Joshua Zitser, an Insider reporter, tries an oxygen bar in Lakewood, Colorado. Joshua Zitser/Insider An Insider reporter tried an oxygen bar in Lakewood, Colorado for anxiety and altitude sickness. It cost $15.
99 to inhale scented oxygen for 20 minutes. Proponents of oxygen bars say they offer many benefits, but there’s little scientific evidence to support the claims. After arriving in Colorado, where I was staying at a ranch some 8,000 feet above sea level, I’d been struggling with altitude sickness.
I’d felt tired, out of breath, and a little queasy for a couple of days. It is to be expected when your body struggles to adapt to a sudden increase in elevation. After all, I’d traveled from London, England, only 36 feet above sea level.
I also felt a little anxious, which isn’t unusual given that I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Having heard from locals that oxygen bars could help me with my anxiety and altitude sickness, I thought I’d give one a go. Sun Spa in Lakewood, Colorado.
Google MapsI went to Sun Spa Tanning & Day Spa in Lakewood, Colorado, an unassuming establishment in a retail park on the outskirts of Denver, where you can inhale flavored oxygen for 20 minutes for $15. 99. “A lot of people come here when they’re on vacation because they can’t handle the altitude,” said Courtney Ruiz, the spa’s manager, as she prepared my booth in the oxygen bar for me.
“Altitude sickness is probably the top one,” she continued. “But hangovers and things like that are also popular. “Hangovers and altitude sickness are the main benefits Colorado’s oxygen bars tout, but, according to a handbook I was given as I placed the cannula in my nose, there is a whole range of other benefits.
A handbook which makes claims of the supposed benefits of oxygen bars. Joshua Zitser/ InsiderOxygen bars can heighten alertness, strengthen your immune system, counter aging, and lessen chronic fatigue, the handbook said. Clinicians, however, aren’t convinced.
“There has been no scientific research that this extra shot of pure oxygen has any benefits,” said Dr. George Boyer, MD, chief of pulmonary and critical care at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, per WebMD. There are no long-term, well-controlled scientific studies to support the idea that recreational oxygen bars are a cure-all treatment.
And technically, recreational oxygen bars violate FDA regulations because oxygen is considered a prescription drug. Insider contacted the FDA for comment. The federal agency provided a link to a consumer update that notes that while prescribing oxygen therapy for those suffering from chronic health conditions, such as lung cancer, can be beneficial, using unprescribed oxygen concentrators can do “more harm than good.
“Oxygen bars, if not administered properly, can lead to oxygen toxicity, the update said. For people with emphysema, a condition in which the air sacs in the lungs are damaged, it can cause them to stop breathing, according to FDA. Knowing the potential risks, I decided to go ahead with my oxygen bar trial.
There were four flavors of oxygen to choose from. Joshua Zitser/InsiderFirst, I had to choose the flavor I wanted for my oxygen. There were four to choose from.
I selected the lavender and balsam scent. I was then given a bottle of chilled water, which, I was told, would “improve” my 20-minute experience. Ruiz told me to breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth, and to sit back and relax for the duration of the session.
‘I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right’At first, I couldn’t taste or smell the lavender. Other than the annoying sensation of having a cannula in my nose, I felt no different from how I had felt minutes before. I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right as I was expecting, I suppose, a blast of energy or an overwhelming sense of relaxation, but instead, I felt nothing.
Over time, I started to feel more relaxed, but I wasn’t sure how much of this was the oxygen and how much could be attributed to my deep breathing. When my 20 minutes were up, I felt pretty relaxed. My breathing felt slightly less shallow, albeit for only a few minutes, but that could have been the placebo effect.
As I left the spa just a few minutes later, I felt no different from how I’d felt entering it. My breathing was, once again, slightly labored, and my anxious thoughts had returned. The experience was pleasant, but the results were underwhelming and short-lived.
Ultimately, $15. 99 seemed too much to breathe in lightly-scented air. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/i-tried-an-oxygen-bar-for-anxiety-altitude-sickness-2022-7
