Breathing Reflex

[Flackie]

Hi all,

I've been wondering, many people talk about being able to overcome the bodies desire to breathe through relaxation when diving.
Obviously you can do it through hyperventilation but I'm not foolish enough to go down that path.
I can currently do a 50m pool before the urge to breathe becomes too much, when I get to the end though I've still got 3/4 full lungs and I have only felt a tiny tingle at my fingertips on some occasions, nothing on others.
Having said that, if you defeat the urge to breathe how do you know when you have to?

 

[naiad]

'Defeating' the urge to breathe is not about making it disappear, it is about learning to cope with it. Of course, it is there for a reason, and ignoring the urge to breathe altogether will lead to a blackout.

I hope you are training with a buddy in the pool. If not, find a buddy before doing more training.

About the 3/4 full lungs, you will never finish a dive with no air in your lungs, unless you exhaled during the dive. Air is 78% nitrogen, which is not used and will still be there when you finish the dive. Also, it is never possible to use all the oxygen in your lungs. As you produce CO2, it will add to the volume in your lungs. Putting all this together, you will end up with about the same volume as you started off with, maybe a little less.

There are lots of training tips in the Beginner Freediving section, including the 'How to start Freediving' thread.

Lucia

 

[John P]

It's probably different for different people. Personally I get quite strong lung contractions that tell me to breath.

Can people completly defeat the urge to breath?

I guess with practice you get to know what signals to lookout for in yourself.

The tingle in your fingertips is probably just vascular constriction moving the blood away from your extremities, probably nothing to worry about. Then again it could be a sign that you are low on oxygen.

If you have a good buddy and feel comfortable then gradually try to increase the distance and see how it goes.

 

[cdavis]

Hi Flackie,

"Defeating" is not the right concept, more like adapting to different conditions. You can increase (not eliminate) your tolerance for hi c02 levels with c02 tables. After that, just doing a lot of apnea drives the body to adapt to low 02 and get more efficient in its 02 use, stronger dive reflex, etc. Lots of dynamics or apnea walking or similar will do the trick. Always with a buddy in the water. Be careful of apnea walking as well. Don't try it until you read up on it (using the search function) so you don't hurt yourself. Exhale apnea walking is particularly good for training 02 efficiency, but its real easy to B0, be careful. Lots of dynamics improve your technique, so you can go farther with less 02. Various breathup techniques help kick in the dive reflex and improve relaxation. It all works together and takes a while to get it together.

Have fun.

Connor