Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Depression
What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Depression? Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a treatment in which a person breathes almost 100% medical-grade oxygen inside a pressurized hyperbaric chamber. Originally used to treat decompression sickness, in recent years, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) has been used to treat an array of medical conditions. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy also helps in strengthening the immune system by helping the body increase the production of white blood cells. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) floods the body’s tissue with oxygen while lessening the swelling of damaged blood vessels. In a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, the air pressure is increased two to three times higher than normal air pressure. Under these conditions, your lungs can gather much more oxygen than possible by breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure. Multiple studies on depression have examined MRI scans of depressive patients and noticed changes in blood flow to the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex. It has therefore been hypothesized that hyperbaric oxygen therapy OT could potentially treat depression. While much of the research into HBOT’s effect on depression is still preliminary, it’s so far been favorable. Several studies show that regular Hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment over several weeks can relieve…