For a normal healthy human being, the O2 stats or oxygen saturation should be within the range of 95% and 100%. From sophisticated devices to a simple pulse oximeter, a range of devices are used by medical practitioners to study oxygen saturation.
Your body, specifically your organs, tissues, and cells, requires a certain oxygen level for regular functioning. When the oxygen level goes below normal, medicate attention becomes essential.
But what causes the oxygen levels to fluctuate?
From coronavirus to various other heart and lung diseases, numerous factors can lead to O2 level fluctuations. A perusal of the coming sections would elucidate the various predicaments that lead to oxygen level fluctuations in a body.
Table of Contents
Measuring the O2 Levels
Medical professionals use arterial blood gas tests to check the oxygen saturation in the blood vessels. It is also known as ABG or SaO2 and is only used in hospitals.
Another common method to check oxygen levels in the patient’s body is pulse oximetry. It is a relatively simpler way to check O2 concentration levels in the blood. Sophisticated models like the zacurate pro series 500dl pulse oximeter can read and display up to 100% for SpO2. Pulse oximeters can be used even at the patient’s residence.
Causes of Blood Oxygen Level Fluctuations
Before we explain what exactly causes the oxygen levels to fluctuate in the body, let us try to understand the factors on which it depends.
Your hemoglobin level concentration in RBCs (red blood cells) and its ability to attract oxygen determine the O2 concentration of the body. Moreover, the amount of oxygen you breathe and the functioning of alveoli in replacing carbon dioxide with oxygen also has an impact on the oxygen levels of your body.
However, various ailments can have a huge impact on the O2 levels of your body. These issues could be related to blood disorders, lung diseases, blood-circulation-related concerns, etc.
Here are some of the common conditions that may have a direct impact on the oxygen saturation of your body
- Suffering from respiratory infections like cold, flu, or COVID-19 may directly affect your breathing capability and hence disturb O2 concentration.
- Chronic lung diseases are also known to interfere with the oxygen concentration of the blood.
- Asthmatic patients’ airways become narrow, which reduces the blood’s oxygen levels.
- Patients with Anemia lack RBCs and hence cannot retain adequate O2 levels.
- Blockages in the artery from pulmonary embolism can also considerably reduce the oxygen concentration in the blood.
- Other congenital heart ailments can also disturb the O2 concentration in the body.
Final Thoughts
The COVID crisis is yet to be averted, and we need to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that everyone is adequately protected. Monitoring the blood oxygen levels is one of the prime methods to check the patient’s condition suffering from coronavirus or other heart or lung ailments.
We aimed at providing information related to various conditions that can lead to fluctuations in blood oxygen levels. Hopefully, you find the details elaborated in the write-up advantageous and use it to your benefit.
