Does smoking lower your SCR?

[TheRedHead]

I've wondered why people would risk hypercarpnia from skip breathing rather than buying a bigger tank. You can get a 149 cu ft. behemoth and it should take care of a SAC rate problem.

 

[H2Andy]

i breathe normally all the time... well, for diving (that is, inhale, pause, exhale)

i don't care what my SAC rate is other than for honest gas planning

 

[TSandM]

If a non-smoker 'moves' more air than a smoker per minute then his/her SAC rate would be higher.

No, that's not it. The non-smoker doesn't habitually move more air, but he CAN. In other words, when exercising maximally, the non-smoker will be able to move more air in and out of the lungs in a minute, and therefore will not be as short of breath, and have a higher exercise tolerance. But sitting quietly at rest, if the two people have the same metabolic rate and mass, their respirations should be essentially equal.

 

[*Floater*]

I've wondered why people would risk hypercarpnia from skip breathing rather than buying a bigger tank. You can get a 149 cu ft. behemoth and it should take care of a SAC rate problem.

If you travel around in warmer climates, then AL80's (or similar tanks) are often the only ones available, especially in twinsets.

I'm not advocating people skip breath or use other similar breathing techniques, but I think a lot of tech divers do it. I myself try to breath out really slowly, so even though I don't hold my breath per se, the effect is very similar.

 

[TheRedHead]

If you travel around in warmer climates, then AL80's (or similar tanks) are often the only ones available, especially in twinsets.

I'm not advocating people skip breath or use other similar breathing techniques, but I think a lot of tech divers do it. I myself try to breath out really slowly, so even though I don't hold my breath per se, the effect is very similar.

One thing I do when traveling is find shops that rent larger steel tanks. Although double AL80s with a stage bottle is a lot of gas for me. There's all kinds of ways around the AL80 if you are creative, including slinging AL 63s some shops have for small women and children.

 

[neophyte]

Yup if it happed to them then by all means this must be true and we should all start smoking right away:shakehead

There's a difference between saying that someone's SAC increased after they quit smoking and saying that one's rate will decrease if they start smoking.

I'm aware of plenty of anecdotal evidence that supports the first but know of none that supports the second. It's certainly possible though.

Yup I agree really I think every one should start, I am sure this will improve our sac. rates:lol:

Even if taking up smoking DOES improve one's SAC rate, there are still plenty of reasons to avoid it. I have not read one single person stating otherwise.

Cutting off limbs would almost certainly decrease SAC rates. The more limbs removed, the bigger the drop in SAC.

I doubt anyone will take my stating this as advocating amputation to increase bottom times.

Discussions of smoking become so emotionally charged that silly little things like responding to what people have actually posted seems to get left by the wayside.

There are several current posts concerning this topic. I've noticed this trend in all of them.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

I got a miserable 1:30 (miserable considering what I remember doing 15 years ago). I didn't try any of the techniques though. For what it is worth I usually smoke a cigar or two a week although I think losing weight would help alot more than stopping my one or two cigars a week.

 

[TheAlphaMag]

What about cannabis smoke? Normally cannabis users smoke less then tobacco smokers (when have you heard of someone smoking 30 joints in a day? 30 cigarettes?), but again, its a different substance (and not to mention illegal in most of the free world)

 

[hvulin]

Just keep doing it. Sit there for 3 minutes first, breathing in as slow as you can, throught the smallest hole you can make with your lips. Try and make the intake and breathing out last the same amount of time. This oxygenates your body.
Then after 3 minutes, hold the long intake, close your eyes, and try to acheive a sense of complete relaxation. You will eventually get "spasms" but they pass. on land they are not dangerous because you will simply breathe when you have to.
In water once I hit my second spasm I go up. You can learn to control them after a while...

Actually 2:1 breathing is probably what you want! If you look at Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by David Coulter (ch. 2, The Physiology of Breathing, page 91) it clearly says:
"One breathing techinque that can produce a beneficent effect on the autonomic nevous system is 2:1 breathing - taking twice as long to exhale as to inhale. For thos who are in good condition, 6 second exhalations and 3 second inhalations are about right, and if you can regulate this without stress, the practice will slow your heart down and you will have a subjective expirience of relaxation. As with almost all breathing exercises in yoga, both inhalation and exhalation shoud be through the nose."

this is also called "respiratory sinus arythmia"... Since your heart slows down so does the rest of the metabolism which implicitly reduces your O2 consumption...

This takes time to practice but should help in your breath holding exercises...

 

[pilot fish]

Sitting here i can do 2:05 minutes without too much effort. I have done over 3 in water before. I guess maybe it's because I was immersed in cold water. Mind you I am not burning O2 sitting here.

I am a former smoker who gave up 3 years ago after smoking from age 12-29.

At 32 your lungs are going to be in better shape than a person 20 years older. It might also have to do with where a person lives, pollution etc?