The Health Benefits of Nitric Oxide

July 15, 2011 By 1 Comment

About a quarter of a century ago, researchers discovered a product produced by the body in the process of breaking down the amino

Courtesy of Arthritis Research & Therapy

acid L-Arginine and used by the body to enhance a variety of functions.  The newly discovered substance, a molecule consisting of one atom of nitrogen and one atom of oxygen, was named Nitric Oxide Synthase, or NOS for short.  NO, as it came to be known, proved to be one of the basic building blocks in fields as diverse as physiology, immunology, and neuroscience, so much so that it was named “Molecule of the Year” in 1992, perhaps a rather humorous bit of serious science.

Amino acids have always been viewed as the body’s construction corps, but NO takes pride of place for its variety of functions.  Basically, NO is a vasodilator, which simply means that it acts to dilate, or expand, the body’s blood vessels, thereby decreasing the force that must be exerted by the heart muscle to pump a given volume of blood.  The applications of that one primary function are amazing!

Produced and sold in supplement form, the use of NO can lower blood pressure by expanding the diameter of the blood vessels and thereby improving the flow of

 

blood, a process which helps to protect the heart while increasing oxygen supply to the body.  NO, as in nitroglycerin pills, dramatically and almost immediately eases the pain of heart attack symptoms, so much so that studies now show nitric oxide as a potential tool in the treatment of angina onset.

But that’s just the beginning.  The body’s immune system cells can release NO to kill bacteria and viral or parasite-borne infection.  NO enhances the bone marrow’s role in producing new blood cells.  It helps in the relief of both pain and inflammation, making it a prime weapon in the fight against rheumatism; in fact, Morphine acts in part by producing nitric oxide.  NO’s basic vasodilator function makes it an ideal component of medications designed to lengthen and heighten sexual stimulation.  It is a transmitting agent for moving messages between nerve cells, and is part of such diverse processes as sleeping, learning, and memory.  It plays a part in feeling pain, and possibly depression as well.  It stimulates brain activity and suppresses tumor growth, including cancerous tumor growth.  NO may even help with diabetes and insulin resistance issues.

Bodybuilders and athletes have discovered nitric oxide, taking it in nutritional supplements such as GlycoCarn which are believed to increase energy, burn fat, and enhance athletic abilities.  The vasodilator properties of nitric oxide translate to accelerated muscle growth because the greater blood flow increases the nutrients delivered to the muscles, thereby allowing them to enlarge under the stress of targeted exercise.  And since NO suppresses inflammation, it is potentially effective in reducing the aches and pains of weight training workouts.

There are seemingly no negative effects associated with NO – unless, that is, you take it and then don’t work out.  You could find yourself restless, energetic, and feeling ‘hyper’, sort of like downing a large energy drink and then trying to take a nap.  And don’t mix it with caffeine; the two would work against each other in your body.  As you get started, you should start with small doses and learn your body’s reaction, then increase the dosage as you go.

Filed Under: Experiments, Featured, Health

Motion Sickness

July 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

motion sicknessAlmost everyone, at some time and probably more than one time, will experience the disquieting effects of motion sickness.  No one will enjoy it.  And chances are that very few of us will understand just what it is and how it works.  Gratefully, there are methods such as motion sickness bands, pills, natural foods, and other options to naturally help with motion sickness. It also helps if you understand why you get motion sick and what is happening to your body, which can help us understand how to overcome the discomforts and problems when we get motion sick.

We can probably all describe the symptoms of motion sickness from our own experience: pale, sweaty skin, weakness, probably headache and/or dizziness, an increasingly uncomfortable stomach and, inevitably, nausea and vomiting.   Sadly, unlike most sicknesses, vomiting does little to remove the misery: relief only comes with a change in one’s physical circumstances.  The problem is not due to a weak stomach, or a delicate constitution, as many have supposed; the real culprit is our brain.  Lucky us.

This is the way it works:  Our brain receives information about our body’s movement, balance, and relative position from three main sources – our eyes, inner ear, and nervous system.  Our eyes tell us where we are and if things are moving.  Our inner ear tells us if we are balanced and if we are moving.  Our nervous system tells us if we are standing, leaning, sitting, etc.  If the inputs from all three systems agree, we’re fine.  When there is a disconnect, we’re going to suffer.

One sort of disconnect occurs when motion is felt but not seen.  We can become carsick when our eyes see the motionless interior of themotion sickness solutions vehicle while our inner ear tells us that we are moving – making bumps, curves, and corners our own private source of misery .  We can suffer that same motion sickness in the comfortable interior of a jet plane, or on board the grandest of cruise ships, and for the same reason: we see no motion, but we can surely feel it.

But the reverse is also true: we can suffer motion sickness when motion is seen but not felt.  Consider the impact of an IMAX film on your stomach as you watch airplane dogfights or sudden violent downdrafts.  Simulators such as those used to train pilots or student drivers can have the same effect, as can virtual reality games.  Astronauts very often suffer motion sickness in flight.

Another cause of motion sickness comes when the body both sees and feels motion but the two inputs do not correspond.  This ‘out-of-synch’ feeling can quickly translate to total woe.  For example, there are amusement park rides that simulate gravity through the use of centrifugal force, leaving the susceptible rider greatly distressed, if not ill.

Some of the ills and miseries we have to contend with are products of our modern-day lifestyles; and, to an extent, this is also true of motion sickness – no one ever suffered motion sickness riding in a horse-drawn buggy, where one both saw the buggy’s movement and felt every bumpy inch of it.  But the ancient Greeks knew all about motion sickness themselves; indeed, our word ‘nausea’ comes directly from the Greek word ‘naus’, their word for ‘ship’.  One can only hope they had a cure, since they clearly suffered the disease.

Filed Under: Featured, Health