Question Are frequent ascents and descents in shallow water (up to 6 metres deep) harmful?

[Angelo Farina]

DiveLikeAMuppet:
Your ears might be unhappy. Last few meters the surface is the largest pressure gradient.

That’s only relative to diving deeper like 20-30 metres right? If you never go deeper then it’s meaningless I suppose …

Unfortunately, no.
Going up and down in a pool of just 4 meters depth can really stress your ears.
You continue pumping air in and out of your Eustachian tubes, and the tympanic membrane is continually stressed inside and outside. Do this for a couple of hours, and good luck sleeping the following night: your ears will ache!

 

[mouka]

No DCS risk. There is of course the usual embolism risk if you fail to keep an open airway during your ascents.

You will need to be conscious of properly equalizing on your descents. If you get a headache or other sinus aches then maybe take a break or call it a day. I'll suggest doing a little buoyancy control practice or other drills where you stay at one level for a bit after each descent so you aren't yo-yoing the whole time.

Thank you so much for your advice!