[Ol Dirty Diver]

To any of the knowledgable apneists, here are some questions of mine that arose recently:

• I notice that when perform deep breathing, my heart rate surges up (from ~50 -> ~70), obviously due to the muscular activity involved in deep breathing. When I did my first statics I did very deep breathing throughout my preparation phase, like I do when I freedive, but now I realize that this may cause my heart rate to rise unnecessarily as I begin a static. If I can reach maximum oxygen saturation by normal breathing (thus keeping my heart rate ~50bpm), shouldn't this help my static? Or does the deep breathing confer benefits (increased oxygen saturation?) that make the spike in heart rate before a static due to deep breathing worthwhile?
• Is it even worthwhile to perform deep breathing throughout an apnea preparation phase? (my reasoning for which was to purge the dead air from my lower lungs as much as possible) Or is it sufficient to breathe normally for a few minutes to get my heartrate as low as possible, then perform a few deep breaths (say, 3?) right before the apnea. Would this maximize my oxygen saturation as much as several minutes of deep breathing?
• I remember a thread I read about many users' experiences with oximeters. Many individuals pointed out their observations of their reducing oxygen saturation during a breath-hold, but did anyone make observations of how long in the recovery phase after a breath-hold their oxygen saturation returned back to normal? I have heard that the body returns to normal saturation level quickly, while I have also heard that it takes "approximately 5 minutes". It seems to me that it would be favorable to take the soonest possible opportunity in the recovery phase to enter the next breath-hold in a succession of breath-holds to reach a max static, in order to take advantage of the exaggerated dip in heart rate that happens within minutes after a long breath-hold (e.g., I've observed my heart rate to dip to 41bpm after a long breath-hold, despite that my resting HR is ~48bpm). Just wondering if someone has a more accurate estimate of the minimum recovery time to reach normal saturation level? (I realize that a longer recovery time would be necessary after a longer breath-hold, but I have a hunch that the range in duration of it is surprisingly minimal).

Thanks.