Around a hundred years ago, people flocked to places where they could bathe in hot mineral waters.

They found great relief from stress, pain, inflamed skin disorders and anxiety by soaking in the warm, strong-smelling, sulfuric waters.

Mineral Springs Arkansas is most well-known, but the Mineral Springs Hotel in Alton Illinois also hosted many guests looking for relief of their skin troubles, stress, poor blood circulation and heart problems.

People came away from these hot springs looking and feeling better.

Scientists now believe the major reason these hot mineral waters help people so much is the high volumes of carbon dioxide dissolved in the water.

Not a "Waste" Gas

Our cells make carbon dioxide as a by-product of their metabolic processes, burning oxygen for energy. That CO2 goes from your cells into your blood. Your blood takes it to your lungs, and they exhale it. 

For many years, medical science believed CO2 served no particular purpose in our bodies. It was just "waste" the lungs had to remove.

The "important" gas was oxygen - which is taken in by your lungs and distributed to all your cells by your blood.

However, now we know carbon dioxide is critical. Our breathing cycles reflect the relative balances of carbon dioxide and oxygen in our blood chemistry.

The instinctive urge to inhale does NOT come from your body perceiving a lack of oxygen. In fact, unless you're ill with a respiratory disease or have some other serious medical issue, or you've held your breath or exercised for a long time, your blood always contains from 95% to 99% oxygen saturation in your blood. You can test this by placing a pulse oximeter (found in any drugstore) over the tip of your index finger.

The gas that actually controls the rhythm of your breath is carbon dioxide. When it goes up, a part of your brain notices, and urges you to inhale. You can feel that urge just by completely exhaling your next breath, then holding it for as long as you can. If you can hold your exhale for over 30 seconds, you're in pretty good shape. Many people, even athletes, can't.

In many ways, getting "in shape" means not only building bigger, stronger muscles, but developing a greater tolerance for CO2 in your blood.

When CO2 levels are lower than normal, the hemoglobin in your blood can't release the oxygen it's carrying, so your cells are suffocated.

Oxygen is necessary, but way overrated - and you can tell your personal trainer and yoga teacher I said so.

In fact, inhaling too much oxygen is dangerous in the long term, because having too much oxygen in your body exposes you to excess free radicals - or reactive oxygen species. (Notice how these free radicals, which wear away at your cells, are generated by oxygen.)

Efficient breathing means taking in just enough oxygen, and the ability to use it efficiently for the energy you need to function and live.

If a car's motor is running "fast" or is inefficient in some other way, you don't simply have the fuel injector inject more gasoline. You tune the engine so it makes the best use possible of the gasoline already available. That way, you get more miles to the gallon while minimizing the engine's long-term deterioration. 

Our bodies work similarly. You want to maximize breathing efficiency and minimize reactive oxygen species - NOT simply take in more oxygen by  deep breathing.

Do-It-Yourself CO2 Baths

Turn your ordinary bath water into carbonated, fizzy water that releases carbon dioxide. 

You can actually find many suggestions online, because people are using the fizziness of carbonated water to entertain children with bubbling bath "bombs" or "fizzles" or "fizzies."

Entertaining kids if fine, but don't waste the carbon dioxide you've released.

The first main ingredient is sodium bicarbonate (the word "bicarbonate" clues you in that it contains carbon) - plain old baking soda.

The other ingredient is citric acid. (Some use ascorbic acid.)

When the acid hits the baking soda, the fizzy reaction released carbon dioxide.

Pore the acid in a little bit at a time, or you'll generate all the bubbles at once.

Place some kind of plastic or other cover over the tub to slow down the escape of CO2.

According to one German doctor, he used such water to heal a patient with extremely dry, flaking skin - in just two weeks.

For bathing small amounts of skin, you can just buy unflavored carbonated water.

You May Find Dry CO2 Baths at a Spa

They have their own ways of keeping visitors inside a bubble of carbon dioxide.

You can also find commercial CO2 bath bomb products.

For Dedicated CO2 Bathers

The breathing expert Anders Olsson has designed an entire suit that can be inflated with carbon dioxide. Therefore, you get both the health and beauty benefits of a CO2 bath. It's called the BodyStream. 

NOTE: The suits goes up to your neck. Although we most want CO2 for our facial skin, designing such a mask around your nose and mouth must be a difficult problem.)

(Olsson says he himself immerses his face into a bowl of plain carbonated water, breathing through a straw, for six minutes.)

Once you put the suit on, all the regular air is pumped out. It's then inflated with 100% carbon dioxide.

Your skin absorbs the CO2, so it reaches your blood vessels, relaxing and enlarging them.

This lowers your blood pressure. It also improves circulation, so your skin cells receive more blood and, therefore, more nutrition. 

Many users report feeling incredibly relaxed. Some fall asleep.

I can't make a recommendation, but - so far as I know - it's the only such device of its kind, though that'll probably change in the future, as the knowledge of the health, beauty and anti-aging benefits of carbon dioxide spreads.

Also, the price is over $2,000 with shipping, so it's not for tire-kickers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzrRLBu9Pnw&t=3741s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_AMA0VYcb0

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26355616/

https://www.hauntedillinois.com/realhauntedplaces/mineral-springs-hotel.php

https://www.amazon.com/Carbon-Dioxide-Medicine-Achilles-Rose-ebook/dp/B0BPYFRQ7Q/

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/how_to_make_bath_fizzies

https://kids.discoveryplace.org/rockingham/stay-at-home-science/bath-time-chemistry-diy-bath-fizzles

https://www.consciousbreathing.com/products/bodystream

https://anglickydvur.com/en/medical-department/carbon-dioxide-baths/