NaHCO3 Discussion

[The Fury]

I just want to take the opportunity to apologise to Eric Fattah and Paul Kotik if I may have offended them in any way last week.

Upon reflection, the fact that I disagree with their point of view makes neither mine nor their viewpoint correct or incorrect.

I'm sure they have very good personal or proffesional reasons behind their views.

The fact is that at this time Eric is almost definitely more knowledgable than myself in most things concerning diving physiology.

This post has not been made because of further discussion, but simply a respect for others opinions.

Nevertheless, my study is going ahead with some newfound (and well informed) subjects and if anyone is interested, a summary of the results will be in a future edition of Freediver magazine.

 

[DevonDiver]

need any more subjects?
could be interesting.
can you give me a quick summary of the basic effect of pH buffering you expect to see?
im in newcastle doing an MSC in biogeochemistry so could spare plenty of time possibly

 

[The Fury]

Dear DevonDiver,

I would be very grateful if you were willing to be a subject. Unfortunately testing has to take place at Luton University because I'm using their equipment for breath-by-breath expired gas analysis and PaO2 monitoring. If you don't mind the travelling then thats just fantastic!

If you're doing an MSc in Biogeochemistry, you are probably more familiar than myself with the chemistry behind the theory as I'm a third year Sport and exercise science student. It's a very steep learning curve for me and I hope to have a deeper understanding by the time I'm finished. I plan to do an MSc or MRes next year.

I'm just investigating whether the buffering solution will have a similar effect on breath-hold time as it does on anaerobic performance i.e. by buffering carbonic acid instead of Lactic acid. Initial results have shown that this might be the case but I have not performed inferential stats yet. I need to do more testing first.

I hope this has answered your question!

If you're still interested, I will explain the test in more depth.

Hamish.

 

[DevonDiver]

sounds good. explain away.
what sort of breath hold times are you getting off your divers before and after?

 

[The Fury]

To be honest, on second thoughts, I don't know if I should be discussing methods etc in great detail at this stage. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I'll check with my supervisor when I see him tomorrow and if he says it's cool then I'll give you a complete run down. I could attach a copy of informed consent form as well for you to peruse.

Breath-hold times have been greater in the NaHCO3 condition every time so far but whether this increase is statistically significant, I don't yet know. I will also be testing for a learning effect between stage one and stage two regardless of what order the subject consumed their solutions.

Hamish.

 

[DevonDiver]

realise i'm probably teaching you to suck eggs as it were, but don't know how much freediving you have done. obviously apnea response becomes sequentially more pronounced.
would love ot hear more if your supervisor thinks it a good idea.
good luck
paddy

 

[DevonDiver]

sorry an amazingly patronising thing to write considering the amount of reading you must have done. sorry, paddy

 

[The Fury]

Hey DevonDiver,

That's okay. I think it's okay to tell you that the subjects perform 3 breath-holds with 5 minutes recovery between. The longest breath-hold and lowest pO2 are taken into account.

Will get back to you this evening.

Hamish.

 

[The Fury]

Spoke to my supervisor today and he suggested that I don't discuss further but if you want to be a subject, you will obvioulsy get a complete insight into the methods.

I will say that the more I look at the data, the more it surprises me. Setting the research question aside, there are other interesting observations being made which may not have been made before.

 

[DevonDiver]

thats cool. how many subjects have you got, how many would you ideally like?

 

[The Fury]

At the moment I have not enough. Ideally I would like more!

Sorry for the brevity of this reply, I'm kind of in a rush at the mo.