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Exhaling underwater

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Apr 11, 2018
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Ok so i was practicing some dynamic last night, and i kept thinking "why am i still exhaling as i near the end?" I swim 20 m then turn and push off and swim the 20m back (from 3.5 feet to 10.5 feet ). Any ideas? Am i still not relaxed enough? I think i need to breathe differently, maybe? I did not have any "urge" to breathe, just an "urge" to let my held breath escape?
 
Perhaps a matter of lacking relaxation, which you feel stronger towards the end of the dive. BTW, I wonder whether this is critical : as you exhale at the end of the dive you're ready to inhale fresh air when you surface...
 
An update; i have been steadily working on relaxation and doing short DYN swims in the deeper end of the pool. I do not push limits, so i feel safe as i can be (no buddies around). I had a very good day the other day and was able to not "need" to exhale until I was almost at the surface. Seems to be related to generally being comfortable and not consuming O2 and producing CO2. :) Am i on the right track??
 
I remember reading somewhere in AIDA documentation that contrary to common belief, the urge to breath, is not an urge to inhale, but an urge to exhale CO2.
So, the exhale thing is a sigh that your CO2 i building up and you're diaphragm is starting to contract gently, you just don't feel it (the same way that most of the time you don't feel your heartbeats).
I also had this issue when doing DNF last year, exhaling some air makes you feel less the urge to breath (urge to exhale), but as explained in freediving courses, letting out air, means you'll lose pretious O2 and the O2 partial pressure will go down, and you make risk earlier Hypoxia, and in worse case LMC and BO.
I sometimes used a trick, when it's unbearable, like letting out air in my cheeks an then back to my lungs, but it only tricks my mind for a few douzens seconds.
 
I also read that it's CO2 buildup not O2 deprivation necessarily that causes one to "need" to breathe. and yes others have said not to exhale underwater due to the fact you will lose what O2 you have left and also buoyancy
 
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