OP
This thread has probably run its course, and others far more knowledgeable than me have already covered everything else, far better and more eloquently than I ever could.
I wanna address this specific part — i get your sentiment, and I don’t disagree with the one part about 1 air dive > fatigue > something is a miss and has to be fixed, and how nitrox can feel like a band aid instead of addressing the issue.
But I gotta say (just my 2 bubbles) it’s dangerous using that metaphor, because it would ve getting cause, effects, symptom and „pathos“ in the wrong order (and it might seem a bit counterintuitive):
Using nitrox addresses the (not necessarily root) cause of the symptom (fatigue): N2 loading
Slow*er* ascent, more conservative profiles, etc. would be mitigation of the symptom, the ailment, the high saturation of n2 in tissues, that already happened (be that on air, nitrox, doing a long deco dive…)
Nitrox is not having 10 cups of coffee to prevent that headache from occurring in the 1st place in that case, not the motrin/advil
I’m thinking here from the POV of the body, but probably I’m getting lost in some philosophical sauce here
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For sure, if it’s simply not just your physiology that you have lo tolerance for N2, then just throwing nitrox at it keeps you from achieving your potential, having longer profiles than what you can handle now
From the pov of the divers aptitude and achieving their potential, yes, band aid works (back on my philosophical BS)
But what happens if not? That’s as good as you can handle on your best day?
Nitrox for sure comes to the rescue
edit: if someone can actually „mark“ that threshold/transition between it working or not, you probably could (in theory) have your very own deco algo tuning (human factors whatever)
PS: not instructions, not a doctor, not a dive pro, just a dude who like to code models and think about them — please don’t hurt yourself
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Thanks for starting such an interesting thread btw
I still stand by what I said. I think nitrox is a great tool. I dive it when the dive calls for it, I would absolutely dive it for back to back dives, but diving it for one or 2 mild recreational dives just because I think it makes me feel better... well I don't do that. I do not "ride the line" close enough for nitrox to make a difference (again, to me). Maybe that will change as I get older, who knows.
It is an interesting thread.
