surface and have the ocean of retail largely to itself.

A skittering mind, jumping from thought to thought, is a leech to productivity, creative endeavor, and quality of life. Having a focused mind is probably the greatest asset in every walk of life, whatever your occupation or lifestyle. After

Did you know when you sit up or stand up straight you get more oxygen into your body: more oxygen to your blood thus more oxygen to your brain. Use good posture and think well! Use good posture to your advantage!

Analog data are superior for this job because they can be changed back and forth with relative ease whenever the environment within or outside the cell demands it, and they can store an almost unlimited number of possible values, even in response to conditions that have never been encountered before.25 The unlimited number of possible values is why many audiophiles still prefer the rich sounds of analog storage systems. But even though analog devices have their advantages, they have a major disadvantage. In fact, it’s the reason we’ve moved from analog to digital. Unlike digital, analog information degrades over time—falling victim to the conspiring forces of magnetic fields, gravity, cosmic rays, and oxygen. Worse still, information is lost as it’s copied. No one was more acutely disturbed by the problem of information loss than Claude Shannon, an electrical engineer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston.

yoga book The Science of Breath, written over a century ago, Yogi Ramacharaka

During this process, the feedstock reacts with hydrogen in the presence of catalysts at high temperatures (300–400 °C) and pressure of almost 10 MPa. Heterogeneous catalysts like Ni–Mo/Al2O3 and Co–Mo/Al2O3 are used in this process to produce hydrocarbons in the range of C15–C18. Hydrotreatment also results in the removal of heteroatoms like oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur [81]. Green Diesel has a similar chemical composition as that of petrodiesel and can be used in existing refinery infrastructure such as pipelines and storage tanks. It has similar advantages to that of biodiesel in terms of its use in diesel engines without any engine modification. It can be either used in its pure form or can be blended with petrodiesel [78]. Although several other methods are being developed to produce green diesel, hydrotreatment is mostly accepted and is also commercially available

isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.

It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe. —MUHAMMAD ALI

Something vast suddenly crossed my field of vision. By the time I had reacted and adjusted the magnification, it had passed out of sight into the works shed. I had a brief memory of bright, almost gaudy metal and a shimmering, flowing robe. ‘What the hell was that?’ I hissed. Midas looked at me, lowering his scope, actual fear on his face. Fischig also looked disturbed. ‘A giant, a horned giant in jewelled metal,’ Midas said. ‘He came striding out of the modular hab to the left and went straight into the shed. God-Emperor, but it was huge!’ Fischig agreed with a nod. ‘A monster,’ he said. The cones above roared again, and a rain of withering ash fluttered down across the settlement. We shrank back into the thorn-trees. Guard activity seemed to increase. ‘Rosethorn,’ my vox piped. ‘Now is not a good time,’ I hissed. It was Maxilla. He sent one final word and cut off. ‘Sanctum.’ ‘Sanctum’ was a Glossia codeword that I had given Maxilla before we had left the Essene. I wanted him in close orbit, providing us with extraction cover and overhead sensor advantages, but knew that he would have to melt away the moment any other traffic entered the system. ‘Sanctum’ meant that he had detected a ship or ships emerging from the immaterium into realspace, and was withdrawing to a concealment orbit behind the local star. Which meant that all of us on the planet were on our own. Midas caught my sleeve and pointed down at the settlement. The giant had reappeared and stood in plain view at the mouth of the shed. He was well over two metres tall, wrapped in a cloak that seemed to be made of smoke and silk, and his ornately decorated armour and horned helmet were a shocking mixture of chased gold, acidic yellow, glossy purple, and the red of fresh, oxygenated blood. In his ancient armour, the monster looked like he had stood immobile in that spot for a thousand years. Just a glance at him inspired terror and revulsion, involuntary feelings of dread that I could barely repress. A Space Marine, from the corrupted and damned Adeptus Astartes. A Chaos Marine.

In high water, fish migrate to the banks to stay out of the fast currents and to take advantage of the worms, beetles, ants, and other terrestrials being swept into the river by the floodwaters. If the water is very dirty, they position themselves right next to the bank, a rock, or the bottom in order to keep their equilibrium. In warm water, they move to the deeper cooler waters or place themselves near a cool spring or tributary. Alternately, they could be under the fastest turbulent cascades where there is more dissolved oxygen.

