New Article on Fear and Diving

[klausi]

I'd really like to see the study protocol for doing fMRI on novice vs experienced SCUBA divers during the course of a dive.

fMRI machines won't work underwater, and are hard to even move into a very large decompression chamber. But an interesting thought for sure.

 

[LI-er]

I am not prone to anxiety at all, but coffee makes me alert/happy, not anxious.

You don't understand. It's the buildup of anxiety in the body over time, in high enough concentrations that is associated with anxiety. And coffee is one of the sources. It's not like drinking a cup of coffee will make you anxious for a short period of time after consuming it.

 

[klausi]

You don't understand. It's the buildup of anxiety in the body over time, in high enough concentrations that is associated with anxiety. And coffee is one of the sources. It's not like drinking a cup of coffee will make you anxious for a short period of time after consuming it.

I drink about 3 cups of coffee a day, and have been doing so since I was 18 or so. I'm not the least anxious in my life. Different people, different drug effects.

 

[LI-er]

I drink about 3 cups of coffee a day, and have been doing so since I was 18 or so. I'm not the least anxious in my life. Different people, different drug effects.

Sure tons of people drink lots of coffee without experiencing anxiety. That much being said the connection between caffeine intake and anxiety has been proven. I was simply pointing out the connection you made to an individual possibly feeling anxious after drinking coffee I was not applying it to you directly.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

What happens in your brain when you are afraid during a scuba dive? Which brain regions are representing the very useful emotion "fear"? Fear can serve both to keep a person from doing something unduly dangerous, or it can decrease enjoyment of an activity which is actually safe, or it can escalate into panic, causing danger by itself.

How does nitrogen narcosis affect the processing of fear? There are some studies out which looked at this question. The effects are subtle. In divers who are anxious to begin with, fear interferes most with cognitive processing, for example.

For a more in-depth discussion heck out my new article for DAN on the topic please!

I get a virus warning from my organization when I click on this link.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[klausi]

I get a virus warning from my organization when I click on this link.

Best regards,
DDM

Oh no, I will pass the warning on to DAN. This is DAN Europe's site, not my personal blog or the like.

 

[Still Kicking]

I get a virus warning from my organization when I click on this link.

Best regards,
DDM

Virus warnings give me anxiety.

 

[klausi]

Virus warnings give me anxiety.

hehe noooooooooooooooo

 

[Cthippo]

I had a couple of weird anxiety hits on my last dive. I think part of it was only being the second dive of the year and part was the really crappy vis and so the ever present danger of finding a piling with my face.

At one point I coughed a couple of times from dry mouth and that caused an anxiety blip, and then at the end I swam under the floating dock and had a "What if I can't reach the surface" moment, until I reminded myself the dock is like 8 feet wide and there is nothing like an obstruction down there.

Just weird little experiences.

 

[happy-diver]

Hoa ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha middle of the day, I was doing a dock dive from the dock, negative entry
underwater nav following all the geography heading back getting shallow and the sun disappeared
they had parked a barge at my entry exit point ha ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha aha hahahahaa

Just weird little experiences.

I think klausi you forge ahead without looking much around corners