| Reader, Poor blood flow to the brain has long been seen as an early warning sign of Alzheimer's... But there is now strong scientific evidence that it's also a root cause.
You see, poor blood flow restricts the delivery of life-giving oxygen to your brain.
Researchers from the University of California in San Diego found that when blood flow to the brain gets critically low, it begins a cascade of dangerous biochemical and microvascular events that lead to Alzheimer's disease.1
This backs up earlier studies that confirm a direct link between the terrifying spike in the number of Alzheimer's cases and chronic inflammation from air pollution.
In a breakthrough study published in the BMJ, researchers confirmed that people exposed to higher levels of air pollutants were a staggering 150% more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those exposed to lower levels of pollution.
The link between Alzheimer's and your body's ability to deliver oxygen to your brain couldn't be clearer. That's why HBOT has been so incredibly successful at treating Alzheimer's patients. HBOT is simply the delivery of high-pressure oxygen to your body and brain.
At my clinic, I use pressured oxygen at one and a half times normal atmospheric pressure.
HBOT was first used back in the 1930s to treat deep-sea divers with decompression sickness(also known as the bends). But at the time, doctors realized it also sped up wound healing. HBOT allows your lungs to take in more oxygen than would be possible if you were breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.
At the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine, I treat patients with 100% oxygen at 1.5 times normal atmospheric pressure. This combination of pressure and oxygen physically dissolves more oxygen into your red blood cells, boosting oxygen levels.
But HBOT doesn't only boost your body's overall oxygen levels, it has a powerful ability to reduce inflammation, thereby improving oxygen delivery to your brain.
A recent study published last year by scientists at Tel Aviv University backs up what I've been telling my patients for years... You can prevent, slow down — and even reverse — Alzheimer's development using hyperbaric oxygen therapy.2
In the first stage of a two-part study, a team of researchers at Tel Aviv University divided mice that were genetically engineered to have Alzheimer's into two groups. Half the mice were given HBOT one hour a day for four weeks, totaling 20 sessions. The control mice received no treatment.
Then the brains of both groups were examined. While the control mice continued to deteriorate, the researchers found that in the mice that had HBOT: - Existing plaques shrank 40%
- New blood vessels formed
- Cerebral blood flow increased
- Existing blood vessel diameters remained open
- No new amyloid plaques developed
- Both memory and task learning increased
But the results seen in human volunteers were even more remarkable…
For the second part of the study, researchers studied six patients over 65. All had early-stage Alzheimer's with severe memory loss.
The participants were treated with 60 HBOT sessions once a day over three months. Each session included breathing 100% oxygen at two times the atmospheric pressure. High-resolution imaging was taken before and after treatment. - The scans revealed that HBOT significantly improved cerebral blood flow in several brain areas, including the hippocampus, where memories are processed and retrieved, by between 16% and 23%.
- Overall cognitive scores also improved, increasing from 102 to 109.
- And memory scores jumped a dramatic 27% — from 86 up to 100.
Use Diaphragmatic Breathing To Boost Blood Flow
And Oxygen To Your Brain I've seen how increasing both blood flow and oxygen to the brain with HBOT can reverse the memory loss and confusion that comes with Alzheimer's.
So it infuriates me that HBOT continues to be ignored and dismissed by our government, for-profit healthcare companies, and mainstream medicine.
If HBOT isn't an available option for you, I recommend you boost blood flow and oxygen using a deep breathing exercise that's been used for centuries. It's called diaphragmatic breathing.It involves consciously engaging the diaphragm, the muscle beneath the lungs, to draw air deep into the abdomen.
Studies show it improves blood flow, increases oxygen, and enhances brain function.3,4
It can be done sitting or lying down:  If HBOT isn't an option, I recommend you boost blood flow and oxygen using a deep breathing exercise that's been used for centuries. | - Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly below your ribcage.
- Breathe deeply and slowly through your nose into the sides of your lower chest, pushing your side ribs out.
- Finally, lift your upper chest and let it fill with air.
- Exhale in the same order, from your abdomen to your ribs to your upper chest.
Start with 5 minutes a day and work up to 15 minutes.
Eventually, this type of deep breathing will become second nature to you, and you'll be boosting your oxygen throughout the day without even thinking.
To Your Good Health, 
Al Sears, MD, CNS
References: - Korte N, et al. "Cerebral blood flow decrease as an early pathological mechanism in Alzheimer's disease." Acta Neuropathol. 2020;140:793-810.
- Shapira R, et al. "Hyperbaric oxygen therapy alleviates vascular dysfunction and amyloid burden in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model and in elderly patients." Aging (Albany NY). 2021 Sep 9;13(17):20935-20961.
- Hamasaki H, et al. "Effects of diaphragmatic breathing on health: A narrative review." Medicines (Basel) . 2020 Oct 15;7(10):65.
- Ma X, et al. "The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults." Front Psychol. 2017 Jun 6;8:874.
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