For all I know, I might be less tired, if I dove it like air.
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
I dive Nitrox with about the same profile as I did with air. When I was diving air, after a couple of days (4 or 5 dives) I had to take a "day of rest". On Nitrox I dive 12 or 13 days straight and feel great. It may be a myth. I don't care. As long as I can afford Nitrox, I will be using it. I just feel better.
Cheers -
The biggest advantage to diving EAN, at least for rec diving, is that it's ultimately a safer gas due to reduced nitrogen onloading. Whether it makes on "feel better" or not, it's easier on your body than diving air. The question of whether or not it makes you feel better, in my opinion at least, also has to take into consideration the cost of diving EAN. For me, diving Cozumel this last weekend and only doing 5 dives, the monetary cost of $14/cylinder outweighed the benefit of diving EAN. My SAC rate doesn't get me anywhere close to NDL on air so diving EAN doesn't really help much in that respect. The only thing I can say though is that if diving EAN indeed would've helped with the painfully massive headache I got Friday, then it's possible the cost would've been less of an issue, especially seeing as how I spent $35 on two bottles (or $25 for one) of 800mg Ibuprofen at one of the local pharmacies.So at this stage roughly 1 in 3 feel a benefit of nitrox. And that feel it, it's seems to be a decent feeling.
I posted this poll with the assumption that it was a given nitrox was beneficial. In my limited diving experience I hadn't (yet) come across anyone saying otherwise, and I assumed the dive shops weren't just after a few nitrox $ either as it's often 'recommended'.
I wonder, as being part of the minority group, the next time I dive nitrox, given now I know its effect is not clear cut or at least for the majority of divers there is no effect, will my feeling be the same or is my placebo bubble about to be popped.
The votes can be altered. It'll be interesting to see if Nitroxers shift camps.
Although this is said a lot -- "Nitrox is safer than air" -- the statement misses some important points, in addition to the reduced safety benefit of now having a Maximum Operating Depth to keep track of.The biggest advantage to diving EAN, at least for rec diving, is that it's ultimately a safer gas due to reduced nitrogen onloading. Whether it makes on "feel better" or not, it's easier on your body than diving air.
Well, if someone - like me - anyhow has a personal depth limit somewhere around 30m due to narcosis, that is a very minor issue.the statement misses some important points, in addition to the reduced safety benefit of now having a Maximum Operating Depth to keep track of.
That region from 55 mins on Nitrox (group P) to 84 mins on Nitrox (group W) is the sweet spot for Nitrox versus air; you can exceed your air limits with Nitrox and have less residual nitrogen anywhere in that sweet spot....
Read the rest of that article. The issue is not nearly as clear as even what you quote. They are using just one older study ti buttress their opinion, and ignoring mire recent research that does nit support their opinion. This is usually called cherry-picking.SportDiver had an Ask DAN article on July 10, 2019 about this topic
Ask DAN: Can Diving with Nitrox Prevent Fatigue?
"While the reports of this phenomenon are widespread and often fiercely defended, our best understanding is that nitrox can prevent fatigue about as well as a manatee can pass for a mermaid: There might appear to be some similarity on a foggy day, but a close look reveals little resemblance to the truth."