Understanding Exercise-Related Blood Oxygen Levels

How well you take in and process oxygen is determined by the amount of oxygen and other gases in your blood during exercise. In especially when it comes to endurance activities like long-distance running, the figure might give you a way to gauge your physical fitness.

What Is Saturation of Oxygen?

Oxygen saturation is the medical term for blood oxygen levels. It gives you a foundation on which to comprehend the metrics used to quantify the amount of oxygen in your blood.

When your blood oxygen levels are measured, the percentage answer you receive indicates how many of your red blood cells are oxygen-filled. Hypoxia is the medical term for when there is not enough oxygen in your blood.

In the most stringently controlled circumstances, these percentages reflect both arterial (oxygen-rich blood flowing toward your muscles) and venous (oxygen-depleted blood rushing back toward your heart) quantities.

Exercise's Effects

You are inhaling and utilizing a significant amount of oxygen when arterial values are normal, which is often between 95 and 100 percent. During moderate-level activity, these figures typically remain constant and may even slightly rise with intensity, indicating that you are breathing more quickly and absorbing more oxygen.

If your respiration doesn't keep bringing in enough oxygen to fulfill your body's current needs during more strenuous exercise, you can notice a minor decrease in blood oxygen levels of about 2 to 3 percent. In this situation, you can see levels as low as 92%.

When you stop exercising, though, these levels will go back to their regular reading. Your body's ability to regulate these levels will return to normal faster the healthier you are.

As venous blood has already had the oxygen removed, it's interesting to note that venous measures are always considerably lower than their arterial counterparts. It makes sense that as your workout intensity increases, your venous blood oxygen levels will gradually drop, indicating that your body is utilizing the oxygen you are consuming.

Effects on Health and Fitness

For energy to be produced quickly and effectively, oxygen is necessary. Using oxygen to produce energy is referred to as aerobic metabolism. Your body can still burn fuel even in the absence of oxygen, however anaerobic energy production (without oxygen) is slow and ineffective.

This is a good sign that your body is well-adapted and can continue to take in and process enough of the gas, even when you're operating at high intensities, if your arterial oxygen levels remain high during exercise. Low blood oxygen levels can also be an indication of some medical disorders and a lack of fitness.