About every other week there is a new hot trend out of Hollywood. Many of these trends are health related and are supposedly able to help you live longer, healthier lives. Oddly, they fall out of fashion just as quickly as they come in most of the time.
The latest trend is a health treatment that has actually been used for real medical conditions for years.
A hyperbaric chamber.
Most people are familiar with hyperbaric chambers from movies. When someone comes up from deep water diving too quickly, they get the bends, which can be very painful and even deadly. The treatment is to put them in a hyperbaric chamber where the oxygen and pressure levels are significantly higher than they are on the outside.
This device is also used to treat things like severe burns, carbon monoxide poisoning, non-healing wounds, and more.
Many celebrities (and a growing number of regular people) are looking to use hyperbaric chambers for more general health and wellness treatments.
Mayim Bialik (who played Amy Farrah Fowler on the Big Bang Theory), for example, posted about installing a hyperbaric chamber in her home. In her post she said she is using it to address inflammation and autoimmune issues.
Justin Bieber has also used one of these chambers. For him, it was to address issues with stress and anxiety.
While hyperbaric chambers have been proven to help with certain medical issues, there is limited research into having benefits beyond those treatments. Despite this, people who use these chambers more casually claim that they can help with a variety of issues including stress, anxiety, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and long COVID. It sure sounds like a modern ‘miracle elixir’ (with all the same proof of effectiveness).
Hyperbaric chambers are generally safe when used under medical supervision. As long as the levels of oxygen and pressure are kept to safe levels, most people won’t have any issues. That being said, however, there are some less common problems.
For those with lung issues (even if they are undiagnosed) they can cause a long collapse. If the oxygen levels in the chamber are too high, or the person stays in the chamber too long, they can suffer from oxygen toxicity. Some people also have issues regulating the pressure in their inner ear due to the pressure changes.
So, while this trend might be more reasonable than some of the others to come out of Hollywood, it is best to avoid it unless your doctor prescribes it.
When will we stop buying into the latest miracle elixirs?
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