Question

‘Oxygen debt’ is the amount of oxygen required for
(a) Muscle contraction
(b) Muscle twitching
(c) Muscle recovery
(d) All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Oxygen debt is a temporary oxygen shortage in the body tissues. This generally occurs after extensive exercise. Oxygen debt is thus the additional amount of oxygen required to restore the body tissue responsible for movement and coordination.

Complete answer:
During muscular exercise, blood vessels dilate, and the blood flow is increased to increase the available supply of oxygen. Up to a certain point, the oxygen that is available is sufficient to meet the energy requirements of the body. However, when muscle exertion is very great and exceeds certain limits, oxygen supply to the muscle fibers is not fast enough.
In such periods, an additional supply of ATP is generated by using anaerobic glycolysis. Using this method, the pyruvic acid gets converted to lactic acid, which is then transported to the liver to convert into glucose or glycogen. Once, adequate oxygen supply is available, the built-up lactic acid must be catabolized completely into water and carbon dioxide.
After exercise is stopped, there is a requirement of extra oxygen to metabolize the lactic acid, replenish ATP, phosphocreatine, and glycogen. This additional oxygen that is required to be inhaled into the body after a vigorous exercise to restore all systems to their normal states is called oxygen debt. This is also put to use in order to repair muscles.
So, the answer is, ‘ Muscle recovery.’

Note: Oxygen debt is measured as the difference between the amount of oxygen required after a strong muscular activity or extensive exercising and the amount required of oxygen required in a resting state. Muscle recovery and repair is important to prevent cramping and infarction of muscles.