അധികമായാൽ അമൃതവും വിഷം
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This was a common phrase used by my mother! Which is why you must never have excess of anything! The above phrase literally means that in excess quantities, even nectar is like poison!
When anyone asks you the most important gas for your respiration everyone knows the answer is Oxygen! But did you know that even Oxygen cannot be too much! In fact more of oxygen is actually dangerous to you!
There was a time when oxygen was not even essential for life! It was in fact a by product like the carbon dioxide of today!
In any case oxygen is a byproduct of life not a prerequisite ( so is soil!)
Oxygen is now considered essential to life but it wasn’t always that way!
During the Earth’s early years, oxygen was a byproduct given off by anaerobic cyanobacteria as they photosynthesized and it was toxic to every living thing!
In fact, the bacteria produced so much of it that it caused Earth’s first mass extinction event!
Even in our medical practice we still have a group of anaerobic bacteria for whom oxygen is the kill switch!
During the development of Earth, if the level of oxygen in the air had remained as high as it was, it’s doubtful whether many animal species would have evolved; it would have been too toxic for them!
High levels of oxygen are toxic to us too. The air we breathe is roughly 79 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen, plus a trace amount of other gases including argon!
If you take in more oxygen than your body needs, it can slow your breathing and heart rate to dangerous levels. Too much oxygen can lead to oxygen toxicity or oxygen poisoning. This can happen if you accidentally take in too much supplemental oxygen or use oxygen therapy when you don’t need it!
Breathing higher levels, especially for prolonged periods or at increased pressure (such as in scuba diving or hyperbaric therapy), creates excessive unstable molecules called free radicals that damage cells and tissues throughout the body, particularly in the lungs, central nervous system, and eyes!
Which just goes to prove that anything more, however good; may be bad! Then again reading and writing something new may still be good! Especially from such a talented writer and motivational speaker like our Kannadiga Sudha Murty!
Jai HInd…
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