Breathing Techniques and Air Consumption

[elan]

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!!

IMHO It does not matter what technique you imply your body takes oxygen and produces CO2 you are in trouble if you do not vent it out. So the primary concern should be decreasing the need for the oxygen. Once that is sorted out the demand falls and the rate decreases. Most likely it just you became more relaxed while feeling more comfortable in the water while diving rather than employing the technique

 

[Erock116]

So after reading all of your great advice, I've concluded that there really isn't any one perfect way to breathe. It seems like it just depends on the person and what is comfortable for them. Whatever makes me more relaxed is the best! I really appreciate everything you all posted! Definitely taught me some new techniques that I'm definitely going to have to try.

 

[RJP]

Still not sure why so much focus on breathing patterns to improve air consumption. I think it comes down to a less than perfect understanding of where - and how - 02 is consumed in the body. Perhaps an analogy will help:

Think of your body as a car.

• Your muscles are the engine.
• Oxygen is the fuel.
• The AL80 on your back is the gas tank.
• Your lungs are the fuel injector

For the most part, a diver asking about controlling gas consumption by modifying their breathing rate is like someone driving a large panel van at 100mph everywhere they go, with a poorly tuned v-8 engine, a mattress on the roof, and under-inflated tires, while pulling a trailer and running the AC with all the windows open --- and then, seeing that they're getting 4mpg, thinking "Huh, there must be something wrong with my fuel injector." Perhaps there's a tiny tweak that you can make there, but that ain't your problem.

Your lungs are merely your body's "fuel injector" - a mechanical device that regulates the flow of fuel into the engine cylinders. However, just as gasoline is not "consumed" in the fuel injector of your car, 02 is not "consumed" in the lungs. The lungs are merely one of the last parts of the series of tubes and valves that transfer 02 from your tank, delivering it to your muscles where it is actually consumed/burned.

If your car/body is consuming too much gas, that gas is being consumed in your muscles. Accordingly there's very little that you can do in terms of adjusting the rate of SUPPLY of fuel that you can do to impact the rate of CONSUMPTION. Sure there are minor adjustments that can be made to the fuel injector, but the rate limiting factor is the fuel requirements of your muscles.

Also, like in your car, one of the biggest things driving the process (no pun intended) is the need to get rid of exhaust gasses post combustion of fuel. In fact, that's the part of the process that controls the rate. Build-up of CO2 is what triggers your body to inhale. Not so much to get more 02, but to get RID OF C02.

What is Respiration? How does that differ from Ventilation?

Respiration occurs at the cellular/molecular level: CO2 molecules (exhaust gas) pass out of your cells, into your blood where it is carried to the lungs and passed from capillaries through alveoli and into the air space of your lungs. In exchange for the C02 the alveoli hand off 02 from your lungs into your blood, which is then carried to cells where it is used to support metabolic processes (consumption.)

Ventilation on the other hand only refers to simply moving a volume of gas in and out of the lungs via mechanical means. This has nothing to do with exchange of gasses. (In fact you can ventilate a corpse; but no respiration occurs.) Assuming you are not a corpse, respiration occurs continuously, whether you are actively ventilating (breathing) or not.

You CANNOT effectively reduce the rate at which your body burns fuel in your muscles by way of changing your ventilation rate. Neither can you meaningfully reduce the rate of respiration (exchange of gases at the cellular/alveolar level) by changing the ventilation rate, because both of these processes continue IN THE ABSENCE of the active ventilation process of inflating and deflating your lungs. Yes, like a car, you can deliver TOO MUCH fuel (hyperventilation) or TOO LITTLE fuel (hypoventilation) but either of these situations will merely cause your car to run rough, and if it goes on for more than a brief period of time the car - your body - will stall. This is, of course a VERY EFFECTIVE way of reducing fuel consumption, but you'll agree it's not ideal. Essentially, any attempt to influence CONSUMPTION by altering your VENTILATION rate will cause negative/symptomatic physiologic effects long before they will meaningfully reduce how much gas you need in your tank.

There is however a handy device you CAN use to control your breathing rate. It's called your brain. It is exceedingly good at delivering the right amount of 02 that your body needs by AUTOMATICALLY adjusting your ventilation rate to match your consumption needs. It does this WITHOUT requiring you to think about it. In fact, it's SO GOOD at doing this that the only sure-fire way to **** it up is by trying to override it!

So, as I mentioned several posts back. Think less about how you're breathing, and think more about how you're diving.

