Learner Diver
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How cold is too cold before one begins to feel narcosis?
Is the severity of narcosis greater when diving cold water?
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I fear it's almost impossible to give an answer to your question. If cold water diving doesn't help with narcosis indeed, other factors must be taken into consideration :
- exertion (CO2 building implied),
- feeling cold is relative from one day to another, and some divers get colder easier than others,
- descent rate,
- breathing mixture,
- visibility...
Only to choose a few. The list can be much longer.
- exertion (CO2 building implied),
- feeling cold is relative from one day to another, and some divers get colder easier than others,
- descent rate,
- breathing mixture,
- visibility...
Only to choose a few. The list can be much longer.
Cold does not cause nitrogen narcosis, though it might conceivably exacerbate some of its symptoms, simply from discomfort. You may be confusing the term narcosis with symptoms of severe hypothermia.
Diving Doc
There's no such thing as being cold; just wearing the wrong clothes.
Generally in the bottom phase of the dive, you'll be swimming around exerting yourself to a certain degree. Also you jumped in warm and it takes time for your body to chill down.
When you ascend you tend to be rather inactive (checks that this isn't the basic diving forum...) but by definition you're then shallow where narcosis isn't an issue.
Regarding narcosis, people have different reactions to it and it affects people at different depths in different ways. Generally speaking, dives to 30m/100ft are not that affected by narcosis. Dives deeper than that get progressively more affected by narcosis. Below 40m/132ft the affects can be quite noticeable by most people, but that's the limit of NDL diving and in the realm of technical diving.
Below 50m on "air" most people would be off their face with narcosis (4 or 5 pints pissed), which is why helium is used in the breathing gas mixture to mitigate this; at 50m/165ft you'd be aiming for 35% or more helium in the mix; at 70m/230ft you'd want at least 50%.
Generally in the bottom phase of the dive, you'll be swimming around exerting yourself to a certain degree. Also you jumped in warm and it takes time for your body to chill down.
When you ascend you tend to be rather inactive (checks that this isn't the basic diving forum...) but by definition you're then shallow where narcosis isn't an issue.
Regarding narcosis, people have different reactions to it and it affects people at different depths in different ways. Generally speaking, dives to 30m/100ft are not that affected by narcosis. Dives deeper than that get progressively more affected by narcosis. Below 40m/132ft the affects can be quite noticeable by most people, but that's the limit of NDL diving and in the realm of technical diving.
Below 50m on "air" most people would be off their face with narcosis (4 or 5 pints pissed), which is why helium is used in the breathing gas mixture to mitigate this; at 50m/165ft you'd be aiming for 35% or more helium in the mix; at 70m/230ft you'd want at least 50%.
I dive both warm and cold waters, to maximum recommended recreational depths [130 ft/40 mtr]. Personally nitrogen narcosis on compressed air has not been an issue for me in either environment.
Physiologically, I believe depth is the catalyst for getting narced, although other conditions such as visibility, sensation of being cold, anxiety, etc. may contribute to the severity an individual may feel while under the influence of nitrogen.
Physiologically, I believe depth is the catalyst for getting narced, although other conditions such as visibility, sensation of being cold, anxiety, etc. may contribute to the severity an individual may feel while under the influence of nitrogen.
Nope
The only time I ever noticed narcosis was at 180 feet and 86° water but I did stay a while, 180 in cold water, nothing although it was 40+ years earlier.
I am one who has never noticed narcosis, but that does not mean it did not exist. In the cases in which my narcosis was made evident, it was because I was being even more stupid than normal. "I must be narced," I thought, but I felt perfectly fine. Almost of my cave training at depths about 100 feet. I attribute all of my troubles in those classes to narcosis. Again, I didn't feel a thing--I just had trouble remembering the plan the instructor had clearly laid out at the start of the dive, and I just didn't feel I was as sharp as I should be.
Here is a story to show what Iow as talking about above.
My buddy and I were following a guide inside a wreck at Truk Lagoon at about 100 feet. The guide went through a hole in the bulkhead, and I noticed a short length of pipe hanging down from the upper right corner. I very alertly saw that it would be very easy to snag my regulator hose on that pipe (I was wearing conventional gear back then). My buddy went through, and, sure enough, he snagged his regulator hose on that pipe. I watched him pull it down and continue on his way. I went through, and as I did, I felt the pull of a snagged regulator hose. Which hose is it, I wondered? If I find it, should I pull it up or down? My confusion was heightened by the sound of our guide laughing through his regulator. "These are really easy questions," I told myself. "I should know the answers. I must be narced." I figured it out, pulled the regulator hose down, and went on out.
Again, I felt perfectly fine. In fact, if my regulator hose had not snagged, I would have told myself that I was absolutely NOT narced, since I had so alertly spotted the pipe and prepared to avoid it.
My buddy and I were following a guide inside a wreck at Truk Lagoon at about 100 feet. The guide went through a hole in the bulkhead, and I noticed a short length of pipe hanging down from the upper right corner. I very alertly saw that it would be very easy to snag my regulator hose on that pipe (I was wearing conventional gear back then). My buddy went through, and, sure enough, he snagged his regulator hose on that pipe. I watched him pull it down and continue on his way. I went through, and as I did, I felt the pull of a snagged regulator hose. Which hose is it, I wondered? If I find it, should I pull it up or down? My confusion was heightened by the sound of our guide laughing through his regulator. "These are really easy questions," I told myself. "I should know the answers. I must be narced." I figured it out, pulled the regulator hose down, and went on out.
Again, I felt perfectly fine. In fact, if my regulator hose had not snagged, I would have told myself that I was absolutely NOT narced, since I had so alertly spotted the pipe and prepared to avoid it.
Maybe my advantage is always being stupid
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