"Scuba Diving Killing Older Divers"

[drdaddy]

Again - Originally Posted by Scott L View Post
"Scuba diving is not a physically conditioning activity when performed correctly."

So this 59 year old and his 60 year old buddy got to Newport Oregon/Yaquina Bay South Jetty this last Friday. We saw the surfers on the North which meant surge on the South. We waited until a big surge (whole ocean/not a wave) came up and we jump in and are pulled through the "chute" as the level drops 10 feet. Do not do this if you don't know your area or you will be smashed up against rocks. Exit is the same, and sometimes you get washed back and forth trying to exit. It really is fun, but definitely it is a "physically conditioning activity when performed correctly". Swimming against and with and then against and then with the surge which is sweeping the 30 bottom at the end of the jetty is also a "physically conditioning activity when performed correctly". And during all this I speared a nice lingcod (ate him yesterday and he'll be a sandwich later this week).

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but we really do look forward to a workout when we dive. And it's not all the "macho thing" as we are not doing dangerous stuff, just stuff that is physically challenging and fun in an area we know well.

I hope to die in my sleep, certainly not while diving, but I hope I will be having pleasant dreams about the diving I continued up until the end.

My knee and hips hurt this morning! Any of you know what I am talking about? Oh well, better take another ibuprofen.

- I do want to add that there will be a day when we will have to climb out of our wheel chairs and be lowered into the water by the divemasters. But at that time it won't be to be thrown into the chute during a jetty ocean surge. It will be at some tropical beach with the little waves lapping at our wheels/fins. Obviously we do not want to be diving beyond our physical ability. And remember this when on a diveboat and some old grandpa or grandma needs a little assistance with their tanks. It just may be that they have thousands of dives and when in the water they will out preform most of the young punks. Someday, if you are fortunate enough - you'll get there as well.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Old age is killing old people, the lucky ones just happen to die while scuba diving

I'd much rather die while diving than sitting in front of a TV.

 

[DMDavid]

Older divers might be dying off but this thread continues to live. 😄

 

[DeepSeaDan]

Long Live this Thread!!

And all those still breathing to read it!

DSD

 

[gypsyjim]

Bet a lot more of us older folks die on golf courses than diving.
Golf must be killing too many elderly. Lets outlaw it, for safety.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Bet a lot more of us older folks die on golf courses than diving.
Golf must be killing too many elderly. Lets outlaw it, for safety.

I assure you golf is much more stressful than scuba. If I dove as badly as I play golf I would be dead already.

It's auto-correct via Tapatalk 2, figure it out.

 

[TSandM]

The fact is that there is a lot of silent heart disease out there, and not all the medical attention in the world will find all of it. It is certainly well known that sudden increases in cardiac workload can precipitate heart attacks in those who are predisposed -- everybody knows about the snow shoveling MI. Scuba, with the thermal challenges, the possibility of the need to swim harder than one expected, or to manage a suddenly more challenging exit than one planned, can certainly fall into the category of sudden increases in cardiac workload. So can skiing, bicycling, running, or mowing your lawn with a hand mower.

Getting regular physicals is not a bad idea -- manageable risk factors like hypertension and diabetes can be picked up by such exams. But we have a lot of heart disease in the population that isn't actually related to any risk factor but age. As you get older, you take more risk doing things involving heavy exertion than someone twenty years younger and in similar health is taking. Does that mean it's a good idea to sit on the couch and do nothing? Obviously not.

 

[gypsyjim]

No matter what we do, how well we eat, or how well we try to keep ourselves in shape, that fact is that we will all grow old (hopefully we get that chance) and eventually we will all die.

As I see it, just do our best to live well, take care of ourselves, and live our lives doing the things that make us feel complete, without continually looking over our shoulders, to see if our death is gaining on us.

 

[divin'dog]

...So this old man goes into a doctor's office for an appointment.

Doctor says "What's wrong?"

Old man says "Doctor, what's going on with me?
All my joints hurt. I have cataracts. I can't hear very well out of either ear.
My muscles ache all the time. I can't control my bladder or bowels.
I need a walker to get around and my back hurts every day..."

Doctor says "Well, do you remember when you were young and you ate all that healthy organic food...?"

"Yep..."

"And you didn't smoke any cigarettes or drink any alcohol and got plenty of sleep...?"

"Yep..."

"And you were religiously exercising 5 days a week so that you could live years beyond your life expectancy?"

"Yep..."

"Well, these are them!"

...ba-da-boom!

 

[dmoore19]

At my age each morning can be an adventure. Ibuprophen is my friend. With fused vertebrae and a number of other injuries I still make my way to the airport and travel to warm tropical places with the intent of diving my a$$ off. In my younger days I may have gone for 5 a day and wishing that that damned nitrogen would just clear out so I could get another one or 2.

It made me wonder on my last vacation how long I could do this. Well, I can tell you one of the people on the boat was a 70+ YO woman whose husband had pass just a month before. Her husband had made her promise that she would make the trip with or without him. She did. The first dive I sat beside her on the boat on the way out. I helped her up off the seat then and continued to do so for the rest of the week. I was glad to do it. I only hope in another 10 or 15 years someone will help me up off my seat and to the back of the boat. I'll take it from there thanks!