Is my breathing pattern proper?

[Nitrox_DiverNY]

As someone asked earlier in the thread, you know how to do the weight check with 500 psi in your tank, don't you?

From what I recall you could you could go in a pool with 500psi, and with the correct weight become neutrally buoyant at eye level while breathing in, and start to just sink when exhaling. Is that the correct way ?

 

[GreggS]

That's pretty much it. Good luck.

 

[Nitrox_DiverNY]

That is how I was trained during my first diving course, back in 1975.
At the time the Scuba system used for training was the ARO, a pendular CC pure oxygen rebreather.
The inspiratory pause was a bit longer than the expiratory one, up to 5 s.
When the diver was not anymore able to keep a 5s long pause, it was meaning that there was too much CO2, so it was recommended to slow down until breathing was again under control.
After 6 months of training, we got a perfect control over breathing, ensuring a pleasant and safe diving experience also when switching from the ARO to compressed-air OC systems
So do not worry, your breathing is just fine!
Those short pauses do not cause CO2 retention, they instead are useful for preventing it.

Very cool that you used a rebreather for training, it is interesting that the pauses could prevent co2 build up. Thanks for the help!

 

[Nitrox_DiverNY]

I might also add the quality of the breath is also important, not only the timing as discussed. Hyperventilation sensations could actually be a clue that you're retaining CO2 - perhaps not enough to cause headaches, but still enough to cause anxiety.

Being able to pull air deep and low into your lungs where the majority of the alveoli are using diaphragmatic breathing could help with better O2 and CO2 exchange compared to typical chest breathing. To do this, I focus on pushing out my stomach when I breathe in - whether I'm diving, sitting, or lying in bed.

I don't fixate on the breathing rate so much as breathing quality - I just breathe when I feel like I should; breathing rate will naturally slow if I'm relaxed and not exerting. Each breath doesn't have to be a big (quantity) one either as that can affect buoyancy, but enough to be satisfying. I fully believe that if you try to deny or cheat your body of something, it'll fight against you.

The good thing I find is that a smaller quantity inhaled more frequently doesn't really affect buoyancy as much as larger quantity inhaled less frequently as the swings in buoyancy are less. Overall air consumption is the same.

This is the "breathe fully but normally" suggestion by most here - just wanted to sound out what I do and in particular what "breath fully" means to me. I improved how often I get headaches by doing this compared to the longer breaths I used to do.

hey thanks for the reply, that was quite helpful. I agree the quality of the breath is important and your body with definitely fight against you. You made some great points! Safe diving!