 

[RJP]

So after reading all of your great advice, I've concluded that there really isn't any one perfect way to breathe. It seems like it just depends on the person and what is comfortable for them. Whatever makes me more relaxed is the best! I really appreciate everything you all posted! Definitely taught me some new techniques that I'm definitely going to have to try.

Essentially, you've still got it completely backwards: Improving your breathing will not "make you more comfortable" in the water. Being more comfortable in the water will improve your breathing.

 

[Erock116]

Essentially, you've still got it completely backwards: Improving your breathing will not "make you more comfortable" in the water. Being more comfortable in the water will improve your breathing.

That's interesting and I will remember that next time. It's something I'm going to tell my dive buddy, my dad, about his breathing. He is always the first to surface and he has missed some really awesome things because of it. I think if he looks at it the way you do it will help him out a lot.


Thanks!

 

[RJP]

That's interesting and I will remember that next time. It's something I'm going to tell my dive buddy, my dad, about his breathing. He is always the first to surface and he has missed some really awesome things because of it. I think if he looks at it the way you do it will help him out a lot.


Thanks!

Sounds semantic, but don't talk to him about "his breathing" because telling someone "don't think about how you're breathing" is only going to get them to HYPER-FOCUS on...how they're breathing.

Breathing rate/consumption problems are a SYMPTOM. Don't address the symptom; identify and address the underlying problem.

Good luck!

PS - If you're at all interested, I'd be happy to get you guys in the pool at the shop where I DM and spend some time working on buoyancy, trim and propulsion techniques that will improve both comfort in the water as well as overall gas consumption.

 

[TSandM]

RJP, that's simply a beautiful post! I've written the same thing a bunch of times in much less vivid and immediately recognizable terms. Well done!

 

[nitrousbuzz]

Thank you for all your responses. It seems that there are two schools of thought.

Some believe that deep breathing is inherently a more efficient way to breath. Others believe the key is relaxation and minimum exersion. Its likely a bit of both.

No question that the less energy one uses, the less O2 is needed. However, to simply tell a diver to "relax" when breathing compressed air at depth, is easier said than done.

I think the deep breathing is an important key because it induces the deep relaxation sought after in diving. Think of all of the deep breathing exercises used on the surface from Andrew Weil to Lamas classes for giving birth. It is unquestionable that proper deep breathing will create relaxation.

Furthermore, the increase in dead air space using scuba equipment requires a deeper breathing cycle to overcome this. Breath too shallow, and you are simply not exchanging fresh air down in your air sacs. If you want to maximize the efficiency of gas exchange during resipiration getting the full value out of each breath, a deep slow breathing cycle with a focus on slow full exhale is the key. I'm sure there is a doctor on the board who can confirm this.

Its a little chicken and egg since relaxation is essentially a low heart rate and resipiration rate. I think the proper breathing technique will induce relaxation, overcome the increase in dead air space present in all scuba equipment. and will improve ones air consumption. If you don't inhale and exhale deeply enough, you will feel short of air, breath faster, and get a nice C02 headache.

 

[Dr Neil]

There is however a handy device you CAN use to control your breathing rate. It's called your brain. It is exceedingly good at delivering the right amount of 02 that your body needs by AUTOMATICALLY adjusting your ventilation rate to match your consumption needs. It does this WITHOUT requiring you to think about it. In fact, it's SO GOOD at doing this that the only sure-fire way to **** it up is by trying to override it!

Great analogy!

I believe you can fine tune the sympathetic nervous system to make the gas exchange in the lungs better. BUT this is not a water exercise. Working on proper breathing on land will carry over to diving.

The other primary factors for some that I haven't seen mentioned in the threads is lifestyle. A couple of other factors that could be woven into the analogy as places to trouble shoot the problems:

If you are a smoker and you dive QUIT SMOKING!​

Carrying excessive weight is another primary factor. Lugging around that extra poundage add stress to the cardio vascular system increasing the body's need for O₂.​

 

[TSandM]

Well, the one thing about the brain as a regulator is that, when you're on the surface, efficiency in utilization of your gas supply is not a goal for most people. If you are a top athlete, the work involved in a higher respiratory rate than absolutely necessary may figure in, but for the average person running a mile for exercise, it's not an issue. Therefore, there is no evolutionary pressure to select for people with efficient breathing patterns while exercising.

Underwater, you need to change your default breathing pattern to one more reminiscent of the breathing encouraged during yoga or Pilates, because it makes more efficient use of the gas in your tank. You CAN reduce your gas consumption by adopting a different breathing pattern, and still be operating safely, but that's really only meaningful for rather new divers who are still puffing with anxiety. Beyond that, you have to work on efficiency, streamlining, fitness, and the like.