How to overcome fear of lower depths?

[petu]

hi there

I am new to diving and still completing my certification.

My pool training was about 3 hrs, going from 6:30pm to almost 10pm at night. I found as the night went on, around 8:45pm or so I couldn't concentrate as well. I was tired and the newness of the experience took a toll. I didn't pass.

I need to go back and try to pass. I found that I had a few issues.

1. My lungs are just not very strong. I do almost entirely mobility and strength exercise work. My aerobic/endurance is not so good. I want to work this up.
2. I felt really comfortable taking off the mask/BCD in the shallow end of the pool. We then went to the deep end. I really felt overwhelmed with fear by the experience.

Does anyone have any tips or resources for tackling either of these issues? I think there are both physical and psychological boundaries to me passing my cert for now.

Thanks.

 

[Marie13]

Just do it. I was scared of the deep end of the pool (long story going back to childhood). Turns out I was fine on the bottom, but being on the surface was the issue.

Familiarity is key in my case. The more I experience something, the more comfortable I am.

I was a sloth when I started diving. Ended up doing pool laps and got up to 1 mile per session. So start working out!

 

[Diver0001]

hi there

I am new to diving and still completing my certification.

My pool training was about 3 hrs, going from 6:30pm to almost 10pm at night. I found as the night went on, around 8:45pm or so I couldn't concentrate as well. I was tired and the newness of the experience took a toll. I didn't pass.

I need to go back and try to pass. I found that I had a few issues.

1. My lungs are just not very strong. I do almost entirely mobility and strength exercise work. My aerobic/endurance is not so good. I want to work this up.
2. I felt really comfortable taking off the mask/BCD in the shallow end of the pool. We then went to the deep end. I really felt overwhelmed with fear by the experience.

Does anyone have any tips or resources for tackling either of these issues? I think there are both physical and psychological boundaries to me passing my cert for now.

Thanks.

3.5 hour pool sessions is LONG. It's no wonder you felt vague and overwhelmed by the end of that. Hell... *I* would feel vague and overwhelmed as an instructor in that setting.

In the big picture it sounds to me like you are probably doing just fine but you're going too fast.... or at least faster than you can handle. The best remedy for that is to slow down.

Have you discussed this with your instructor?

R..

 

[hroark2112]

Baby steps. Work on it until you're comfortable. Don't rush it, just get comfortable and don't let anyone rush you.

And have fun!!

 

[TMHeimer]

It's hard to give advice having not seen you.
Being overwhelmed by the pool's deep end is a tough one. My guess would be do some snorkeling and gradually swim down to like maybe 8-10' somewhere. I kind of know what you mean by fear of depth.
After getting certified, I had no problem at all with depth--even to the 130 foot limit. Yet, when I go for a swim from shore I still occasionally get the heebee jeebees when depth approaches my chest to over my head. Put on fins and mask to snorkel and that goes away. Fins give you a LOT more control over where you want to go and how fast. When I dive from shore I view the 3-4 foot shallows as just a pain in the neck to get by in order to get deeper--I'm looking at the bottom most of the time anyway. Then I look up from like 30' and say "hey, that's cool". All psychological I guess.
Maybe the mask skills are the source of your deep end fears. That's hard to figure out. When I took OW it was 2 weeks after lasic eye surgery, so I was told not to open my eyes in the pool. Hate the chlorine anyway. Maybe doing mask skills in the deep end with eyes closed would be of help. Though that probably is not a great way to just get the skills checked off but not the fear removed.
Are you at all claustrophobic? My wife is unable to dive due to fear of being constricted in a wetsuit. Yet, she has no fear of swimming down to the bottom of a pool. There are different kinds of claustrophobia, though I'm certainly no expert. Maybe you are claustrophobic about a lot of water above you.

Don't know what you mean by your lungs aren't very strong. Breathing on scuba is for all intents and purposes exactly the same as on land, except through the mouth (exactly the same if you're a mouth breather).

 

[hhmoore]

For me, the chief struggle in the pool was overcoming buoyancy. I couldn't kneel on the bottom... my legs seemed to have a mind of there own; and, even loaded with 32 lbs of weight, if I took a deep breath I would start going up.
Being underwater, breathing, is an odd feeling when you start doing it. And if the sensations make you anxious (or if you have pre-existing anxiety about deep water) it can be tough to relax. I hadn't been in deep water in years, and the pressure I sensed in my chest & throat when I got to neck deep water made me uncomfortable. Not anxious, a physical discomfort. As mentioned by somebody above, once I'm below the surface, it ceased to be an issue. (Even now, I get that same sensation at that depth...whether I'm in a pool or lake)
The most difficult exercise for me was taking my mask off. My sinuses are a mess; and when I breathe through the reg, a small amount of water is drawn up into my sinuses (then goes down the back of my throat - cough cough choke).
Are you just uncomfortable being underwater? Or is it depth related? If the latter, at what depth do you start having issues. I've been honoring the limits of my certification; but am looking forward to my upcoming deep diver course. I have no idea if I'll like being at 80, 100, or 120 ft - mainly due to the aforementioned sinuses and the unknown - but I can't wait to find out.

 

[SNS-Mike]

Three hours is a long time. I'd try to split that in two.

As for the mask exercise, yeah, in the beginning, that is a little freaky! I found it helped a great deal to really focus on my breathing. Keep it nice and slow and deliberate. That focus helped keep my mind off the fact and worry that I couldn't see.

 

[halocline]

A good way to desensitize yourself to taking the mask off is to get in the pool without a mask, instead of taking it off while underwater. Gradually spend more time under the water without the mask on and you'll get used it. We used to finish this little exercise by having students toss their mask into the deep end, gear up, jump in, go and retrieve their mask, putting it on and clearing at the bottom of the pool.

As far as your fear of depth and aerobic concerns, can you swim to the bottom of the deep end without any scuba gear? That might be a good goal if you can't do it now. Generally feeling more comfortable in the water without scuba gear might go a long way to increasing your confidence with the gear on.

I agree that 3 hours is a very long pool session and fatigue is certainly appropriate with that exertion. And a big effect of fatigue is loss in concentration ability, so I think your response is perfectly normal.

 

[dlofting]

Am I reading it wrong, or did your training consist of just one, 3.5 hour, pool session?

 

[covediver]

I swim to stay in condition mixing in drills with fin swimming. lots of fun. If you go that route, check to see if there is an adult swim group in your area. masters swim teams offer great training, encouragement, and camaraderie. Keep in mind, "masters" means "over 18" not "I am a world class swimmer".