Why am I so Sleepy after diving?

[TMcKee]

I've heard of the blood shunt and all, but after my Thursday diving, where I do negatives and the like (by the way, My training buddy, Marcel, did a 55second negative at 12ft yesterday...wow) I am so sleepy a little later. I used to get this after diving during work, but I haven't had it happen until I started doing longer negatives @ 12 ft. I was sooooo sleepy an hour after I got home. What can anyone tell me about this?

Tim

[DeepThought]

It happens to me also sometimes, after diving and freediving, or even after training statics, but only if I don't get to a point when I fight the urge to breath (high BP & pulse). If I do a "hard" workout, It does'nt.
Sometimes it's drowsiness, and sometiems it's just a good Buzz...
I just took it naturaly. Interesting quesiton.

[paha]

what do you mean "do negatives" ?

whats that ?


antt arrak
from estonia where are't freedivers

[Shadowkiller]

Negatives are where you exhale before diving rather than taking a deep breath before doing the dive.

Its called negative because you are negatively boyant ie no (or little) air in the lungs. Or have I completely missed the mark?

The drowsiness is most likely due to oxygen starvation or low average oxygen levels. On long haul flights (trans-pacific etc) the airlines actually reduce the amount of oxygen in the cabin atmosphere to get people to go to sleep. Not something they admit to readily but it is a reasonably common practice. According to an airline steward I know anyway..

You also burn a lot of calories and have a huge adrenaline hit when diving. So as your blood sugar and energy levels decrease and the adrenaline wears off you get sleepy.

[paha]

thanks ......
get another answer to my thousands questions


paha

[Shadowkiller]

Youve come to the right place! Heaps of knowledgable people around here. And some top notch divers. Pity I'm not amongst them..

And on behalf of DB: Welcome to our Estonian friend!

[DeepThought]

Shadowkiller:
On long haul flights (trans-pacific etc) the airlines actually reduce the amount of oxygen in the cabin atmosphere to get people to go to sleep.

I heard that the pressure inside the plain is reduced to 0.8atm or so for some reason, but I didn't think about the "benefits" to the passenger.

Say, so maybe tranatlantic flights are a good train for freedivers, making the body adapt by producing more hemoglobin?
Should I go dive straight after the flight?