Holding your breath

[swimmer_spe]

I do not do it. I have been told you will die from doing that.

I realize that if I were to hold my breath while surfacing, I likely would have an exploded lung.

If you are decending, what is the harm? I doubt it would change me to a breath holder. Just not worth it. Still curious though.

 

[Searcaigh]

Yep you will die

I die frequently when diving until the shutter button is pressed

Seriously though I breath more frequently while descending as I equalise until I reach my operating depth, although after 20M I barely notice

 

[TSandM]

The fact is that, unless you hold your breath WHILE ASCENDING, no harm will come to you. Many of us hold our breath for periods of time, especially when taking pictures -- but you have to have sufficient situational awareness to be absolutely SURE you are not ascending while doing so. And you have to learn to hold your breath while keeping your airway open.

 

[Tortuga68]

you have to learn to hold your breath while keeping your airway open.

What does this mean?

 

[TSandM]

Fill your lungs and breathe back and forth with tiny, tiny volumes, almost like a mini-pant. You can feel your airway is open -- you can move air in and out.

Now fill your lungs, hold your breath and relax. As your shoulders come down and your muscles relax, air still can't get out of your lungs, because your airway (glottis) is closed.

Holding your breath with your airway open is only dangerous if you are so panicked you can't remember to exhale. Holding your breath with your glottis closed can kill you from four feet of water. This is why novice divers are taught a simple mantra, "Never hold your breath." If you don't have enough presence of mind to keep your glottis open AND allow expanding gas to escape if you ascend, you are in tremendous danger.

 

[Ste Wart]

As Seacraigh alluded you may have trouble equalising. Also if you are holding your breath you will cause C02 to build up in your system.

 

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

If I exhaled hard to descend, like if I were carrying the bare minimum amount of weight, and then I held the exhalation all the way down, could I theoretically collapse a lung as that small amount of air gets smaller under pressure?

 

[DevonDiver]

This stems from an instructional K.I.S.S. philosophy. No ifs, buts or maybes. Don't hold your breath. That's simple, intuitive and easy to grasp and easier to remember.

Whilst more experienced divers might debate the finer points of "glottis positioning during paused respiration", the novice diver needs not be confused.

The novice diver is, after all, the one most likely to suffer stress and confusion in the water. Developing an ingrained response to never hold your breath might save your life one day. When panicked, there can be a tendency to hold the breath. Initial guidance and instruction aims to over-ride that tendency. For that reason alone... keep it simple... develop a conditioning to never hold your breath.

IMHO, it is irresponsible to input any positive encouragement, discussion or speculation about 'open-glottis respiration pauses' into the 'Basic Scuba' forum. Such considerations are the preserve of experienced divers - those who've done a few hundred dives, dealt with a few problems...and developed sufficient instinct to eliminate any likelihood of screwing up an ascent during high stress loading.

---------- Post added May 9th, 2013 at 04:51 PM ----------

If I exhaled hard to descend, like if I were carrying the bare minimum amount of weight, and then I held the exhalation all the way down, could I theoretically collapse a lung as that small amount of air gets smaller under pressure?

Given the extreme depths that free-divers (breath-hold) attain, I doubt that'd be a problem. That said, some pretty weird physiological occurrences happen on those deep breath-hold dives. I'm not sure how initial descent with compressed air might effect that.

Luckily, there's no good reason why a SCUBA diver would ever need to do that... so from a practical perspective, it's irrelevant.

 

[hellhole]

i am very sure.. and can attest that if you hold your breath.... and do it quite frequently during your dive.. u get a super freaking hugh headach...

 

[Valery]

Caused by co2 build up