Exhaling while Inhaling: How Do I Stop It?

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Ryan Neely

Contributor
Messages
204
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107
Location
Akeley, MN USA
# of dives
100 - 199
One of the most eye-opening moment for me while taking Fundies was to learn that I was inhaling through my mouth but exhaling only through my nose. Exhaling through my nose was a subconscious reflex to water entering my mask thanks to my mustache, but it was causing me to dive slightly negative.

I spent the next fifteen dives training myself not to exhale through my nose. It took a lot of concentration and a lot of swimming around with my fingers pinching my nose through the nose cup in my mask.

Despite training myself out of this habit, I have still noticed quite a few bubbles still coursing over my mask, except these bubbles only ever showed up during the inhalation cycle of my breath. It might not be leading to buoyancy issues, but it certainly is annoying and has led to obscured visions.

To the best of my ability, I would guess that somehow I'm still subconsciously routing my breath from my mouth and directly into my nasal cavity. I just don't understand it, though.

Here's a video, if that helps:
Any productive advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Hi @Ryan Neely

I have no good answer for you. Do you have any other breathing abnormalities like sleep apnea... Perhaps you should see a good ENT physician to check out your respiratory anatomy and function. If there are no discernable abnormalities, I wonder how you would do on a full face mask?
 
I have no idea how to fix the breathing issue but my advice is to put the yellow reg on your long hose, not on the necklace.
 
Hi @Ryan Neely

I have no good answer for you. Do you have any other breathing abnormalities like sleep apnea... Perhaps you should see a good ENT physician to check out your respiratory anatomy and function. If there are no discernable abnormalities, I wonder how you would do on a full face mask?
Yes, this may have to be answered by an ENT guy. All I can advise is to (on land), fool around with both the nose & mouth- together & separately. In one, out the other. In one, out the same one. Now with mask on of course just in & out with mouth. If all of that works well then the only other factor that may affect you is being underwater, which to me makes no sense. Maybe has something to do with than "Mamalian" thing or maybe just mental? But an ENT who knows diving may have an answer.
 
When you breath in air by yourself (not on a ventilator) your diaghram contracts and air is sucked in thru the mouth and nose into the lungs. This due to a negative pressure generated by your diagram ( and to some extent by your rib muscles)(external intercostal muscles moving the rib cage out). Exhalation is relaxation of the elastic tissue of the lungs whereas the sucked air comes out thru your nose and mouth plus the internal intercostal muscles which aid in exhalation.

To the best of my knowledge we can't have both. You are either inhaling or exhaling. I can't think of an anatomical abnormality that can push air our while air is moving toward your lungs. Perhaps @doctormike (ENT doc) can shed light on this issue you are having.
 
What the OP is describing sounds kind of like a backwards circular breathing, Circular breathing - Wikipedia, as used by didgeridoo and some others. Difficult, not impossible, but I've never heard of it being done backwards, i.e. breathing in through the mouth and out through the nose.
 
Any chance you could have a bit too much air flowing from your regulator (venturi effect or overtuned) and you are allowing it out your nose?
 
My assumption is this, though I'm not a doctor. I too regularly inhale through my mouth and exhale through my nose and typically have a bit of stubble/scruff.

My guess would be that as water leaks into the mask, it is displacing some of the air which is then escaping from the mask. I almost always have a perpetual mask leak and can only imagine I have a constant stream of small bubble.
 
Reminds me of times gone by back in my teens when me and all my friends would be smoking bongs, I developed a knack for breathing smoke out my nose whilst inhaling through my mouth in order to smoke an extra extra big bowl, cool party trick..

Sorry I can't help.
 
video looked to me like- you pause after the inhale, then begin to release a little air from your nose and then a moment later start to exhale from the mouth. Perhaps some pool time wearing swim goggles (no mask) will give you better feedback on keeping the airway to the nose locked??
 

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