Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a gas created in the human body. The name comes from the chemical makeup - literally “one carbon, two oxygen”.
Waste gas of respiration
From “Buteyko Method 101”, setting context for understanding the ⟐ Buteyko method:
There’s a misconception, perpetuated by an incomplete understanding of biochemistry, that carbon dioxide is simply the “waste gas” of cellular respiration.
This is a term still being used, with all of the negative connotations it carries after Antoine Lavoisier used it in the context of his oxygen theory of combustion in 1774.
In recent years, we’ve understood the major role CO2 plays in every metabolic pathway of our physiology.
And while it’s true that it is a by-product of cellular respiration, it is very much responsible for the oxygenation of our cells.
Relationship between oxygen and CO2
Due to the ⟐ Bohr effect, we can observe that when carbon dioxide is lower in the body, it is harder for tissues to receive oxygen from hemoglobin, as they hold onto oxygen more tightly.
A lack of oxygen (⟐ Hypoxia) causes disease:
“All chronic pain, suffering, and diseases are caused from a lack of oxygen at the cell level.” - Dr. Arthur C. Guyton, M.D., The Textbook of Medical Physiology