Equalizing-holding breath

[mudchick]

I apologize if this question is stupid or absurd but something I read on another thread made me think about it.:shakehead :shakehead

The first rule of diving is never hold your breath/close your airway. How can you not hold your breath while tryng to clear your ears?

 

[jgmaroe]

The rule for diving is not to hold your breath while ascending, in which you never have to equalize while doing.

Most people never do because why practice terrible habits?

 

[spacemanspiff1974]

If you really don't want to hold your breath for the second it takes to equalize (which is not an issue when ascending anyway) you could always flex your muscles that you use when you yawn. Forget the exact muscles, but think about when you yawn with your mouth closed to keep from being rude.

 

[jgmaroe]

If you really don't want to hold your breath for the second it takes to equalize (which is not an issue when ascending anyway) you could always flex your muscles that you use when you yawn. Forget the exact muscles, but think about when you yawn with your mouth closed to keep from being rude.

It doesn't matter if you hold your breath while descending... It would poze no hazard whatsoever in the time it takes to equalize. The rule really only applies to ascending, whereas you do not equalize.

I don't know if I read the post improperly, but it didn't quite click?

 

[Jason Ooi]

Hold your breath equalizing while descending No problem, rules of diving is not to hold your breath while ascending.....

 

[miketsp]

Equalisation takes less than 1 second and is normally required only while descending, so it's a non-issue.

 

[miketsp]

Hold your breath equalizing while descending No problem, rules of diving is not to hold your breath while ascending.....

I thought the rule of diving as stated in most text/course books is "breathe continuously and never hold your breath", although I fully agree that the real danger comes while ascending.

 

[ClayJar]

Obviously, you don't want to be holding your breath or skip breathing or doing other things that will increase your CO2 loading, but you won't build up noticeable CO2 in the moment it takes to equalize. If, on the other hand, it's taking quite a while to equalize for some reason, don't sit there trying to equalize for a whole minute without getting some lovely fresh air, or you *will* start building up CO2.

As far as barotrauma goes, however, it is as has been said. Basically, not gonna happen on descent, unless you exhaled completely before holding your breath while trying to equalize as you plummet toward the bottom... but at that point, you have quite a few other problems manifesting, and your buddy has probably grabbed you by the straps and is looking rather unlike his normal calm self as he very deliberately thumbs the dive for you.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Hold your breath equalizing in a second....
please give me advice how you equalizing..thanks

I thought the rule of diving as stated in most text/course books is "breathe continuously and never hold your breath", although I fully agree that the real danger comes while ascending.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

One thing to keep in mind is that a diver per se may not be either ascending or descending, but may still be shifting vertically in the water column.

If you are holding a deco stop at 20' or 10' in a situation where strong currents and seas of 3' to 5' are running, while you are trying to hold your stop by hanging on a hang bar or line, you're technically neither ascending or descending - but your depth is varying in accordance with the movement of the dive boat and the seas. This effect is exacerbated if you are breathing O2, as your PPO2 may vary, but also offers the potential for grave risk if you hold your breath - even momentarily. If you are holding your breath for whatever reason and simultaneously being yanked upwards by the movement of the boat in the waves, it could force gas into the arterial side of your cardiovascular system and could potentially result in an arterial gas embolism (AGE). This precise scenario is suspected in the recent death of a diver...it is not a purely hypothetical probability.

Therefore, the proper approach is - as Miketsp and his textbook stated - "breathe continuously and never hold your breath".

Most divers hold their breath momentarily when they perform a valsalva to clear their ears, and as Miketsp stated is generally for less than a second...but recognize that it is NOT a non-issue, and that divers have potentially died from holding their breath, even for very short periods, while diving. It isn't holding their breath that kills them...its the bubble that can occur as a result on the wrong side of their cardiovascular system and then expand in their brain as they ascend that kills them. It is not a non-issue at all. He was 35 years old and a good guy, and we buried him two weeks ago.

Your question isn't stupid or absurd. Any diver can die on any dive at any time. Don't take this stuff lightly.

Regards,

Doc