Dive planning for older divers 70+

[Nemrod]

I am not convinced that age is as significant a factor as would be physical fitness and being on BMI and good general health. Are there any vetted studies showing contrary? An overweight or obese 30 yo with "conditions" and poor general fitness vs me, fit and on BMI and low body fat percentage and no "conditions", I am going with me at 71 yo being less likely to have a DCS event. And being conservative.

 

[scubadada]

I am not convinced that age is as significant a factor as would be physical fitness and being on BMI and good general health. Are there any vetted studies showing contrary? An overweight or obese 30 yo with "conditions" and poor general fitness vs me, fit and on BMI and low body fat percentage and no "conditions", I am going with me at 71 yo being less likely to have a DCS event. And being conservative.

What about your paroxysmal atrial fibrillation?

 

[Subcooled]

Wondering if age affects nitrogen loading and if adjustments are needed for dive planning. I have a Suunto vyper that does have some adjustments to the algorithm. I generally won't be pushing things to max but you never know.

Nitrogen loading is a physical process. It does not ask your age.
Offgassing is another.

If the dive has been deep enough for the nitrogen to enter bubbles in the blood stream upon ascent, then

1. blood flow may be hampered locally
2. bubbles may cause an inflammation, hence see #1

These will cause a number of issues with O2 and CO2 and while I am not a doctor I am bold enough to say that a 20 year old body suffers less than a 70 year body.

Extended resurfacing time tables are thus recommended (even if your computer would "demand" less). It is still a dive at three feet!

 

[Nemrod]

What about your paroxysmal atrial fibrillation?

Ha, ha, you would remind me of that . I suppose that does qualify as a "condition" or something. But I am doubting that is a DCS risk. I was taking a nap on the couch because I often do that after swimming a mile and a half. Usually, something has to trigger the afib, like over exertion, at least in my case it does not just happen. If I can cover 1.5 miles in just over 40 minutes and not over exert myself, well , if I can discipline myself not to chase after sharks and even then, considering the 30 yo I described as a hypothetical, I am going with little ol'me as being less likely to have a DCS event or for that matter a cardiac event.

Jeez, everyone keeps trying to figure out some reason I should not scuba dive, damn the torpedos and full speed ahead . Hand me that twin hose reg and let's go diving!

 

[halocline]

You guys might think that age isn’t a factor, but if the statistics show that it is, you’re wrong. Now for sure fitness at any age is also a factor, and of course every person is an individual, so each person’s risk of DCS is unique based on all sorts of factors. I believe that statistically, a person’s risk does go up with age, but then again, most people are not in as good shape as they age as they were when younger, mostly weight gain, I guess. So go figure.

I’m an older but fit guy, and I’m not worried about myself getting bent. That’s about as far as I’d go in terms of dismissing the age factor.

 

[Wibble]

It is not about age, it is about fitness. There are plenty of 30-year olds that should not be diving.
Nitrox, stay away from NDL, ascend slowly, stay hydrated, long safety stops, mind your GF99 and SurfGF...all help.

So an hour or more deco is OK?

It’s the decompression time that makes diving so relaxing. An hour or more of doing sweet sod all and reflecting on the dive you’ve done is so calming.

Have changed my GFs after passing age milestones. Now using 50/75 down from 50/80 and also do my final stop around 4m/13ft6” with a slow ascent from there to the surface. Seems to work OK.

 

[sena_akutsa]

You are correct. Which is why I'm hoping no one suggests it.

our Director runs a Suunto D4i with "hardened" settings
and a buddy of mine activated that option on his Mares Smart, in a try to follow our DM's profile


fortunately, I managed to turn that feature Off on all Cressi Leonardos (instead set them to SF1 for more safety),

otherwise, one time after reaching 34 meters, it was funny:
- Leonardo stopped us at "half depth, 17m",
- Mares stopped "roughly at 2/3 , 12m",
- then Suunto also asked for his personal stop "somewhere in between or above"
...that before stopping normally at 6, then at 3 meters.

 

[dmaziuk]

I'm certainly missing something. I heard those are not longer suggested?

No: instead you set you GF Low to something like 45 and pretend you are not doing it.

 

[dmaziuk]

otherwise, one time after reaching 34 meters, it was funny:
- Leonardo stopped us at "half depth, 17m",
- Mares stopped "roughly at 2/3 , 12m",
- then Suunto also asked for his personal stop "somewhere in between or above"
...that before stopping normally at 6, then at 3 meters.

34 metres is ~4.4 atm. Half of that: 2.2 atm, is about 12 msw so Mares is doing "half pressure" stop. Which I think makes more sense than "half depth" stop, but not everyone agrees. For the undecided ones: Suunto to the rescue with "somewhere in between".

Either way these should(*) be 1..2 minutes that won't make much difference in the "Buhlmann" scheme of things(**) and they're mostly intended to slow down your ascent. Edit: they are not to be confused with NEDU "deep stops" and some vendors even went as far as renaming them to "PDIS": profile-dependent intermediate stop. To avoid any confusion with "deep" stops.

*) I turned it off on my Leo before I got it wet so I don't have the 1st-hand experience.

**) where the fastest tissue compartment's halftime is 4 or 5 minutes so the stop is less than "quarter time" of the fastest TC.

HTH

 

[Nemrod]

I imagine the Navy and DAN et al have some data. And I bet it shows a higher DCS incidence correlation for older divers. Just as a wild a-- guess, that would be my obvious bet. I do not think it is actually related to age but all of the "conditions" that come with age. By that I mean majority overweight and even obesity, lack of fitness, low muscle vs fat %, too much fun and not enough effort and as much as anything that "I am not as good as I used to be but I can be as good as I was was once" kind of thinking. Sort of like when a teen-twenty yo says "watch this", the elder equivalent thereof.

Staying conservative, understanding GF and educating oneself about DCS, not playing games with your computer and maintaining weight and fitness levels appropriate for potentially rigorous circumstances goes a long way towards not getting bent.