Do I breathe too deeply? Depth sometimes varies 5' between breaths.

[TT_Vert]

Basically unless I breath VERY shallowly my depth varies quite a bit. My dive guides say that is good but I find it rather annoying and have a feeling I'm doing something wrong. If I do very shallow breaths I appear to be ok but it is rather uncomfortable for me. I guess I'm a natural deep breather as I like to take in and exhale full and deep breaths. Is there something I can do to resolve this problem or do I just need to take very shallow breaths rather quickly? That seems to me that I am not relaxed when I breath quickly and shallowly but who knows. Pretty much every dive i've felt comfortable and calm but I've only done about 10 dives now. I did my first cavern (cenote actually) dive and i had an over head so I was paying special attention to my depth and at times I only had 4 or 5 feet floor to ceiling so it was important to stay very consistant in depth. If I ever inhaled too much I'd have to exhale rather quickly just to get back to where I needed to be. Opinions?? Please don't be too harsh on the newbie
Dave

 

[Marek K]

Well, first remember that the bouyancy effect of breathing is delayed -- it takes a few moments to start to ascend after taking a deep breath, and to descend when letting the breath out.

I'm just wondering what the natural rhythm of your breathing is -- you're not getting to the point of runaway ascending or descending, right? But you may be... not holding your breath... but breathing kind of slowly.

I wouldn't try to take unnaturally shallow breaths. But maybe work on a shorter period between breaths?

Five feet of variation when breathing does seem like a lot...

 

[David Griffith]

It sounds like you're doing just fine. You are weighted correctly and are able to get neutral bouyancy you can control with your lung volume. Most new divers breath quickly and too shallowly and have to learn to relax and breath deeply. I tend to inhale more quickly, and then make a long , slow exhalation. I adjust bouyancy with my BC to be just positive with a full breath and then see how much I'm sinking as I swim and exhale. A foot or two seems like a more resonable depth variation. Remember to continually adjust as your depth changes and you burn air from your tank. You want to work on this in open water, not in any overhead environment. Happy diving. Be safe.

 

[spectrum]

Dave it sounds like you are going just fine.

Porpoising is a natural side effect of a deep effective breathing pattern. There will be times when you need to break the pattern and tailor your respiration to the task. Sometimes I find myself breathing for positional rather than respiratory needs.

See if you can exploit the delayed effect of buoyancy change. If you can get your exhale to begin just as you begin to rise and inhale just as you begin to sink you may flatten the wave some. When and how you kick can also help stabilize stuff.

Pete

 

[1_T_Submariner]

You don't mention how many dives you have or how long but if you are fairly new go dive more and it will come with time. Asking questions like this you are on the right track.

You really shouldn't think you are breathing deep you should think that you are breathing normally.

 

[TT_Vert]

It sounds like you're doing just fine. You are weighted correctly and are able to get neutral bouyancy you can control with your lung volume. Most new divers breath quickly and too shallowly and have to learn to relax and breath deeply. I tend to inhale more quickly, and then make a long , slow exhalation. I adjust bouyancy with my BC to be just positive with a full breath and then see how much I'm sinking as I swim and exhale. A foot or two seems like a more resonable depth variation. Remember to continually adjust as your depth changes and you burn air from your tank. You want to work on this in open water, not in any overhead environment. Happy diving. Be safe.

I think I do that a bit as well. I will exhale a bit slowly. I usually do that to control my depth dependant on my location and where I want to be. IE if i'm going over a high spot on a reef I'll inhale fully and exhale very slowly until I'm over the high spot then exhale a bit quicker to get back down. I'd never done overhead diving but my GF wanted to do this cave dive and it was great but someting I doubt I'll do again, or at least until I can stay at the same depth at all times regardless of my breath cycle. I estimated that 5', I think I need to check my gauge next time I inhale/exhale just to see what the variance actually is.

Dave it sounds like you are going just fine.

Porpoising is a natural side effect of a deep effective breathing pattern. There will be times when you need to break the pattern and tailor your respiration to the task. Sometimes I find myself breathing for positional rather than respiratory needs.

See if you can exploit the delayed effect of buoyancy change. If you can get your exhale to begin just as you begin to rise and inhale just as you begin to sink you may flatten the wave some. When and how you kick can also help stabilize stuff.

Pete

I absolutely do use my breaths to control my depth when I need to, I just need to learn how to NOT have to think about my breathing to keep neutral. After I read the first reply, I think I do have the tendancy to inhale quickly but exhale slowly. I think that amplifies the effects of the deep inhalations.

You don't mention how many dives you have or how long but if you are fairly new go dive more and it will come with time. Asking questions like this you are on the right track.

You really shouldn't think you are breathing deep you should think that you are breathing normally.

I have done 10 dives. I generally think of my breathing only at times when I want to be neutral and I find myself moving up/down with breaths. Then I will start to breath a bit more shallow. I really hope I can figure out an alternative to that.

Well, first remember that the bouyancy effect of breathing is delayed -- it takes a few moments to start to ascend after taking a deep breath, and to descend when letting the breath out.

I'm just wondering what the natural rhythm of your breathing is -- you're not getting to the point of runaway ascending or descending, right? But you may be... not holding your breath... but breathing kind of slowly.

I wouldn't try to take unnaturally shallow breaths. But maybe work on a shorter period between breaths?

Five feet of variation when breathing does seem like a lot...

I've never been in a situation of a runaway ascent or decent fortunately. I have to check my gauge next time to see if maybe i'm exhaggerating the depth variance perhaps. Everything seems bigger underwater after all.. I guess I've always been of the mindset that I would use less air and be more efficient w/ slower deeper breaths. Perhaps I'm of the wrong mindset on this..

Thanks for the input guys!!

Dave

 

[Belmont]

A new diver with few dives in his logbook. What were you doing in a Cenote cavern where you had 5 feet of play between floor and ceiling.

 

[h90]

If I dive relaxed I also go up/down +/- 1 meter (warm water so the lung volume matters more).
Normal I would say

 

[TT_Vert]

A new diver with few dives in his logbook. What were you doing in a Cenote cavern where you had 5 feet of play between floor and ceiling.

I asked the same damn thing after I was done. We were in cancun and saw this site. Manta Divers has the best Cenote-Cavern Diving in Riviera Maya Mexico.

Any OPEN WATER Certified Diver can dive in a "CENOTE" or "CAVERNS" since you will be guided by a certified Full Cave Diving Guide assuring your safety with thousands of cavern dives experience.

I had no idea it'd be that tight at points but I saw this and felt a bit more comfortable. One point that was a bit unnerving was getting my reg line caught on a jutting part of the cavern and pulling my reg out. Luckily I stayed calm and just backed up a bit to free it from the rocks and get it back in my mouth where it belonged. It was one of those things that while doing it seemed fairly safe. After getting out I was questioning how safe it was for a newbie.

I feel I am a fairly competent diver for a newbie and have the ability to stay or go where I want w/ minimal effort or air but after I was done I was very surprised they let newbies do this. Mexico must be more liberal w/ these types of things. Definately something I don't need to do again for a long while.

This same dive operation had us going through a wreck as well. That was a bit more open but new to me to have something hard on all 4 sides of me. If there was an emergency I wasn't going straight up to get out which was new to me. Definately had to be aware of my buoyancy and hazardous metal objects around me.

 

[fisheater]

If you're horizontal in the water, you'll have more resistance to rising and falling with breaths than if you're vertical. What is your trim like?