[News] David Blaine holds breath for 17 minutes

[DeeperBlue.com]

BBC reports:MagicianDavid Blaine has set a world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes andfour seconds on Oprah Winfrey's US TV show in Chicago. Mr. Blaine had breathed 100%oxygen before commencing this breathhold. Blaine, 35 years of age...

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[alexrom1207]

"He told her he had doubted while in the water whether he'd be able to break the record because of his high heart rate.The lower the heart rate, the less oxygen is consumed.
Blaine had expected his heart rate to drop perhaps as low as under 20 beats per minute while he was in the water. But for most of the attempt, it was over 100 beats per minute, then started dropping and fluctuating rapidly during the last 2 1/2 minutes." --> quoted from an associated press article.



100 BPM, I wonder what the hold could have been if his HR was down between 20-30. Now that would be impressive.



Also he breathed Pure oxygen for 23 minutes beforehand.




"Blaine tried to set another type of breath-holding record. Without breathing pure oxygen beforehand, he tried to break the existing record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds for an attempt of that type.
But he had to be rescued shortly after 7 minutes when he was unconscious and having convulsions." --> quoted from same associated press article.



I respect David Blane for that new record...but more respect to someone like Stephen Mifsud 10m4s static.

 

[trux]

That's interesting about the heart rate. I'd like to know what Tom's or Peter's rates were. The initial high rate is comprehensible, because when doing O2 apnea, you need hyperventilating pretty intensively to get rid of as much CO2 as possible (unlike at normal apnea). Otherwise you'd risk too high blood acidosis at the end of the apnea and possibly CO2 poisoning. And hyperventilation (low CO2) increases the heart rate. So the high rate at the beginning is comprehensible, but I'd expect it dropping after couple of minutes. Perhaps someone who did O2 breath-holds, or having some detailed info about them, could comment.

EDIT: The high rate is not necessarily too bad. Hypoxia due to oxygen consumption seem not to be such an important issue at O2 breath-holds. They are rather limited by the shift of the Bohr saturation curve due to the high blood acidosis (high CO2 level), which then makes the gas exchange in lungs impossible. So, although the high heart rate may produce some excess CO2 too, I do not think he could do much better with low heart rate. Likely it is not such an important factor as at normal apnea.

BTW, I am pretty sure that the air in his lungs at the end of the apnea was still more rich of oxygen than normal air.

 

[jimdoe2you]

I'm bummed! I waited for it to come on at 4:00, but at 3:55 I got a phone call from Hawaii and talked for an hour and fifteen minutes completely forgetting about the show.

 

[trux]

What a shame! But if you held your breath all the time you were on the phone, then you are excused.

 

[Lockedin]

No disrespect intended (don't you hate openings like that?), but isn't oxygen treatment prior to the breath hold comparable to blood doping?

Again, I'm not trying to be inflammatory, it's just a question. With or without oxygen, David's record is pretty amazing.

 

[trux]

I looked up little bit the topic of heart rate while breathing oxygen, and have found this interesting document: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=289201&blobtype=pdf

Form it is clear that normally, when breathing pure oxygen the heart rate slightly decreases, and the effect is quite consistent. It indicates that Blaine probably overdone the pre-hold hyperventilation and flushed out too much CO2 from the body. If the heart rate started to drop at ~14 minutes after the start, assuming the body produces 200 ml/min in rest (possibly slightly less in complete relaxation), he might have washed out around 2-3 liters of CO2. Well, there is enough of CO2 dissolved in the body liquids, so perhaps it is possible, but he might also have tried changing the blood pH chemically, which would make big sense for avoiding the blood acidosis at the end of the long apnea.

I think Blaine is rather a master in relaxation techniques (at least it is what he claims about himself), and able to control his heart rate to certain degree even under the stress of the TV show, so to me it looks like the reason for the consistently high heart rate must have been physiological/chemical. And since it was not the oxygen (it slows the heart rate), it must have been quite long hyperventilation and/or blood pH manipulation by drugs. I am not quite sure right now, if there is direct parallax between pH and heart rate, or whether it is rather exclusively the level of CO2 that matters, so the use of pH modifying drugs is only a speculation. The hyperventilation though is unavoidable at O2 breath-holds.

 

[trux]

... but isn't oxygen treatment prior to the breath hold comparable to blood doping?

It depends, but if you are setting a record of oxygen apnea like Blaine did, then using oxygen is pretty inavoidable

 

[SEDATE]

is there a video clip 17' 04'' min hold?

 

[trux]

There are the videos on the last page of this thread: http://forums.deeperblue.net/general-freediving/77509-david-blaine-again.html

 

[SEDATE]

I looked up little bit the topic of heart rate while breathing oxygen, and have found this interesting document: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=289201&blobtype=pdf

Form it is clear that normally, when breathing pure oxygen the heart rate slightly decreases, and the effect is quite consistent. It indicates that Blaine probably overdone the pre-hold hyperventilation and flushed out too much CO2 from the body. If the heart rate started to drop at ~14 minutes after the start, assuming the body produces 200 ml/min in rest (possibly slightly less in complete relaxation), he might have washed out around 2-3 liters of CO2. Well, there is enough of CO2 dissolved in the body liquids, so perhaps it is possible, but he might also have tried changing the blood pH chemically, which would make big sense for avoiding the blood acidosis at the end of the long apnea.

I think Blaine is rather a master in relaxation techniques (at least it is what he claims about himself), and able to control his heart rate to certain degree even under the stress of the TV show, so to me it looks like the reason for the consistently high heart rate must have been physiological/chemical. And since it was not the oxygen (it slows the heart rate), it must have been quite long hyperventilation and/or blood pH manipulation by drugs. I am not quite sure right now, if there is direct parallax between pH and heart rate, or whether it is rather exclusively the level of CO2 that matters, so the use of pH modifying drugs is only a speculation. The hyperventilation though is unavoidable at O2 breath-holds.

Trux
i agree with you totally.. i met a brain surgery doctor once.. he said there is some pills to drop Hearth BPM ..he clarified that your heart can easly drop and work 30-40 bpm.. my idea Not only pure 02 .maybe he should have taken pill ,too.

i do not believe under 1m-2m there is a way to drop heart ratio to 20bpm. i will ask Tom if it is possible or not ?
it should be possible below 100m. cos' covering hidrostatic pressure of body increase blood circulation .i mean 02 diffusion..i am sure you get what i mean..
once i watched a tv prog in discovery channel.. first the doctors removed a a person heart but ..something happened ..they can't stop bleeding.. decided to stop heart beat.. it stoped 30min till new heart arravided.. they injected something.. i am happy i can get pure O2 climbing hills :blackeye

Ps: Thanx for the link Trux..i ll watch it after meal