Optimal Breathing

[Drew Sailbum]

Originally posted by AllenG
Drew had suggested that "a good scuba breathing pattern is inhale, pause, exhale - repeat ." Ebbtide then suggests that you "never hold yer breath only pause there is a difference." What's the difference? Both sound like skip breathing?

Yup, a natural pause in the breathing cycle is fine. Holding your breath is not ok.

Naturally, we all pause in our breathing cycles. We are not constantly inhaling or exhaling - there is that pause. When you pause, do not hold your breath.

So what's the difference? Your airway remains open during a pause in breathing and you make no effort to extend the time between breaths. As soon as you have the need to breath, you go through another cycle.

Now skip breathing is an often used term that I rarely see formally defined. A Rodale's Scuba Diving article by Greg Barlow defines skip breathing as "trying to deliberately breathe slower and shallower." Another article I found at viewzone.com written by Lee Frank quotes Navy SEAL's diving instructor, Lieutenant Mike White as saying, "The one breath technique I know a lot of civilian divers do is skip breathing." He continues, "They'll breathe deeply, then hold their breath to conserve air. Holding your breath is something you never ever want to do."

The common thread is that skip breathing involves an altered breathing pattern involving intentionally prolonging the time between breathing cycles.

 

[AllenG]

Drew - Thanks for trying to clarify the difference. Maybe I'm doing something wrong (they say that us mouth breathers are dumb!), but as I sit here observing my respiration, as soon as I complete the breathing in (inspiration?), my options are to either relax my chest muscles such that the air is released or I must willlfully lock my chest muscles in an extended state, however briefly, therein holding the air in. Am I just screwing up at breathing?

I would be interested in hearing from any of our more medically or scientifically oriented board participants could address the anatomical or physics-based complications associated with more controlled expiration or a pause at the end of the expiration cycle (yes, I know that there is still some air in the lungs at the end of the expiration cycle). I understand the anatomical/physics issues with holding one's breath when the lungs are filled with air and one locks the chest muscles to hold in the air, but these other scenarios puzzle me. I know from training that they are wrong, but no one has been able to offer a valid anatomical or physics-based explanation.

 

[Kaffphine]

"a good scuba breathing pattern is inhale, pause, exhale - repeat ."


I've been figuring out breathing control mostly on my own, what I do is inhale, exhale, then pause... all nice-n slow. My thinking being that a pause with less air in your lungs won't screw things up should you ascent a few feet (and right after an exhale it's unlikely anyway). Anythoughts on if I'm setting up for a major bite in the as$?

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Kaffphine
what I do is inhale, exhale, then pause
Anythoughts on if I'm setting up for a major bite in the as$?

Shouldn't be a problem unless the next breath you attempt to take yields an OOA....

 

[VTWarrenG]

"Pausing between breaths" simply means leaving your chest expanded or contracted between inhalations and exhalations. This is fine. If you ascend a bit accidentally, the air will be pushed out, and no harm will be done.

"Holding your breath" means closing the airway with the epiglottis. Think about what you do when you jump off a diving board -- you take a deep breath, and close the airway with your epiglottis. Don't do this while diving, because any ascent will cause pressure injuries in your lungs. Your lungs don't have any pain receptors, so you might not even know you've done the damage.

- Warren

 

[ScubyDoo]

This is all really great advice. Just what I was hoping for. In compiling everyones thoughts on the matter I came up with this list of items which affect breathing efficiency:

1. Comfort/Relaxation Level
2. Limit Exertion
3. Streamline movements
4. Fitness/Stamina
5. Proper Weighting
6. Buoyancy Control
7. inhale-pause-exhale

These all seem very logical to me. I will touch on how each has affected me personally thus far (which is only my 4 OW cert dives and confined water dives).

Comfort/Relaxation Level - From my very first confined water dive I have felt extremely comfortable and relaxed. Almost as if I was born to dive. I have yet to experience being nervous or scared while diving, but I understand that thus far all my dives have been supervised which provides confidence.

