The key difference between oxygen debt and oxygen deficit is that oxygen debt is known as the lack of oxygen around the human body due to intense exercise, while oxygen deficit is known as the difference between oxygen uptake of the human body during the early stages of exercise and during a similar duration in a steady state of exercise.
Oxygen debt and oxygen deficit are two terms associated with intense activity or physical activity. Both these phenomena give an idea of how oxygen works within the human body during exercise. Sometimes, oxygen deficit is also known as the formation of oxygen debt.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Oxygen Debt
3. What is Oxygen Deficit
4. Similarities – Oxygen Debt and Oxygen Deficit
5. Oxygen Debt vs Oxygen Deficit in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Oxygen Debt vs Oxygen Deficit
What is Oxygen Debt?
Oxygen debt is the oxygen deficiency in the body that occurs as a result of strenuous physical activity. It is usually described as the extra oxygen that must be used in the oxidative energy processes after a period of strenuous exercise to reconvert the build of lactic acid to glucose. Moreover, oxygen debt can also be defined as the additional amount of oxygen required to restore the decomposed ATP and creatine phosphate to their original states during the oxidative energy processes following a period of intense physical activity. Furthermore, oxygen debt can be measured as the difference between the amount of oxygen required after strenuous physical or muscular activity and the amount required in a resting state.
What is Oxygen Deficit?
An oxygen deficit occurs when the consumption of oxygen in the human body exceeds its intake. Oxygen deficit naturally occurs during strenuous exercise. When strenuous exercise causes an oxygen deficit, the human body will work to replenish oxygen levels. This period is called the recovery period. Therefore, in the recovery period, oxygen consumption increases. In addition to strenuous exercise, oxygen deficits can also be triggered by other conditions, such as higher altitudes or exposure to airborne contaminants in the environment.
For example, to do strenuous exercise, a person requires 1.5 liters of oxygen per hour. However, the intake of oxygen during the hour is 1.0 liters. Therefore, the oxygen deficit is calculated as 0.5 liters per hour. Moreover, if the total exercise time extends for four hours, the oxygen deficit is estimated as 2 liters.
What are the Similarities Between Oxygen Debt and Oxygen Deficit?
- Oxygen debt and oxygen deficit are two terms associated with intense physical activity.
- Both these phenomena give an idea of how oxygen works within the human body during exercise.
- Sometimes, oxygen deficit is also known as the formation of oxygen debt.
- Recreational oxygen can help with regulating both oxygen deficit and oxygen debt.
What is the Difference Between Oxygen Debt and Oxygen Deficit?
Oxygen debt is known as the lack of oxygen around the human body due to intense exercise, while oxygen deficit is known as the difference between oxygen uptake of the human body during the early stages of exercise and during a similar duration in a steady state of exercise. Thus, this is the key difference between oxygen debt and oxygen deficit. Furthermore, oxygen debt is important in the recovery period after exercise, while oxygen deficit is important during the period of exercise.
The infographic below presents the differences between oxygen debt and oxygen deficit in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Oxygen Debt vs Oxygen Deficit
Physical activities such as strenuous muscular activities increase the oxygen demand of the body. Oxygen debt and oxygen deficit are two terms associated with intense physical activity. Both these terms give an idea of how oxygen works within the human body during exercise. Oxygen debt is known as the oxygen deficiency of the body that occurs as a result of strenuous physical activity, while oxygen deficit is the difference between oxygen uptake of the human body during early stages of exercise and during a similar duration in a steady state of exercise. Moreover, the type of oxygen volume is also different between oxygen debt and oxygen deficit. So, this summarizes the difference between oxygen debt and oxygen deficit.
Reference:
1. Davis, H. A., et al. “Oxygen Deficit during Incremental Exercise.” European Journal of Applied Physiology SpringerLink.
2. “Oxygen Debt.” Oxygen Debt – General Practice Notebook.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Image from page 243 of “Anaerobiosis in invertebrates” (1946)” By Internet Archive Book Image (Public Domain) via Flickr
2. “Excess post-oxygen consumption (2)” By Henoktade – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia