PATIENTS with vascular dementia could benefit from breathing oxygen under pressure, suggests a study from China’s Southwest Medical University.
Researchers saw ‘striking’ improvements in attention, memory and language in patients given hyperbaric oxygen therapy – where oxygen is inhaled under pressure in a diving chamber.
Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain and the theory is that breathing this pressurised oxygen increases blood flow. Writing in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, researchers recommend it as a safe complementary therapy.
