Hyperbaric Oxygen,
explained.

A short history, and where it is used today.

A chamber gently raises the air pressure around you while you breathe oxygen through a mask. Under pressure, your blood carries far more oxygen than it can at sea level.

Hyperbaric means above normal pressure. Sea level air is 1.0 ATA; home and wellness chambers typically run between 1.3 and 2.0 ATA. The idea is over 350 years old, and hospitals have used it for decades, first for divers, later for wound care and more.

Where it is used

There are 15 recognised clinical indications in all. Oxydise chambers are used for the wellness side, and we are honest about what the evidence does and does not show. It is laid out, study by study, in the clinical studies.

Henry’s law, and what the numbers mean.

One law from 1803: the amount of gas that dissolves in a liquid rises with the pressure above it. Raise the pressure and more oxygen dissolves into your blood, independent of your red blood cells.

Pressure at a glance

Soft shell or hard shell

Our soft-shells run up to 1.5 ATA and are tested in-house to 1.75. Hard-shells run up to 2.0 and are tested to 3.0. Both work on the same physics; higher is a stronger dose, not a better one.

My smartwatch says 98%. Where would more oxygen even go?

Fair question, it was my first one. That 98% is your red blood cells, the delivery trucks, and they are already nearly full. HBOT does not top up the trucks. Under pressure, oxygen dissolves directly into the plasma, the liquid of the blood itself, which normally carries almost none.

The dose, in numbers

• Breathing air: about 3 mL of oxygen per litre of plasma. Your baseline.
• 1.3 ATA, mask oxygen: about 18 mL/L, six times baseline.
• 1.5 ATA, mask oxygen: about 28 mL/L, roughly nine times baseline.
• 2.0 ATA, mask oxygen: about 53 mL/L, almost eighteen times baseline.

More carried in the liquid means more reaching tissues the trucks struggle to serve. Plasma also flows where red cells cannot squeeze, and the oxygen diffuses further from each capillary. This is the mechanism everything else builds on. Illustrative figures, individual physiology varies.

Researchers count more mechanisms of action here than for almost any drug.

These thirteen are the ones covered in our practitioner training. None of them are guaranteed outcomes.

1. 1

   More oxygen, carried further

   You get more oxygen, and it reaches places normal blood flow struggles to.

   Under pressure, oxygen dissolves straight into the plasma and travels beyond normal red-blood-cell delivery, reaching tissue restricted by swelling or injury. The foundation every other mechanism builds on.

   Hyperoxygenation · Hadanny & Efrati, Biomolecules, 2020
2. 2

   Calmer inflammation

   It can help the body settle inflammation into a healthier balance.

   Oxygen exposure down-regulates the pro-inflammatory messengers that keep swelling, soreness and stalled recovery running.

   Reduced cytokine activity · Benson et al, 2003
3. 3

   Building and repairing tissue

   Your body needs oxygen to rebuild its scaffolding.

   Collagen, the structural protein of skin, tissue and healing wounds, cannot be built without oxygen. Fibroblast activity and collagen synthesis are the engine of the repair phase.

   Fibroblast & collagen synthesis · Eskes et al, World J Surg, 2011
4. 4

   Waking up the body’s repair cells

   Sessions may prompt your body to release its own repair cells.

   Courses of HBOT are associated with significantly increased circulating stem cells, up to an eight-fold rise over a block at 2.0 to 2.5 ATA.

   Stem-cell proliferation · Thom et al, Am J Physiol, 2006
5. 5

   Shrinking gas bubbles

   Pressure physically compresses gas bubbles in the blood.

   The classic diving medicine mechanism
6. 6

   Training your antioxidant defences

   Controlled stress makes your cells more resilient.

   Reduced lipid peroxidation · Hadanny & Efrati, 2020
7. 7

   Less swelling, same supply

   Vessels narrow to reduce swelling, while oxygen-rich blood keeps tissue fed.

   Vasoconstriction with maintained delivery
8. 8

   A calmer immune reaction

   White cells stop over-reacting after injury.

   Reduced leukocyte adherence
9. 9

   Disarming bacterial toxins

   Oxygen interferes with the toxins some bacteria produce.

   Toxin inhibition
10. 10

    Sharper infection defence

    Your immune cells kill microbes using oxygen; HBOT restores their ammunition.

    Leukocyte oxidative killing
11. 11

    Helping antibiotics work harder

    Some antibiotics need oxygen to do their job properly.

    Antibiotic synergy
12. 12

    New blood vessels, new nerve growth

    Growth factors such as VEGF drive angiogenesis and nerve repair.

