Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Medicine, Longevity Tool or Wellness Hype?

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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Michelle Martin (0:21)

All right, the UN projects that the number of people aged over 65 will double over the next 50 years. Double, making up one-fifth of the world's population. And there's also been talks that have begun in Geneva, treaty talks on strengthening the rights and the dignity of older people. As more of us live longer, the question becomes, how will we use those extra years? In fact, that's what our whole show is built on, right? We want to live well. And here in Singapore, it might surprise you to know that some studios, wellness studios, even aesthetic clinics, are offering softshell oxygen pods.

These are often mentioned alongside hyperbaric oxygen therapy, HBOT, a medical treatment in which a person breathes oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. Why would they want to do this? What are the benefits, short-term and long-term? My guest is fascinating, and he tells me, the clinic has spent four years working with more than 200 patients on the use of HBOT, hyperbaric oxygen therapy. And before offering this to patients, Doc, you tried the treatment yourself, is that right?

Gerard Ee (1:25)

Yes, that's right.

Michelle Martin (1:26)

Dr. Gerard Ee in the house, founder and medical director of the Clifford Clinic. Welcome to Live Well with Michelle. How are you this morning?

Gerard Ee (1:32)

Hi, thank you. Thank you for having me.

Michelle Martin (1:34)

So why did you want to try it yourself, HBOT, before you offered it?

Gerard Ee (1:38)

I've been reading a lot about HBOT. I mean, HBOT has always had medical indications in the hospital, and slowly it's been creeping into the longevity space. And I figured, hey, why not? I'm training, because I cycle quite a bit.

So I sometimes, you know, when I train too hard, I get soreness in my legs. And I was finding ways to hasten my recovery. And the more I read about HBOT, the more I realized, hey, it has a lot of sports benefits. And soon I discovered there's a lot of longevity benefits behind this treatment as well.

Michelle Martin (2:09)

Interesting. So you first came to it, because like any other sportsman, you're concerned with minimizing that sore period so that you can get back to training hard.

Gerard Ee (2:19)

That's right.

Michelle Martin (2:21)

All right. So you tried it yourself. How many times did you try it before offering it? And what was that like?

Gerard Ee (2:26)

I've tried it almost like, I would say, 40 to 50 times now. Yeah. It's a really quick treatment. Takes about one hour.

And in the chamber, it just feels essentially like an aircraft. It feels like an aircraft taking off. So as the pressure builds up, you can kind of feel it in your ears, and a quick yawn and the pressure goes away. And after that, you're literally just sleeping for an hour. Or you could meditate, or you could practice breathing exercises.

Michelle Martin (2:52)

Can you bring your phone in?

Gerard Ee (2:54)

No. I don't recommend patients to bring their phones into the chamber.

Michelle Martin (2:58)

That's why people are sleeping in these oxygen chambers. Nothing to do.

Gerard Ee (3:02)

Nothing to do for an hour, which is good.

SPEAKER_1 (3:04)

Just breathe.

Gerard Ee (3:05)

Just breathe, relax, and meditate.

SPEAKER_1 (3:09)

Oh my gosh.

Michelle Martin (3:10)

Okay. So you mentioned that it helps with recovery. Did you find that yourself that you could get back to cycling sooner?

Gerard Ee (3:16)

I did see a positive result in that, actually.

Sometimes the saunas used to last for literally days, and I found that the chamber not only helped reduce the downtime after training, but it also helped sleep. And I think that's one of the main uses now of the chamber.

Michelle Martin (3:33)

Yeah, you told me people get amazing deep sleep the night that they've breathed this pressurized oxygen.

Gerard Ee (3:41)

Yeah, there's been studies that show that the chamber does improve the amount of deep sleep, and also the amount of REM sleep one gets.

Michelle Martin (3:48)

REM, rapid eye movement, so that's a phase of sleep that you want to hit.

Gerard Ee (3:52)

That's a phase of sleep that you want to hit. And the longer you are in these phases, of course, the better your recovery.

Michelle Martin (3:59)

Well, I had three hours of sleep last night, so I'll take some REM sleep.