Important Ways Carbon Helps Athletes

While exhaling carbon in the form of carbon dioxide, or CO2, is vital to normal breathing, too little carbon in the body can cause a range of problems. Helping to reduce inflammation and increase blood flow, oxygen transport and muscle relaxation, carbon can help athletes to perform at their best. By focusing on both inhaling and exhaling fully, you can reap the benefits of both oxygen and CO2 to give yourself a competitive edge.

Blood Flow

An insufficient amount of carbon dioxide in your body, known as hypocapnia, is associated with restriction of your blood vessels. This limits the amount of blood that can flow through your blood vessels, which forces your heart to work harder and increases your blood pressure. As intense exercise also increases your heart rate and blood pressure, inadequate amounts of CO2 can place extreme demands on your body. Maintaining a normal breathing pattern while exercising can help to increase CO2 concentrations and vasodilation, or the dilation of your blood vessels. This allows you to push yourself harder without overworking your cardiovascular system.

Oxygen Uptake

Exercise places great oxygen demands on the muscles and organs of your body. As your blood transports oxygen throughout your body, the vasodilating effect of CO2 can help to increase oxygen transport. In addition, CO2 helps to decrease the bond between oxygen and hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying molecule in your blood, by decreasing your blood's pH. As hemoglobin bonds more strongly to oxygen at a higher blood pH, increasing your CO2 intake allows for easier oxygen release and uptake in the tissues and organs of your body.

Anti-Inflammatory

Most people with hypocapnia breathe too quickly, or hyperventilate, as is common among athletes in the midst of competition. By altering the relative concentrations of oxygen and carbon in your blood, hyperventilation can actually decrease the amount of oxygen reaching your body's cells. Known as hypoxia, this lack of oxygen may lead to chronic inflammation or, in severe cases, a condition known as systemic inflammatory response syndrome. As inflammation due to extensive use and injury is common among athletes, ensuring that you maintain regular concentrations of CO2 in your blood is vital to preventing, reducing the symptoms of and recovering from intense exercise.

Muscle Relaxation

Hyperventilation and hypocapnia can lead to tense, overly sensitive muscles. This can lead to muscle twitches, spasms and lack of coordination, with psychological effects including anger, aggression and hyperactivity. By maintaining a regular breathing rhythm, you help to ensure that your blood-CO2 concentrations are adequate to avoid these effects of muscle tension. As CO2 acts as a natural muscle relaxant, focusing on breathing properly while exercising can make you less psychologically and physically tense, more responsive and may help to increase the fluidity of your motions.