Brain cells

[Retrion]

Hey guys I have been progressing rapidly in dry static. in 2 weeks i have gone from 50 seconds to 4 minutes. but i was wondering. alot alot of my classmates have been telling me its stupid because I am losing brain cells everytime. Do you lose brain cells holding your breath? however they also said I would die after 3 minutes and I'm still alive.

So do you lose brain cells?

 

[shoutatthesky]

Sounds like your classmates are missing a few themselves.

I think you are at a far lower risk of losing brain cells in Apnea than falling off your bike, skateboard, snowboard, from studying too hard, or eating McDonalds.
If anything the breathing improvments from Apnea training will increase your overall health including that of your brain.

 

[beero1000]

I'm pretty sure you only start losing brain cells when the oxygen content in your blood drops below a certain amount.

ditto with the 3 minutes thing. if I'm remembering this correctly (from a lifeguarding course I took 5+ years ago) its 3-5 minutes before brain damage, but that starts once the person is already unconscious at the bottom of the pool. so you can assume that if you're completely lucid and functioning, you havent gone to the point of starving your brain of oxygen.

plus, from what I've read, apnea actually stimulates blood vessel growth in the brain.

but then again, don't take my word for it, I'm no expert.

 

[Narieshore]

hi guys,
the way I understand the whole process (anybody correct me if I am wrong or not precise) is this:
*apnea training - you learn and teach your body to conserve oxygen by relaxing body (muscles) and mind (if you do not think you are using a lot less oxygen), plus you redirect oxygenated blood flow to brain, plus you increase number of red blood cells number (fast from spleen storage, over time with regular training by increase production - those cells live only 30 days, so with decreased training you will get back to starting point), so oxygen carrying process is more efficient to squize every available oxygen molecule from lungs
*brain damage starts 3-5min AFTER blood flow stops (heart attack, strangulation etc.) or there impairement of oxygen carrying capacity by red blood cells with nornal flow (toxicity - carbon monoxide) or there is lack of oxygen in breathed gas/air (to high altitude, choking, drowning etc.)
*if you pass out, brain switches off it's higher functions (cognition, memory)all you muscles relax (mouth, tongue, glotis) and then your chest gets one giant breath in and you back to normal
beero - where did you get info on brain vessel (-s) growth with apnea training?

 

[beero1000]

enjoy.

http://forums.deeperblue.net/genera...ellectual-ability.html?highlight=brain+growth

 

[Gahiel]

there have been maney scientific studies of apnea and the killing of brain cells. Sofar there has been no conclusiev evidence to show a direct correlation between apnea and brain cells. So basically you have nothing to worry about!

 

[fcallagy]

See threads on a similar vein ( no pun intended)
http://forums.deeperblue.net/genera...-kills-brain-cells.html?highlight=brain+cells
http://forums.deeperblue.net/genera...t-repetitive-apnea.html?highlight=brain+cells

 

[diveoceanos]

hi guys,
the way I understand the whole process (anybody correct me if I am wrong or not precise) is this:
*apnea training - you learn and teach your body to conserve oxygen by relaxing body (muscles) and mind (if you do not think you are using a lot less oxygen), plus you redirect oxygenated blood flow to brain, plus you increase number of red blood cells number (fast from spleen storage, over time with regular training by increase production - those cells live only 30 days, so with decreased training you will get back to starting point), so oxygen carrying process is more efficient to squize every available oxygen molecule from lungs
*brain damage starts 3-5min AFTER blood flow stops (heart attack, strangulation etc.) or there impairement of oxygen carrying capacity by red blood cells with nornal flow (toxicity - carbon monoxide) or there is lack of oxygen in breathed gas/air (to high altitude, choking, drowning etc.)
*if you pass out, brain switches off it's higher functions (cognition, memory)all you muscles relax (mouth, tongue, glotis) and then your chest gets one giant breath in and you back to normal
beero - where did you get info on brain vessel (-s) growth with apnea training?

May I add some information? Apnea training apart from being many other things is also a frequent exposure of your body to hypoxic environment. The body has several ways to come around this artificial situation. These are the adaptative changes that happen both in the short term during the dive and in the long term (day after day of training). BreathHold Hypoxia is by no means similar to hypoxia due to the cease of circulation (stop of heart beat). Therefore it can not be compared. Patients may survive for weeks under hypoxic coma!

The formation of new vessels is a natural way of the body to come around frequent hypoxia as well. It is not unique for free diving and it happens in many cases (cancer, myocardial infarction, increase of body lean mass in body building). This effect is triggered by chemicals (growth factors) that are being produced / released as a result of hypoxic stimulation.

As said above fainting due to hypoxia can be harmless if you experience that while doing breath-hold push-ups on your bed or lethal if you experience that at 10 meters depth and breath in water instead of fresh air!