Advanced breathing technique

[jridg]

Skip breathing is not only dangerous, even if you don't hurt yourself, it will give you a killer headache....

Long, slow breaths - that's the key - staying calm - a nice slow exhale will do more for you than trying to skip-breathe.

That and plenty of experience. The more you dive, the calmer you get.

I am amazed at some people's ability to be efficient. An instructor I used to dive with would come up with 2K at the end of a 45 minute dive in Cozumel - better than anyone I know.....

 

[daniel1948]

... The best way to learn to control your breathing is to take long slow inhales & long slow exhales. Breathe using the diaphragm & filling the entire lungs, not just using the upper chest muscles & filling the top part...

I've always breathed this way, ever since it was drilled into me as a kid in a physical activity class of some sort. It comes natural. And my air consumption on my most recent trip was better than many of the other divers, probably as a result of that and my general level of fitness.

However, deep slow breathing does cause me to make vertical S curves, slowly ascending and descending a foot or two as my buoyancy changes with lung inflation and deflation. My OW instructor told me to breathe shallowly to maintain my buoyancy, and there was even a test of maintaining my buoyancy using only lung capacity. But I prefer slow deep breathing, as it is a more efficient use of my air, and expels CO2 more effectively.

 

[tstormdiver]

If you time your slow breathing just right, you should be exhaling as you start to rise & inhaling as you start to drop. Positive & negative buoyancy changes aren't instantaneous & take several seconds to happen (about the length of a slow breath). With a little practice you should eventually be able to use your slow breathing techniques to help control your buoyancy. My instructor (with slow breathing techniques- an SAC of about .4) will only change depth in his buoyancy about 2- 3 inches either way. I have seen him be completely neutrally buoyant in 3ft of water for quite some time. Now, give me about 15 more yrs. practice, like him & hopefully I'll be that skilled.

 

[Beeleist]

cool! thanks everyone for your help! sounds like all i need to do is get in the water, hah. Ill talk to my brother about this skip breathing addiction of his. also ill try to solve cold fusion.

 

[HBO MD]

Sweet. I look forward to the cold fusion outline....but I won't hold my breath :blinking:

 

[Rhone Man]

I am a chronic skip breather (the worst kind - I know I do it, but the habit is so ingrained I fall back into it if I don't concentrate), and even if nothing "bad" happens to you, you still get a splitting post dive headache. Don't be too shocked - yes, skip breathing is a bad habit, like smoking. But there are plenty of people who do it (I read in a British diving magazine once that 46% of British divers admitted to skip breathing in a poll).

The other 2 psi I would throw in: I recently got a dive computer which would measure my SAC rate, and it really surprised me how much difference it made whether I was exercising or not. Most dives I was getting about 0.39 cu ft/min, but when I was away on business for a week and skipped the gym, I dropped to about 0.45 cu ft/min. In percentage terms, that is a 15% drop. Pays to stay in shape clearly.

So if I ever do manage to cut out the skip breathing entirely, I had better be in shape. Or buy bigger tanks.

Useful link if you feel minded to read more: Hypercapnia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Skeeter1097]

I think there is skip breathing and smart breathing. On land you do not hyperventilate your self. I do not breath in as soon as I stop breathing out so way would you do it under the water. Breath slow and deep, in and out. 2 or 3 sic later reverse the process. never holding the breath. If that is skip breathing I guess I do it and on land too.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Let's just cut to the chase. Let him keep doing it. Soon you'll have all his gear once they recover it. So see it can be a good thing.

 

[Teamcasa]

Despite what some people say, there is no advanced breathing technique. I’m not a Dr. but I do believe that your body needs oxygen and tells you by giving you that feeling of needing air by sensing the increase of CO2 levels.

Everybody consumes air at different rates based on their fitness level, body and lung size and physical exertion. On a dive, more factors are added on. How much energy you use to move through the water. Your basic trim (how horizontal you are), buoyancy, how streamlined your gear is and overall weight carried. What mindset you are in, anywhere from full blown panic to I’m so relaxed I may just fall asleep. What tasks are being performed and so on. No two divers or dives are going to be the same.

Take heart though, there are different tanks and tank configurations for everyone. My wife uses a HP80 and I use a HP100, we surface with almost the same amount of RDT (Remaining Dive Time) and close to the same pressure. When we dive where the only option is rentals, I just breath of her octo for a few minutes to balance out the RDT.

Don’t sweat it, just buy a bigger tank!

 

[Rhone Man]

Also remember one other thing: when you breathe out above water, the exhaled breath escapes freely into the atmosphere. Using a regulator, you breathe out into an enclosed chamber that is then filled with CO2 rich air. That chamber fills up again with normal air when you inhale and dilutes it, but the mix is still going to be more CO2 rich than air. So you are always going to absorb more CO2 when diving. But breath holding and doing anything strenuous underwater makes it worse (as of course does taking short shallow breaths).