Episode 11 – Oxygenation and Fatigue

Shownotes We make energy in the presence of oxygen and this means that the body must be able to optimally take oxygen in through the breath, transport it around the body and then into the cells. Any breakdown in this supply chain can be a roadblock to the production of the body’s energy currency ATP and this can be experienced as fatigue. In this episode Anna discusses red flags and  what tests, foods, supplements and general lifestyle practises may be helpful to optimise your body’s oxygenation and energy production.  Useful links: Website: https://annamarsh.co.uk/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anna_marsh_nutrition/ Fatigue Recovery Quiz: https://app.annamarsh.co.uk/quiz Oxygenation and Fatigue Hello, and welcome back to the chronic fatigue and burnout recovery podcast. I am your host Anna Marsh, and we will focus on all things oxygenation in this podcast today. So what is oxygenation? Why is it important for your fatigue recovery journey? If you listen to the previous episode on blood sugar, you probably heard me say that fatigue at the end of the day is the end point of poor ATP production. ATP is the body’s energy currency. How the body makes ATP or how the body makes energy is dependent on many, many different factors, some of which I covered in a previous episode where I talked about the causes of fatigue. All those causes, which I discussed, result in the endpoint of poor ATP production. Poor oxygenation could be a contributing factor, from poor ATP to poor energy production. So what I want to cover in this episode today is what we want to be thinking about when we consider that our body may or may not be oxygenating well. When I look at these kinds of concepts like blood sugar and oxygenation, these are what I would call the low-hanging fruit. I call them the low-hanging fruit because they’re accessible and easy to test for. They’re easy to identify, that I wouldn’t say, easy to address, necessarily, but fairly easy to address, fairly straightforward to address, and inexpensive to address. When I’m working with a client, either one on one in one of my one-on-one packages, or even if I’m doing a one-on-one consultation as part of my group program, then what I’m doing is I’m asking these basic questions, how is this person’s blood sugar? Is this person oxygenating well? These are very easy and accessible things we can address as we work towards the entire big picture of ATP and energy production. Health and well-being are created when the body has the energy for all the systems to function well. When we think about oxygenation, what do we want to think about? What do you need to know? Well, one of the first things I like to lead is that we make the most energy in the presence of oxygen. Energy is made in the cell’s mitochondria; we make the most energy and ATP when we burn fat for fuel, and we burn fat for fuel in the presence of oxygen. So we need oxygen to get through our nose, mouth, lungs, and bloodstream. It needs to be transported through the bloodstream, infiltrate into the cells, get into the cell’s mitochondria, and then combine with the fat in the cell’s