    Growth factor release · Hadanny et al, Aging, 2020
13. 13

    Slower cellular ageing markers

    Telomere and senescence changes measured in isolated blood cells.

    Telomerase activity · Hachmo et al, Aging, 2020

The same thirteen mechanisms, in different combinations.

The mechanisms combine differently depending on why people come to us. The six patterns we see most:

• Health challenges

  Alongside, never instead of, medical care. We explain the mechanisms, share the research, screen carefully and work alongside your clinicians.

  Main mechanisms: hyperoxygenation · calmer inflammation · tissue repair and new blood-vessel growth

• Sport & performance

  Adaptation happens during recovery. Studied for oxygenating worked muscle and settling inflammation faster.

  Main mechanisms: muscle oxygenation · reduced inflammatory signalling · mitochondrial ATP production

• Longevity & brain health

  Trials in healthy older adults reported improved cognition, longer telomeres and fewer senescent cells over structured courses. Research, not promise.

  Main mechanisms: cerebral oxygenation · telomere and senescence effects · stem-cell mobilisation

• Anti-ageing & beauty

  The scaffolding biology under skin quality. Paired with red light: oxygen from within, light at the surface.

  Main mechanisms: fibroblast and collagen synthesis · angiogenesis · stem-cell mobilisation

• Sleep & stress

  The change our clients report most consistently: 91% of 113 surveyed. Self-reported experience, not a sleep treatment.

  Main mechanisms: hyperoxygenation · calmer inflammation · nervous-system settling

• Energy & fatigue

  Fatigue is increasingly researched as an energy-production problem. 88% of surveyed clients reported more energy. Research framing, not a treatment claim.

  Main mechanisms: mitochondrial ATP production · hyperoxygenation · calmer inflammation

Selected papers behind the steps above. Start here, then go deeper.

Core mechanisms and oxygen signalling

• Hadanny and Efrati. The hyperoxic–hypoxic paradox. Biomolecules, 2020.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen and mitochondrial biogenesis and function. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2024.

Repair, blood vessels and inflammation

• Thom et al. Stem cell mobilisation by Hyperbaric Oxygen. American Journal of Physiology, 2006.
• Oyaizu et al. Hyperbaric Oxygen, inflammation and injured muscle. Scientific Reports, 2018.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen and angiogenesis. StatPearls.

Brain health and healthy ageing research

• Hadanny et al. Cognitive enhancement in healthy older adults using Hyperbaric Oxygen. Aging, 2020.
• Hachmo et al. Telomere length and immunosenescence after Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Aging, 2020.

Research categories describe where the evidence sits today, not what Oxydise claims a chamber will do for an individual.

What actually happens in about an hour.

Timeline

• First few minutes: pressurising. The only part you notice.
• The middle: at pressure. This is the session, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Last few minutes: easing down, just as gentle.

Then repeat. The course does the work. Mild tiredness after the first few sessions is normal and passes. No recovery time needed. We ask the safety questions on every call before anything progresses; sometimes the honest answer is a lower pressure, or no chamber at all.

No. That is why we screen first, always.

Used correctly, HBOT is considered low risk at the mild to moderate pressures of home and wellness use. It still is not for everyone.

When we say the clinician route first

• A history of collapsed lung, or air-trapping lung conditions
• A current chest, ear or sinus infection
• Certain ear and sinus conditions that make equalising difficult
• Some heart, neurological and pregnancy circumstances

We ask the safety questions on every call, before anything progresses. Sometimes the honest answer is a lower pressure, or no chamber at all.

Soft-shell or hard-shell, and what your home needs.

Having one at home

A soft-shell fits through a standard doorway and runs from a normal plug. A hard-shell needs a proper look at access first, which is why we do an access check, including a 3D scan from your phone. We deliver, install and test every system ourselves, and our own engineers service every machine we sell or rent.

The routes in

Buy outright, rent monthly, or rent-to-buy, and you can feel a session at one of our wellness labs before any bigger decision.

How often, and how to fit it in.

For many of the recovery and wellness goals people bring to us, a course commonly means 40 to 60 sessions, taken daily or near daily. The exact rhythm is agreed on the call, matched to the goal rather than to the biggest number on the dial.

How a course tends to feel

• Week 1: the ritual forms. Ears, mask, timing. Learning the routine, not judging results.
• Week 4: the habit holds. For many people this hour becomes the calmest part of the day.
• Week 12: where you judge it. Where the research measures change, and where you should measure yours.

Home or lab

Both work the same way. A home chamber removes the travel, which is what usually breaks the habit. Soft-shells run from a normal socket, and we deliver, install and test every system ourselves.