In its first ten months of operation, the Eighth lost 188 heavy bombers and some 1,900 crewmen; those numbers would skyrocket over the next year and a half. By the end of the conflict, the U.S. air operations in Europe would suffer more fatalities—26,000—than the entire Marine Corps in its protracted bloody campaigns in the Pacific. “To fly in the Eighth Air Force in those days,” recalled Harrison Salisbury, “was to hold a ticket to a funeral. Your own.” The savagery of the air war was not due solely to the ferocity of German defenses. Early in the war, when the Air Force brass in Washington were touting the advantages of high-altitude flying, they failed to realize that the extreme atmospheric conditions experienced by the crews could kill as effectively as a Messerschmitt or Focke-Wulf. “There are apparently little things that one doesn’t think about prior to getting into operations,” commented Dr. Malcolm Grow, the Eighth’s chief medical officer. Little things like oxygen deprivation, which could cause unconsciousness and death in a matter of minutes, or extensive frostbite, caused by several hours of exposure to temperatures of 50 to 60 degrees below zero. Until early 1944, more airmen were hospitalized for frostbite than for combat injuries. As

The yawning reflect lights up the same part of our brain that is associated with empathy, bonding, play, and creativity. So please let that soft animal of your body, or that little boy or little girl in you, yawn to his or her heart's content!

The earlier you begin to encourage your children to breathe through their nose and ensure the correct positioning of the tongue, the better. Not only might you help them avoid orthodontic treatment altogether, but the shape of their face, their general health, and their athleticism will be significantly influenced during these few short years. Even genetic predispositions can be minimized when the right action and behavior is enshrined.

Leonardo Pelagotti is an Oxygen Advantage instructor based in Paris, France. He was a national-level gymnast for 15 years and achieved a black belt in Kung-fu Shaolin after just five years of practice. Since 2017, he has been an instructor of the Wim Hof method,

In transporting the breath, the inhalation must be full. When it is full, it has big capacity. When it has big capacity, it can be extended. When it is extended, it can penetrate downward. When it penetrates downward, it will become calmly settled. When it is calmly settled, it will be strong and firm. When it is strong and firm, it will germinate. When it germinates, it will grow. When it grows, it will retreat upward. When it retreats upward, it will reach the top of the head. The secret power of Providence moves above. The secret power of the Earth moves below. He who follows this will live. He who acts against this will die.

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Nowadays, as we spend more time communicating via social media, playing computer games, and surfing the Internet, our powers of concentration are diminishing. According to international motivational guru Kevin Kelly, we are now living in an attention-deficit society. The dial has moved from conversation to presentation and from dialogue to monologue. We no longer give each other our undivided attention, and neither do we take the time to observe our own breathing or allow our minds to still.

Not only is an overactive mind less conducive to focus and productivity, it also leads to increased stress, anxiety, and depression—all of which contribute to mental health problems and a reduced quality of life.

The clarity of your mind plays a significant role in determining your quality of life:

and nasal breathing ensures a number of benefits that are essential not only for good health but for improved sports performance, including: •  Filtering, warming, and humidifying air before it is drawn into the lungs •  Reducing the heart rate •  Bringing nitric oxide into the lungs to open airways and blood vessels •  Better oxygen delivery throughout the body •  Reduced lactic acid as more oxygen is delivered to working muscles

There is only one way to change your breathing volume and rate, and that is by slowing down and diminishing the size of each breath in order to create a shortage of air.

Efficient breathing means that fewer free radicals are produced, reducing the risk of inflammation, tissue damage, and injury.

As the Irish writer Oscar Wilde once said, “Thinking is the most unhealthy thing in the world, and people die of it just as they die of any other disease.

Just as it is not advisable to go for a jog directly after eating, it is also best to practice breathing exercises on an empty stomach.

In what is considered to be one of the toughest foot races on earth, competitors run the equivalent of six regular marathons over six days in the Sahara Desert, during which they are required to carry their own food. Blood samples were taken from runners 72 hours after completion of the race, with researchers noting a “significant alteration of the blood antioxidant defense capacity” and concluding that “such extreme competition induced an imbalance between oxidant and antioxidant protection.

The problem is not a lack of oxygen in the blood, but that not enough oxygen is being released from the blood to tissues and organs, including the brain, resulting in feelings of lethargy and exhaustion. This happens because too much carbon dioxide has been expelled from the body. As we shall see further on, habitual overbreathing influences the release of oxygen from red blood cells, the consequences of which can affect day-to-day well-being as well as performance during exercise. This ties back to the Bohr Effect, which I touched on in the introduction and will expand on in a few pages.

the primary stimulus to breathe is to eliminate excess carbon dioxide from the body.

The production of nitric oxide in the nasal sinuses can be increased by simply humming.

When your attention is focused on the sensations of your inner body and your breath, it is impossible to maintain anxious, stressful, and distracting thoughts. These practices of meditation have been employed by human beings for thousands of years, and today many studies show the benefits of meditation as a means of helping with weight loss.

