Excitement problems

[The Free Spearo]

Hello

I've seen a couple of threads go around about slowing down your heart rate when you shoot a big fish, or something exciting happens in the water. But I need some advice on slowing down my heart rate when it's not an adrenaline rush. When I get into the water like most people here I feel the pat sensation that I am free. And escaping from my life on the surface and all the chaos and stress associated with it makes me happy. Now happiness is great in its self and it's good that I enjoy being in the water. But I get so happy my heart rate increases to the point where my 45- 60 dive time quickly turns into 20-30 second intervals with the same amount of breath up time (which is still ridiculously long, any tips on shortening that?). I try to calm my self down to the best of my abilities but slowing down my heart rate when I'm so happy is proving to be difficult.

All advice is appreciated!

 

[charlie.]

i had the very same problem when i started and found working co2 and o2 tables helped get my breath hold up to 2:30 so when i got into the water that went down to 2:00 in the water and then with time being in the water became more normal so it is now back around the 2:30 mark. also zazen meditation befor getting in the water keeps you calm for a good hour or so

 

[Bussard]

At least it sounds like you are enjoying yourself!

I have excitement/heart rate problems before max attempts, dives in new locations, competitions.. to be honest, I'm sure there are more capable divers who can manage to exert some control over it, but I just try to ignore it and hope it will go away. My heart rate has been elevated at the beginning of all my 'milestone' dives, and although I imagine it drops quite quickly during them, I don't really know.

 

[growingupninja]

If you have a healthy dive response your heart rate is going to slow down when you really need it to (any combination of deep dives, cold water dives, long/sustained dives that are making you truly hypoxic), whether you like it or not; it barely matters on a practical level. It is ultimately better to start a dive in a relaxed state, and I know from past tests if I am really relaxed, HR at resting, and I concentrate and go to my 'relaxed happy dive place' my HR may drop a few BPM while I am still breathing shallow, but this drop is totally insignificant compared to what happens when real dive response happens. The act of breathing can raise your HR, so if you do some kind of elaborate breathe-up it may not be helping you in this department. Train with a HR monitor, or better yet HR oxy meter.

 

[Simos]

I wouldn't over-think it; just focus on relaxing your body through awareness and just breathe normally before the dive and keep it short, just a few seconds to focus your thoughts on the dive ahead and relax your body and just dive.

Ultimately as mentioned I don't think it matters much, keep training your DR and it will kick in and slow your HR down. There is a beneficial side to high HR before the dive too (ie good oxygenation) so don't stress about it, just focus on relaxation during the dive.