Article from https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/healing-lungs-after-covid/#gsc.tab=0

December 5, 2022 by Betsy Thomason

Recognize Movement as a Human Imperative

The human body is designed for move­ment, whether it is movement of air and blood, arms and legs, food and drink, the bowels or urine. And breathing is the foundation of all movement.

For the purposes of this article, let’s focus on the movement of air, blood, and mucus—the contents of the lungs and associated structures. The intricate dance between air and blood be­gins in the lungs where oxygen is sifted out of air for passage from lung tissue—the alveoli—into the circulatory system with its microscopic cap­illaries surrounding the lungs. Capillaries also facilitate the passage of carbon dioxide from blood into the lungs and then out of the body with an exhale. Our sedentary lifestyle, along with chronic high chest breathing and damaged lungs, have compromised this essential move­ment of gases.

Josiah Child, MD, chairman of emergency medicine at Los Alamos Medical Center in New Mexico, is a BODs athlete. In my book, Just Breathe Out—Using Your Breath to Create a New, Healthier You,⁶ I share his explanation of why BODs enhances the body’s ability to welcome oxygen into the bloodstream at the capillary interface and efficiently eliminate carbon dioxide. He credits BODs with his own ability to overcome two embolisms and return to work after debilitating Covid experiences.

To explain the process of oxygen entering the blood, Dr. Child uses the metaphor of a cruet of oil-and-vinegar salad dressing. Unstirred, the lighter oil remains at the top, while the heavier vinegar remains at the bottom. Now picture air instead of oil, and blood instead of vinegar. With a sedentary lifestyle, a static rib cage and lungs are similar to the unshaken cruet. In order for oxygen molecules in the air to join the blood on its journey around the body, oxygen must mix with blood. Air must descend deep into the lungs and blood must ascend in the capillaries that hug the lungs. The inactivity of twenty-first-century life leads to an ineffective mixture of blood and oxygen. The result is low—or no—oxygenation of every organ system, muscle, and cell in the body.

Using BODs, the active outbreath and pas­sive inbreath create the vacuum/suction that promotes efficient and effective mixing of air and blood. This simple switch in practice can overcome many of the pitfalls of sedentary living. And when BODs is coordinated with movement—including rising out of bed, activi­ties of daily living, making love, daily exercise routines and sports—your function improves and anxiety, fear, pain and stress diminish.

https://www.amazon.com/Just-Breathe-Out-Breath-Healthier/dp/163505334X#:~:text=Book%20overview&text=Respiratory%20therapist%20Betsy%20Thomason%2C%20BA,athletic%20performance%20and%20overall%20health.