Exercise & pH Balance

"Water in a river remains pure because it is moving.  When water becomes trapped, it dies.  Therefore, water must constantly be circulated.  The water, or blood, in the bodies of the sick is usually stagnant.  When blood stops flowing, the body starts to decay." - Masaru Emoto, 'The Hidden Messages in Water'

Does the kind of exercise you do, matter when it come to pH balance? 

While we are interested in exercise as a way of improving our health and physical abilities, there is also concern that too much exercise, or exercise that is not appropriate for certain individuals, may actually do more harm than good. Exercise has many short-term (acute) and long-term effects that the body must be capable of handling for the exercise to be beneficial.

When we exercise, our heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and cardiac output (the amount of blood pumped per heart beat) all increase. Blood flow to the heart, the muscles, and the skin increase. We breathe faster and deeper to supply the oxygen required by this increased metabolism.

During exercise, the muscles use up oxygen as they convert chemical energy in glucose to mechanical energy. This O₂ comes from hemoglobin in the blood. CO₂ and H⁺ are produced during the breakdown of glucose, and are removed from the muscle via the blood. The production and removal of CO₂ and H⁺, together with the use and transport of O₂, cause chemical changes in the blood. These chemical changes, unless offset by other physiological functions, cause the pH of the blood to drop. If the pH of the body gets too low (below 7.4), a condition known as acidosis results. This can be very serious, because many of the chemical reactions that occur in the body, especially those involving proteins, are pH-dependent.

We already know that ideally, the pH of the blood should be maintained at 7.4. If the pH drops below 6.8 or rises above 7.8, death may occur.  Eventually, with strenuous exercise, our body's metabolism exceeds the oxygen supply and begins to use alternate biochemical processes that do not require oxygen. These processes generate lactic acid, which enters the blood stream.

For those who have already gotten to chronic stages in their health, it is important that exercise be eased into and the type of exercises be appropriate for your state of health.  Remember to pick an exercise or activity that you enjoy. And remember to talk to your doctor, respiratory therapist or physical therapist about the right exercise program for you. You may already be doing exercise and activities that are great for you like walking, dancing, or gardening. Anything that keeps you active counts!

They should be based on the premise that if breathing meets the needs of movement, and if movement equilibriates oxygen absorption and distribution in all tissues of the body, hyperventilation will not be triggered and the pH of cerebral spinal fluid will not drop. 

• Whatever exercise you start: begin at a pace that does not take you into hyperventilation, a the state of breathing faster and/or deeper than necessary.  This may or may not be the same as shortness of breath. Symptoms or hyperventilation can include:
• • Numbness or tingling in the hands, feet and lips,
  • Lightheadedness
  • Dizziness
  • Headache
  • Chest pain
  • Slurred speech 
  • Feeling faint
• If you feel tired or short of breath at any time while you're exercising, stop and relax a few minutes, then continue.  Remember, being short of breath isn't bad, it means your lungs are working hard.  We just don't want to get to the state of hyperventilation.
• Choose exercises that do not have high impacts into your joints and that incorporates breath with movement.  Check your community center or community colleges for classes.
• • Walking
  • Swimming
  • Gardening
  • Tai'chi
  • Chi Gong
  • Dance
  • Yoga
• Always start with a warm-up period, including stretching and reaching exercises. 
• Always end with a cool-down period, a time of less intense or easier activity along and with stretching or reaching exercises.

Don't worry if you can only exercise for a short amount of time at first. At the beginning of a program, you may only exercise for a few minutes. Your goal is to increase the amount of time you can exercise.  As we develop a long-term habit of exercise, our cardiac output and lung capacity increase, even when we are at rest, so that we can exercise longer and harder than before. Over time, the amount of muscle in the body increases, and fat is burned as its energy is needed to help fuel the body's increased metabolism.