Breathing Techniques and Air Consumption

[RJP]

If it works for you then keep doing it

In fact, most people don't realize that before ultimately settling on the phrase "Doing It Right" the story goes that JJ and the rest of the GUE folks considered many other taglines, such as...

"Doing It However You Like"
"Looks Good To Me, But What Do I Know?"
"Fine, Whatever."
"That Which Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger"
"What, Me Worry?"

Apparently they even looked into "Different Strokes For Different Folks" but for some reason they felt that was a bit off somehow.

 

[pjones]

I was taught to breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 and release for 5.

I would be cautious with holding my breath for much time after taking a large breath. In my open water class they pressed quite hard on the lung over expansion issue so their rule was "never hold your breath". I prefer to take slow long breaths and stay relaxed. I find thats working fine for me right now and I'm hitting my NDL's with it. I believe a little exercise above the surface helps to increase the bottom time a bit too simply because it keeps you fit. I am still learning though and am quite enjoying hearing these responses

 

[DA Aquamaster]

"never hold your breath is ok at the OW level. but what it really is getting at is a cheap and easy substitute for "never close your airway".

For example sitting here now, I can inhale, hold the pause by holding the chest expansion with my muscles and then exhale. I never close off my throat, so air is freely able to exit through my throat if it begins to expand.

This is a normal breathing pattern but the "never hold your breath" thing is emphasized to offset a tendency for new divers to potentially hold their breath as they would just swimming under water on a breathe hold dive where they may close off their throat.

No diver should ever close their airway, but that is different than a pause after an inhalation.

 

[BabyDuck]

i pause my breathing after the inhale. a lot. every dive. but i don't close my airway.

erock, try modifying what you're doing to 'breathe in a count of five, pause a bit with open airway, breathe out a count of 10' & see if anything changes. it might or might not, but could be a fun experiment.

 

[Dr Neil]

You can practice slow deep breathing anywhere. A resting respiration rate of 6 breaths per minute will carry over into your diving. By practicing this slow deep breathing it become an unconscious act.

 

[jmasin]

Am I the only guy who just breathes down there?

I guess I've never really thought about it...

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I was taught to breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 and release for 5. It regulates your air consumption and you will feel better post dive. I never had a problem with air comsumption but this technique has allowed me to have a more relaxing dive. Give it a try!!

Your instructor's recommendation to take only 4 breaths every minute is a little much. I try to tell people to breath in and out with a volume that is about like what you would do when jogging. Not super deep inhalation and not super deep exhalation, but moving a volume that is considerably more then when resting. Basically a "moderately deep" breathing ccycle.

I also try to get people to SLOW their respiration down a little, but not a goal of 4 breaths a minutes. Basically just a little slower and a little deeper than you do while sitting or doing a sedentary activity.

 

[pelagic_by_nature]

Here's something I just started doing that has helped my gas consumption. I was recently told that you should "sip the air, not gulp the air" well, what this lead to, for me, was that I noticed that I can hear the gas being released from the tank as I inhale and the more slowly I inhale, the quieter the "hiss" from the tank. I now listen for a quieter, steady hiss from the tank as I inhale, which results in a nice, slow, deep breath, and, at least for me, better air consumption.

 

[Herk_Man]

Dive ops stress the "no breath holding" rule because under the right circumstances it can lead to, yes, you guessed it, DEATH! But it will only do so if you keep your airway closed off to the point that you don't release air when lungs start to expand and if you ascend during that 5 seconds (or however long) far enough to cause the air to expand enough to overstress your lungs.

You could stay at one depth and hold breath until you just couldn't hold it any more and believe it or not, you won't die. I know, I'm not supposed to say that. But sadly, it's the truth.

So the real answer to that comment is, be careful with it. If you're holding for 5 seconds and your inflator wigs out, you might be in trouble. But chances are, nothing bad will happen. So all that remains is, does this improve your bottom time and does it still keep you from getting too much CO2?

There, I said it.

 

[elan]

This middle bit sounds like too long to be holding your breath. Or was it a typo?

why ? I quite often do not breath for 10 seconds or even more, not that I'm trying to hold it, I just do not feel I need to take another breath and do not take it until my body feels the need to do so. When you are not in a current, just floating or slowly pushing yourself through the water with just ankle movements you do not really need a lot of oxygen and do not build much CO2.