Oxygen is essential for human life to survive. Without it, a human being can only survive for a few minutes before death takes us. Once we breathe in, oxygen enters our body and fills our lungs that will then be passed on through the bloodstream. The oxygen is carried by hemoglobin through all blood vessels until it reaches the alveoli, small air sacs found inside the blood vessels. Then the oxygenated blood will reach the heart which will pump the blood in the different parts of the body.
This is how important oxygen is to people. Without it, our body will collapse. In order for people to know that the body receives enough oxygen, a device was innovated. This is called the pulse oximeter. A pulse oximeter is a device that measures the oxygen that is being transported to the body. It determines as to whether or not the oxygen will suffice for the body to survive.
If the pulse oximeter reads that the body is low on oxygen, it needs immediate care. Pulse oximeters are therefore important for people who are experiencing low oxygen levels in their body like people with hypertension and respiratory diseases. Aside from that, pulse oximeters are also used by people who are engaging in activities that may result in low concentrations of oxygen in the blood. For instance, oximeters are also used in sports. According to studies, some sports training involve depriving the athlete's body with oxygen to boost his performance and endurance. In order to ensure the safety of the athletes, they need oximeters to determine the level of their blood oxygen saturation level.
On the other hand, pilots also need pulse oximeter because of the low oxygen level in the atmosphere that they are in. With pulse oximeters, they can see if they need to lower the aircraft to an atmosphere that has more oxygen that is suitable for people to survive. The same thing is also done in free diving. Since people who are involved in this extreme sport hold their breath, there will be no oxygen to enter their body; so during training, they use oximeters to determine the level to which they can sustain their oxygen.
People who are exercising also use this device to monitor their health. These are just some of the things that people do that involves using pulse oximeters. Aside from respiratory diseases, sleep apnea, COPD and other diseases also needs this device to ensure the health and safety of the patient.
Because of the wide array use of the device, aside from the clinical pulse oximeter used, there are also for home use which people can use in the different activities that they wish to use it. There are plenty of online stores that are selling the device that are of good quality and fit every budget of people who needs it.