Justin Bieber shared a somewhat spooky Instagram story last night from the point of view of his "wifey," Hailey Baldwin. The video shows Bieber prone and sleeping inside of a futuristic-looking chamber, with some sort of mouthpiece between his lips. "Sleep tight lover," the Instagram story reads. In the following clip, Baldwin zippers up the pod. "Sleeping in the HBOT," the caption reads.
The HBOT stands for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a therapeutic device that's often used to treat certain medical conditions, like serious burns or skin infections, and bubbles in blood vessels, according to the Mayo Clinic. Essentially, the way it works is oxygen is pumped into a tube or room so that the air pressure rises three times higher than normal air. In this atmosphere, the amount of oxygen in your blood increases, which can help heal injured tissue or fight infections.
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Bieber isn't exactly a trend-setter in this case. Lots of high profile people have adopted this strange treatment for various "wellness" reasons: Michael Jackson supposedly slept inside of a HBOT to improve longevity, and Tim Tebow used one as part of his recovery routine. In addition, some people claim that HBOT can be helpful in treating a whole range of medical conditions and diseases, such as migraines, autism, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy. But the only HBOT use that's actually been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is treating decompression sickness, which is a condition that some divers get due to a change in barometric pressure.
HBOT is simply not a miracle treatment, and the FDA is pretty clear that it shouldn't be used to replace any medical treatment. "FDA is concerned that some claims made by treatment centres using HBOT may give consumers a wrong impression that could ultimately endanger their health," the organization wrote in a 2013 statement. In some cases, the HBOT could slow recovery or pose health risks, such as ear injuries and lung collapse, according to the Mayo Clinic. (Not to mention, some people experience claustrophobia inside the tubes.) And although Bieber shared that he was sleeping inside of his chamber, the devices should really only be used for one to two hours at a time, in a healthcare setting, and with a doctor present to monitor.
Technically, we don't know what Bieber and Baldwin use the HBOT for, so they very well might be following proper protocol. But, if this is where he's been sleeping, we can assume this means the formerly celibate newlyweds don't share a bed.