muratkorman
Registered
Dear divers,
One of the major points of diving is air consumption and all of us try to develop ourselves for reaching low air consumption for extending our dive times. The experienced divers in this forum definitely have a lot to say and suggest on this matter. Perhaps this has been discussed in previous threads and I would appreciate if you could provide some available links.
I would like to hear from you what suggestions you have on breathing. This is not a post to reinvent the wheel, but it would be a good reference to divers having air consumption issues or divers willing to reduce their air consumptions during dives. I write below my formula for low air consumption. Until now it has worked pretty well and I never had low air situations in my dives.
In order to achieve low air consumption, I try to be calm and relaxed during my dives. If you become comfortable with your diving gear and buoyancy control, you are likely to start your dive in a calm and relaxed manner. For the first couple of minutes I focus on my breathing. When you focus, you will see that you can slow down breathing in and out easily.
The real deal is to breathe in slowly, but not filling your lungs totally. You will realize that if you take a deep breath you can actually fill your lungs with twice as much air than you usually take in one normal breath. If you fill your lungs too much with air, you risk damaging your lungs and ribs in case of an unexpected ascent causing air to expand inside your lungs. For safety, having your lungs partially filled with air gives you some flexibility.
The next step is of course breathing out and here is the catch for extending your breathing in and out cycle : Do not breathe out all in one go. This will cause your lungs to require oxygen quickly and you consume more than you expect. Slowly breathe out the CO2 bothering your lungs and wait for a while. Once the CO2 level is lower than before, you gain a few seconds before breathing out the rest. In this way your breathing cycle extends without taking any risks. I usually breathe in slowly once and breathe out slowly in two steps.
I would like to receive some feedback from experienced divers on what they think about my breathing technique and I would appreciate all suggestions. I hope the information provided above will be helpful to those pursuing lower air consumptions.
Enjoy your dives
One of the major points of diving is air consumption and all of us try to develop ourselves for reaching low air consumption for extending our dive times. The experienced divers in this forum definitely have a lot to say and suggest on this matter. Perhaps this has been discussed in previous threads and I would appreciate if you could provide some available links.
I would like to hear from you what suggestions you have on breathing. This is not a post to reinvent the wheel, but it would be a good reference to divers having air consumption issues or divers willing to reduce their air consumptions during dives. I write below my formula for low air consumption. Until now it has worked pretty well and I never had low air situations in my dives.
In order to achieve low air consumption, I try to be calm and relaxed during my dives. If you become comfortable with your diving gear and buoyancy control, you are likely to start your dive in a calm and relaxed manner. For the first couple of minutes I focus on my breathing. When you focus, you will see that you can slow down breathing in and out easily.
The real deal is to breathe in slowly, but not filling your lungs totally. You will realize that if you take a deep breath you can actually fill your lungs with twice as much air than you usually take in one normal breath. If you fill your lungs too much with air, you risk damaging your lungs and ribs in case of an unexpected ascent causing air to expand inside your lungs. For safety, having your lungs partially filled with air gives you some flexibility.
The next step is of course breathing out and here is the catch for extending your breathing in and out cycle : Do not breathe out all in one go. This will cause your lungs to require oxygen quickly and you consume more than you expect. Slowly breathe out the CO2 bothering your lungs and wait for a while. Once the CO2 level is lower than before, you gain a few seconds before breathing out the rest. In this way your breathing cycle extends without taking any risks. I usually breathe in slowly once and breathe out slowly in two steps.
I would like to receive some feedback from experienced divers on what they think about my breathing technique and I would appreciate all suggestions. I hope the information provided above will be helpful to those pursuing lower air consumptions.
Enjoy your dives
