Can Mouthguards Increase Your Oxygen Intake?
- Ken Mitchell
- Sep 18, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 4
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Believe it or not, mouthguards play a big part in the amount of oxygen an athlete is able to take in when he/she is competing. Increased oxygen levels can affect an athletes overall performance, stamina and overall energy levels.
Have you ever watched a college or professional football sporting event and seen the athletes using oxygen masks on the sideline to help their bodies recover? College and pro sports teams understand the importance of oxygen and how it can increase endurance. Endurance is important in almost every sport. Oxygen is also very important during strength training. Most trainers stress the importance of proper breathing during a workout.
Studies have proven that endurance is created by maximum oxygen intake. As your body uses energy in your muscles, it requires oxygen in order for it to recover. When you inhale air, oxygen is carried to the muscles through the blood stream. The higher the oxygen level in the body, the better your performance. Have you ever experienced rapid breathing, cramping muscles or muscle pain during a game or practice? This feeling or pain happens when oxygen cannot be supplied to your muscle fibers quick enough.
Now its time to get really scientific. Your body stores carbohydrates as fuel in the form of glycogen, most of the glycogen is stored in the liver with smaller amounts in the muscles. When an athlete starts competing and exerting energy, oxygen transforms glycogen into glucose(a simple sugar which is an important energy source in living organisms and is a component of many carbohydrates). Glucose is then burned by the body for the energy that the muscles require. The more oxygen an athlete takes in or has available for his/her cells to use, the faster the transformation of glycogen into glucose occurs. The faster this transformation happens the more stamina you will have. What this really means is that, the body turns the oxygen that an athlete breathes into fuel for all the muscles in the body.
Athletes are always looking to get an edge or gain an advantage over the competition. Enter, canned oxygen. Yes, you read that right, canned oxygen. They are portable canisters of pure oxygen that come with dispensers to allow athletes to inhale through their nose or mouth. These companies claim that the product helps improve athletic performance, increase endurance and speed up recovery time.
Canned Oxygen
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3) O2 Blast Buy Now amazon.com
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If your not sure of how much oxygen to breathe, manufacturers suggest using pulse oximeters. These portable devices will read your own blood oxygen saturation levels. These devices are non-invasive and can accurately measure your blood oxygen saturation levels, pulse rate and pulse strength. To use this device you simply insert your finger into the device and you should get a reading within 10 seconds.
Pulse Oximeters
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2) ANKOVO Buy Now amazon.com
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Other Sources Of Oxygen
1) Oxygen mask and tank
2) Supplements Buy Now amazon.com
3) Increased water consumption (water is made up of oxygen)
When an athlete is deciding on which mouthguard to buy for optimal oxygen intake, the mouthguard should have a tight fit, whether you choose a boil-and-bite or custom version. When an athlete competes with a loose or ill fitting mouthguard his/her jaw could remain in a clenched position, which will prevent maximum oxygen intake. When an athlete is wearing a mouthguard that maintains a tight fit, the athlete can breathe more naturally and be able to take in more oxygen. Besides having a tight fit the mouthguard should be as thin as possible. A bulky, thick mouthguard could obstruct your breathing and trigger the gag reflex. In addition, a tight fitting mouthguard will facilitate clear speech during competition. Recent innovations in mouthguard design have given us the pacifier style, lip guard or air flow mouthguard. These mouthguards claim to dramatically increase your airflow during competition. BATTLE Sports Science was one of the original companies to release this technology that leveraged SCUBA breathing innovations.Their mouthguard has the largest breathing aperture when compared to all of the other lip guards for oxygen intake. Recently, GO2 has taken the BATTLE Oxygen Lip Protector and improved on their original design. According to independent studies the GO2 lip guard for sports increases an athlete's VO2 Max ( VO2 Max is the industry standard to measure power output) by. 6.5% over the BATTLE mouthguard. Buy Now amazon.com
New technology has emerged in the area of performance mouthguards. These types
of mouthguards should not be used for contact sports because they are intended to be worn on the lower teeth. These types of mouthguards can also be used for lifting weights, long distance running, cycling, hiking, skiing and other sports that don't require a protective mouthguard.
The two most notable performance mouthguards that have emerged in this new technology are the AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece and the GO2 Device For Endurance.
GO2 Performance Mouthpiece
amazon.com
The GO2 Performance Mouthpiece was designed by doctors. You know what the say, " Don't invent something, just make it better." That's basically what they did by using the BATTLE lip guard as the foundation of their invention. According to GO2, they are the world's first endurance sports device that is scientifically proven to increase an athletes VO2 max (VO2 max is the industry standard to measure power output) by 4.1% and increase endurance by 5.8%. They go on to claim that using the GO2 mouthpiece will take 10 minutes off a runners 4-hour marathon time. The device works by putting a certain amount of resistance on the exhale. The inhale is natural and the exhale has resistance (known as PEEP- positive end expiratory pressure) They use this same technology in their lip guard for contact sports.
AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece BUY NOW amazon.com
The AIRWAAV Performance Mouthpiece is designed to create an optimal airway to optimize an athlete's performance. The mouthpiece was developed with over 15 years of research with athletes and cadets from the Citadel. AIRWAAV claims that the mouthpiece increases the width of your airway by an average of 9%.
The benefits of the Airwav mouthguard include:
*Increased Endurance: Reduces respiratory rate by 20%, resulting in less acid production
*Faster Recovery Times: Reduces cortisol build-up by up to 50% after intense workouts, which improves recovery times
*Increased Strength: Improves muscular endurance
*The GO2 endurance mouthguard and the AIRWAAV should not be used for contact sports.
* Be sure to check out my blog post, All About Lip Guards
THE MATERIALS AND INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE HAVE BEEN PREPARED OR ASSEMBLED BY THE MOUTHGUARD REVIEW AND ARE INTENDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR ADVICE FROM A LICENSED HEALTH-CAR PROFESSIONAL. YOU SHOULD NOT RELY SOLELY ON THIS CONTENT, AND THE MOUTHGUARD REVIEW ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR INACCURACIES. ALWAYS READ LABELS AND DIRECTIONS BEFORE USING A PRODUCT. SOME OF THE INFORMATION MAY BE DATED AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE MOST CURRENT EVENTS. I WROTE THIS ARTICLE MYSELF AND IT EXPRESSES MY OWN OPINIONS.
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