Limit Exertion - I think I do pretty good at limiting my exertion for a new diver. I do tend to wave my hands around a little to stabilize myself, but most of the time I keep my hands clasped either behind my back or at my waist. I try to move slowly and smoothly (fluidly) but Im sure there is a lot of room for improvement in this area.

Streamline Movements - This is somewhat an extension of limiting exertion. Both I suppose are also tied to proper wieghting and buoyancy control. Its hard to limit exertion and streamline movements when your struggling against positive or negative buoyancy. I need work there as well.

Fitness/Stamina - This is one area I hold my head high on. I run 3 miles every other day. My three mile course includes 6 very steep hills so my stamina should not be a problem.

Weighting/Buoyancy Control - I think I do a pretty good job of buoyancy control for a beginner. I can hover with no problem and can make depth adjustments while swimming by simply timing my inhale/exhale phases. I probably do burn alot of air achieving that neutral buoyancy though!! I have signed up for the "Peak Performance Buoyancy" class.

Inhale-pause-exhale - I understand the concept. As long as you keep your airway open any expansion (god forbid) would follow the path of least resistance. Im fairly certain I have already practiced this (although not intentionally.)

Some stats for your comments:

I averaged my air consumption and depth for my 4 open water dives. Id like your opinions on how bad ....or good.... I did.

Avg. Depth was 30ft
Avg. Air Consumption 44lbs/min.

At that rate and depth a full AL80 would last 68 minutes.
(57 minutes with 500 lbs left)

Good or Bad? (for a newbie)

Thanks Everyone!!!!

 

[roakey]

ScubyDoo, here's how to calculate your SAC given the information you posted:

44psi/min, 3000 psi cylinder, 30 foot average depth.

First, how many cubic feet per minute are you consuming?

44/3000 = 0.015 tanks/minute * 80 cubic feet/tank = 1.2 cubic feet per minute at depth.

How many atmospheres is 30 feet?

30 / 33 feet per atmosphere = 0.95 + 1 atmosphere for, well, the atmosphere = 1.95 atmospheres.

1.2 cubic feet/minute @ 1.9 Atmospheres / 1.95 Atmospheres = .62 cubic feet per minute at the surface.

So you have a SAC of .62 which is pretty good for someone new.

Now, here's my take on optimal breathing:

If you actively work on your breathing over the long term the ONLY thing you will learn to do is skip breathe, which is bad. Relax and let your body figure out what it wants to do without forcing anything. Your SAC may go up in the short term if you're skip breathing now, but skip breathing is a bad habit that's hard to unlearn.

Roak

 

[k4sdi]

What really helped me was I sat on the bottom of the pool and burned up a whole tank of air. After that, I tended to use much less air afterwards. I guess it was the first step in really relaxing.

 

[devjr]

In some situations, such as swimming against a current, you will save air by adopting a pair of splitfins.

Use common sense, don't try to swim with a found anchor or porthole. Use a liftbag or buoy.

You will burn less air in clear water. After you gain experience the difference will disappear.

Otherwise, relax. More diving will help that. I admire your systematic way of compiling data and analysing the situation. I learned the hard way.

Oh, BTW, don't worry about skip breathing causing headaches. I'm a freediver and SCUBA diver. I hold my breath for 3 minutes, and I also used to skipbreath when air fills were hard to obtain or afford. Have never had a headache, except if I stayed up the previous night partying. Clearly, you don't need to skipbreath but if you are made anxious by an old wive's tale it could bring one on.

 

[ninja]

In some situations, such as swimming against a current, you will save air by adopting a pair of splitfins.
(QUOTE)

I would dissagree on the split fin thing especially since i do about 150 drift dives per year!!

Here's a link explaining split fin uses

http://www.dive-rite.com/news/splitfin/index.htm

Mind you i would like to say they work well in non current and light gear situations.. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE FOUND OUT FROM EXPERIENCE

ninja