The crucial point to remember is that hemoglobin releases oxygen when in the presence of carbon dioxide. When we overbreathe, too much carbon dioxide is washed from the lungs, blood, tissues, and cells. This condition is called hypocapnia, causing the hemoglobin to hold on to oxygen, resulting in reduced oxygen release and therefore reduced oxygen delivery to tissues and organs. With less oxygen delivered to the muscles, they cannot work as effectively as we might like them to.

Think of it this way: CO2 is the doorway that lets oxygen reach our muscles. If the door is only partially open, only some of the oxygen at our disposal passes through, and we find ourselves gasping during exercise, often with our limbs cramping. If, on the other hand, the door is wide open, oxygen flows through the doorway and we can sustain physical activity longer and at a higher intensity.

Ironically, as the body breathes more intensely in an effort to take in more oxygen, less is delivered.

Increasing the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is the most important factor when adjusting to an increase in altitude, and breath-hold training exercises are an ideal way to prepare in the weeks before ascent. Spending two to three months performing 5 to 10 maximum breath holds each day will condition the body to accept this intense feeling of breathlessness as a familiar occurrence, potentially resulting in a reduced response to this experience at higher altitude.

through. Breathing too much for short periods of time is not a significant problem, as no permanent change in the body occurs. However, when we breathe too much over an extended period of days to weeks, a biochemical change takes place inside us that results in an increased sensitivity or lower tolerance to carbon dioxide.

When we breathe in excess of what we require, too much carbon dioxide is exhaled from the lungs and, hence, is removed from the blood. It forces that door to a more closed position, making it harder for oxygen to pass through.

The production of nitric oxide in the nasal sinuses can be increased by simply humming. In an article published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Doctors Weitzberg and Lundberg described how humming increased nitric oxide up to fifteenfold in comparison with quiet exhalation. They concluded that humming causes a dramatic increase in sinus ventilation and nasal nitric oxide release.

hyperventilation reduces the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood. This leads to a narrowing of blood vessels and reduced delivery of oxygen to the brain. An oxygen-deprived brain is more excitable and agitated, and as it floods with self-generated thoughts, anxiety kicks in. One contributes to the other, creating a vicious and self-perpetuating cycle.

Carbon dioxide is an end product of the natural process of breaking down the fats and carbohydrates we eat. CO2 is returned from the tissues and cells to the lungs via blood vessels, and any excess is exhaled.

The element of surprise can offer a hero great advantage in battle. The element of oxygen—also important.

Just as we have an optimal quantity of water and food to consume each day, we also have an optimal quantity of air to breathe. And just as eating too much can be damaging to our health, so can overbreathing.

When we breathe correctly, we have a sufficient amount of carbon dioxide, and our breathing is quiet, controlled, and rhythmic. If we are overbreathing, our breathing is heavy, more intense, and erratic, and we exhale too much carbon dioxide, leaving our body literally gasping for oxygen.

Internet offers so much choice we end up spending our time flitting from one thing to another, shortening our attention spans and forming a habit of poor concentration. Selker suggests that the nature of web browsing can leave us with an attention span of just 9 seconds—the same as that of a goldfish.

What explains their advantage? Contrary to one popular theory, it’s not a high red-blood-cell count. Compared with Caucasians, Sherpas actually have fewer red blood cells per liter of blood. Nor is the difference explained by diet, acclimatization, metabolism, iron-deficiency, or environmental factors. At sea level, Sherpas have such a low red-blood-cell count that they are technically anemic, but, curiously, they don’t show symptoms. Overall, Sherpas require as much oxygen as anybody else, but they have less of it dissolved in their blood. Scientists initially found this puzzling. Red blood cells ferry oxygen around the body, and other populations well adapted to altitude, such as the Quechua and the Aymara of the Andean highlands, have veins teeming with red blood cells. How do Sherpas manage with less at a much higher altitude than the Andes? Probably by circulating blood faster. Sherpas have wider blood vessels. They breathe more often when at rest, providing their blood with more oxygen to absorb, and they exhale more nitric oxide, a marker of efficient lung circulation. There is also a genetic explanation. Sherpas’ red-blood-cell count stays low because of Hypoxia Inducible Factor 2-alpha, a gene that regulates response to low oxygen and turns on other genes. In addition, Sherpas have inherited a dominant genetic trait that improves hemoglobin saturation, allowing their red blood cells to soak up more oxygen. Sherpas’ thin blood, in turn, may prevent the sort of clotting that crippled Art Gilkey on K2. This genetic advantage only enhances the Sherpa mystique. Lowlanders clutching the Lonely Planet guide are convinced they want to hire “a sherpa,” even if they don’t know what a Sherpa is, and, after three generations of gathering tourist dollars, Sherpas now rank among the richest and most visible of Nepal’s fifty or so ethnicities. They didn’t start out that way.