Take the Nitrox Anti-Fatigue Challenge and post your results here

[idocsteve]

Lots of discussion on this board and elsewhere about the supposed "Anti-Fatigue" effect provided by the more common Nitrox mixes, even though it's generally agreed by the Scuba Diving population that there is absolutely no credible evidence to support the theory that diving Nitrox noticeably decreases post dive fatigue among divers as compared to diving air.

So take the Nitrox challenge at some point and post your results here.

As with any other study, it must be "controlled and double blind". For those of you who are not familiar with these terms, I will elaborate, for those "in the know", feel free to skip the next paragraph.

In any true scientific experiement, the "control" is the known item and the "variable" is the item being tested. In this case the "control" is air, and the variable is Nitrox. It is important that the test be "double blind" which means that neither the test taker or the examiner knows which is the "control" and which is the "variable". This is important to eliminate possible cues even if totally unintended and subconscious. The "placebo" effect is well known and documented, and this must be eliminated or else the test results are not valid.

So divers, when you are in suitable conditions, do the following.

Have the dive shop fill one of two identically appearing tanks with a common Nitrox blend appropriate for the depth of your planned dive, and the second cylinder with air, and have your trusted buddy verify the blends without you being present.

Then have your buddy cover the blend stickers with two different colors of tape (for example red and blue), to obscure the markings and then subsequently have a third diver, who has no knowledge of the contents of either tank, mark those tanks in some way so he knows which one had the red and which had the blue, and then remove those tapes and cover the blend marks with some other tape.

Then go diving, and report on how you feel following those two dives, and once you have WRITTEN DOWN your subjective results, have the contents of those two tanks revealed and post the subjective results along with the blend. Do not under any conditions make any modifications to your subjective analysis once you have been told which dive was done with Nitrox.

Unfortunately it's not going to be possible to eliminate "other variables" that may exist during the dives, but over time there will be an "evening out" of the results and we can see if there is a clear pattern.

Happy diving!

ETA- There's really no point in divers (such as myself) who do not believe there is any antifatigue advantage to Nitrox in taking this challenge, for reasons that should be obvious.

 

[vjanelle]

So you're not going to plan your MOD, maximum bottom times, or test the tanks yourself?

This sounds like a recipe for disaster.

 

[idocsteve]

So you're not going to plan your MOD, maximum bottom times, or test the tanks yourself?

This sounds like a recipe for disaster.

You can plan your dives and MOD and max bottom times using the most limiting factors (depth and NDLs) for whichever mix is most restrictive for that factor, but you cannot know the blends until after you have completed both dives and submitted your subjective analysis or the test is meaningless.

ETA

I guess if you don't trust someone else to verify the blend (which is understandable), then you could test both tanks yourself but at the dive site you would have to be given one of those two tanks by a 3rd party who would not know which tank contained which blend and you would have to make certain that you didn't have some way of figuring it out either.

 

[fnfalman]

So you're not going to plan your MOD, maximum bottom times, or test the tanks yourself?

This sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Keep the dives fairly shallow. Plan for mixes that won't kill you at say, 60-ft depth, and tell the divers not to exceed said depth.

Also, I've noticed that on a multi-dives day, one tank of Nitrox doesn't quite do it for me as far as reducing fatigue and such. Usually I'd bring the first tank as nitrox and the rest the boat fills with air just so that I can reduce some nitrogen loading, but I felt about the same as diving on air for all tanks. On the days with the Nitrox capable boats where I used it all day long, that's when I felt refreshed. It may be a placebo effect, I don't know.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Sorry - this is bad scoop.

It doesn't matter what you believe or not. Its immaterial. Dive whatever you want.

But don't ever do a dive when you have no idea what you're breathing.

Every diver should know precisely what is in her tank or his tank, and should have personally checked their gas with an instrument before the dive and confirmed that the tank is properly marked.

NEVER trust someone else to tell you what gas is in your tank. Check it yourself before making the dive.

Scientific experiments made under rigorously controlled laboratory conditions are one thing, but screwing around on recreational dives breathing gasses you haven't checked yourself is red-neckery of the highest order, and is plain dangerous.

Thread closed.

Doc