Mammalian Diving Reflex just a Romanticism?

[tylerz]

Well, it is much better than my Turkish! So, give it another shot if you please. Çok tesekkur ederim.

 

[SEDATE]

Well, it is much better than my Turkish! So, give it another shot if you please. Çok tesekkur ederim.

rofl
Bir şey değil=you are welcome

 

[DiverTodd]

I think, for myself, the most noticable difference of water vs. air is being inverted; for me, it's pretty much unbearable to stand on my head for even a short amount of time, yet, when freediving and descending head-down, I have NO pressure issues or discomfort at all!

Todd

 

[ggarrett]

Glen
if you know where we get 02, tell us
my brain mixed :head

In the womb we are fed oxygen through the blood of our mother, passed to us through the placenta/umbilical cord.

This fact should bring into consideration the effects of apnea-diving during pregnancy and fetal development. My conclusion is that apnea may harm a fetus and should be avoided during pregnancy.

Back on the topic of the MDR: as I understand peripheral vasoconstriction, the dive reflex causes less blood to flow to the extremities and lower organs including the reproductive organs. This might give rise to speculation that apnea could act as an alternate to the morning after pill by starving a new zygote of oxygen and triggering a spontaneous abortion. However, if extreme apnea did not work as a day-after contraception, this practice might have severe effects on the development of a surviving zygote or the fetus. Apnea may be at odds with fertility. Just speculation. It may be that we just don't know.

Peace,
Glen

 

[efattah]

Apnea during pregnancy might also create a super-hypoxic resistant baby! Hard to tell.

 

[ggarrett]

Apnea during pregnancy might also create a super-hypoxic resistant baby! Hard to tell.

Or an idiot. Maybe hard to tell. Who wants to take the chance?

Peace,
Glen

 

[wet]

Or an idiot. Maybe hard to tell. Who wants to take the chance?

Peace,
Glen

I'd think any extreme version of apnea deep diving (high pressure differences, extended cold temperature, extended breath holds) might be detrimental to a fetus. But I'd think mild short-term breatholding and shallow diving would not stress the blood oxygen delivery system (but not certain of this). AFAIK, the fetus doesn't have high O2 requirement, as compared to a newborn. Babies are born blue-tinged, then turn reddish when O2 is absorbed into the lungs and distributed throughout the blood vessels of the skin. Mothers-to-be often go through morning sickness, short-term apnea is the norm during vomiting, this benefits both of them. For a while, premature newborns were given high levels of oxygen at hospitals, this caused blindness for some reason. I think the fetal O2 requirements in vivo are well buffered, the system works well even during temporary stress periods, most likely the fetus has an involuntary dormancy option (fetal bradycardia?). I'd guess that habitual alcohol and drug-chemical use is far more devastating, as these are foreign to fetal development and directly interfere with biological processes.
DDeden

BTW, I just came across this Cornell paper on morning sickness. DD
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/00/6.8.00/morning_sickness.html