I breathe too much

[Imla]

Keep in mind that the goal is to breathe naturally. Intentionally lowering breathing rate (ie using 10 seconds for each breathcycle) has the conscequence that you need larger volumes to ventilate the proper amount of CO2.
A normal breath for an adult person should be between 400 and 500mL and a frequency of 12-15.
So, normal breaths, with a timing of in, pause, out 12/min would give a cycle of a breath in every five seconds.
The challenge in diving is not so much oxygenation as it is getting rid of CO2, so a quick inhale and a prolonged exhale is preferred.

Also keep in mind that fresh divers often swim (too much) too fast. Quick movements. Lots of swimming. This produces lots of CO2, that needs to be vented. Slow down. Smell the roses. Check out the nudies. Find a 1m square and count all the stuff you see.


TLDR: Breathe what you need to! Don't worry so much about divetimes. Everybody has been there. And most people get a lower air consumption when they stop thinking so much about airconsumption

 

[tjjohnson36]

Believe it or not, thinking about gas consumption increases gas consumption, so stop thinking about it.

Here's a tip from a guy (+260#) who used to burn through 100cf tanks in 20 minutes in <50' of water:

Relax.

Stop counting.

You're going to be a gas hog for a while. Learn to laugh about it. I drew a picture of a pig on my fins.

these are the truest statements on the internet.
stop thinking about it.
sing a song in your head instead.
focus on one thing at a time.
with improved buoyancy and trim, air consumption automatically improves.
same with experience (more dives)
You know how you eat an elephant? (in other words, fix big problems) one bite at a time.
enjoy blowing bubbles!!

 

[divingdayz]

To the OP: why did you get into scuba diving?

Did you want your air consumption to be the envy of other divers right out the gates?
Did you want to collect all the certifications as fast as possible like a game of Pokemon?

Or maybe -- hopefully -- you did it to have FUN.

Here's a tip from a guy (+260#) who used to burn through 100cf tanks in 20 minutes in <50' of water:

Relax.

Stop counting.

You're going to be a gas hog for a while. Learn to laugh about it. I drew a picture of a pig on my fins.

Tell any new dive-buddies that you're new and that your gas consumption is high. Let them decide for themselves if they want to be your buddy.

If you get flak or irritation from buddies about your gas consumption, stop diving with them. Immediately. Anxiety increases air consumption. Don't dive with jerks.

Stay shallow for a while and learn to appreciate what's in the shallows. A lot of coolest stuff I've ever seen was in <25'.

Stop moving. If you're finning/moving your hands to stay at depth, you're overweighted.

Dive often. For me, there was no better way to improve other than dive more. With more dives, my technique improved, I started to need less lead, I streamlined, I listened, I asked questions. I still dive with a 100 on my back, but now I can make it last almost 2h.

If you're in the LA area, there are some great instructors and groups who can also help.

And remember, please remember, HAVE FUN.

This is good advice. Dive more, enjoy it, have more training, forget about breathing, get correctly weighted. It will come good with time.

 

[Ted Judah]

Good advice in many of these replies. Personally, I just accept that I breath more than my wife and I use a larger tank. - She uses an 85 and I use a 100 and we end up using all our non-reserve air at about the same time.

 

[llamadiver]

IMO, you are thinking too much about it. Keep diving, your air consumption will improve over time. Best of luck!

 

[joebob24]

Some of us just seem to use more air. When I had around 25 dives everybody told me that my air consumption would decrease as I dove more. I am getting close to 100 dives now with no change in SAC rate, so I am still waiting.

I agree with the comments about not worrying about it though. I just went out and got a set of LP108 doubles and cave fill for the dives where I need lots of air.

 

[fred32176]

I am 220 lbs and solved my gas consumption by using 100 cf tanks. My dive buddy is about 150 lbs and does fine with 80 cf tanks. Use a bigger tank if you consume more air and are going on a longer dive.

 

[KenE]

Lets start before the dive, anxiety or overthinking is the largest consumption of air in my opinion. I am +250# and consume gas like an elephant (thanks @Boarderguy). I burn through a HP117 when my buddies use an AL80. I worried about it at first and then a buddy told me that if I worry about gas consumption than I can stay on shore and save the gas. In other words, I was missing the best part of the dive, seeing the good stuff. So, I gave up on tracking SAC. I now do three things every time I dive. First, I show up early, rushing to get ready increases anxiety. Got that stopped, I am ready before anyone else and can start to relax. Second, I rest at the end of a surface swim before descent. Catch my breath and remember why I am there. Third and most importantly, after descent and before moving anywhere, stop and get buoyancy correct, adjust weight belt (more or less to look busy), but more importantly, relax, start to enjoy the dive. Then and only then do we start the dive. I have found that my SAC rate decreased 30% with this routine. It has gotten better over time just because of comfort with my gear and my confidence. My buddy and I are out of gas at the same time now, don't know if I will ever match his SAC, but it doesn't really matter. So, stop worrying about your breathing. Enjoy the diving, better SAC comes with time and experience, so go get the experience. Dive more, and enjoy diving!

 

[Barryattle]

I agree with all that. My SAC sucked/blew when I started. It gradually improved but remained bad. Other than just getting more experience/comfort, the most important thing that helped me was finally finding a mask that did not leak on my face; I was having to clear every minute or two, which wasted lots of air, even though I tried to use my normal exhalations for it. So if you have mask leak, get it fixed (I have ~5 I'd be happy to sell you . But I still dive HP119's to pretty much stay even with buddies using HP100's.

 

[34109411]

New-ish diver here- 21 dives so far with my AOW cert (the last 15 dives were in Bora Bora and Rangiroa)

I’m trying to improve my breathing underwater - I can breathe out slowly 6-8 seconds but when I breathe in, it feels like I’m breathing all my possible air too fast in like 2 seconds, instead of 4+.

This means I often end up out of air faster than my buddies.

- Is there a tongue technique I can practice against the regulator?
- is there something I can practice in my pool with a snorkel?
- is there a video I can watch/ listen to of someone breathing “correctly” underwater that I can try to copy?

Maybe just more cardio would help…

your pretty new in the sport it take sometimes. so be patient !