Risks doing dry statics alone?

[wdaf]

Hello!

I would like to know if there is any risk involved in doing dry statics alone?

(swallow your tongue, ...)

What about your experiences with complete blackouts during dry statics?

Wolfgang

 

[cebaztian]

Be careful!!

Generally I would say life is quite deadly.
There is a risk of dying or hurting yourself by just beeing alive.
For instance: hundreds of people die every year while putting on there socks while sitting on their bed (fact).

Lying in your bed holding your breath is probably one of the safer things you can do. However much you hyperventilated.

If you plan to BO just make sure you have something soft to fall on.

If you die anyway you where probably destined to die that day in that very instance (and I take no responsability in this case for your death).

And by the way. You are not even holding your breath - just making a very long pause inbetween two breaths.

Sebastian

 

[naiad]

I almost always do dry statics alone, mostly because it is impossible to find someone to supervise me.

I have had at least one complete blackout while doing dry statics alone - it happened just after I had finished a (seriously overpushed) static, and I recovered within a few seconds.

It could be difficult to know if you have had a blackout if there is nobody to tell you! I know when I have had one because there is a sort of 'break in time' like a change of scene in a film. It is not like 'everything goes black', at least not for me.

There will probably be more replies to this explaining the risks, as I am not sure how dangerous it is, and I don't want to recommend something which could be dangerous.

Lucia

 

[Ricochet]

One thing that I just experienced some days ago:

I was sitting at my desk and started to hold my breath. Then I stood up to go to the kitchen to get some snacks. After 5 meters I felt quite dizzy. My field of vision shrinked. To overcome the dizziness I supported myself and hold my thigh... A few seconds later I realized that I fall on my knees and I felt disorientated.

I think this dizziness came from the drastically changed blood pressure. Sitting -> Standing up... Additionaly, breathholding seems to make the transportation of blood towards the head more difficult. (The veins on the neck swell, ect.)

 

[cebaztian]

As I said (in a jokingly fashion) there are no explicit risks. But as Ricochet discovered - one must always be prepared to fall and therefore a bed is a good place for static. Or grass is good aswell. A couch works - a path in the woods is somewhat harder. Water is perfect if you have some safetydivers watching you. Pools can be tricky if you are close to the sides (very hard - ouch!)

I have fallen on them all ;-)

Packing and then standing up to walk down stairs is definitly not a good idea - trust me.

Actually rico - bloodflow to the brain increases during breatholding - exceptions when you stand up quickly (and have a low bloodpressure) and if you overpack and "jam" the heart so it cant pump blood to the brain.

Sebastian

 

[wdaf]

looks like much of us are doing it alone, and sadly there is little knowledge.

i am aware of the physical danger when doing it e.g. standing.

but what about other risks?

- is it possible to swallow your own tongue, when lying on the back?

and more interesting:

- has anybody ever seen somebody who did not recover by himself after a (dry) b.o.?
i have seen competitors (doing statics in the water) where after a b.o. artificial respiration was performed.
but i think all of them would also have regained to conscious by themself.

- what about risks for the brain?
wouldn't it be good to breath pure O2 after a b.o.?

and last but not least:
- has anybody ever heared of an accident doing dry statics?
(If not, i suppose there is no risk.)

 

[naiad]

I'm not sure about the need for pure O2 after a BO. In a competition it would be available, but during pool training I have never seen it being used.

I haven't heard of any accidents while doing dry statics, except for falling over and similar things, but it would be difficult to know for sure, because it would be almost impossible to collect statistics on something like that.

What we need is a special mat which is very large and soft, so the results of an excessively long static are not too bad. A similar thing, but much longer, could be used for apnea walking.

Any orders for the SambaMat?

 

[cebaztian]

I would say that the risks are as follows;
1) The damage you get if you fall (lie down, stupid)
2) Damage that might occur due to some unknown inherit malady which is triggered by low oxygen/high C02 etc
3) And the damage of low oxygen levels.

None of these has to do with actually beeing ALONE.

About number three we dont know much. During our breathholds we reach lower levels than most sleep apnea patients but not as deep as stroke patients.

I was part of a test where a scientist was looking for bad effects of low oxygene.
I reach very low levels but still he could not see any long term bad effect of that one breathhold.
http://www.fridykning.se/freediving/features/7min.html

I dont know about many BO year after year - what that could do to you.

I was very surprised WDAF about you seeing artificial respiration beeing performed on a BOd freediver. My guess is that it was not necessary - the good old "blow-tap-talk" would be more than enough, I think.

WDAF you seem to be very worried about swollowing your tongue. Why is that. When you BO - other levels of conciousness take over, these subconcious levels are probably a lot smarter than your concious levels and they would never do such a stupid thing as swallowing your tongue. It was actually your body that BOd you to stop you from dooing such a silly thing as holding your breath.

Sebastian

 

[DeepThought]

Originally posted by naiad
What we need is a special mat which is very large and soft, so the results of an excessively long static are not too bad. A similar thing, but much longer, could be used for apnea walking.

Any orders for the SambaMat?

I think I have one of those already, I call it 'a bed'.
(though I don't do much dynamics on it...:hmm)

Originally posted by cebaztian
None of these has to do with actually beeing ALONE.

Good point!

I was very surprised WDAF about you seeing artificial respiration beeing performed on a BOd freediver. My guess is that it was not necessary - the good old "blow-tap-talk" would be more than enough, I think.

I was also surprised reading that. And got to the same conclusion. It is possible that a few rescue breaths helped to open the laryngospasm though.

I think that one of the reasons that you should not keep doing apnea the same day after a BO is that you're much less likely to recover on your own powers after the next one/s.
I heard about some experiment with newborn monkies that showed that.

WDAF you seem to be very worried about swollowing your tongue. Why is that.

I think that it's a known risk for epileptic seizures (which have the same symptoms as hard LMC's?). Might also be common to different kinds of blackouts, which are more related to the nervous system. Maybe head-neck injuries? We need a nurse or a doctor (or Eric) to give us some real information about the link.

 

[Aquagenic]

From my understanding it is actually impossible to swallow your tongue. The small tendon that attaches your tongue to your jaw at the front of your mouth under your tongue (the "Lingual Frenum") makes it so you cannot swallow your tongue. That is, if your not Gene Simmons who has had his surgically altered, you aren't Gene Simmons are you?


~Picksmith

 

[DeepThought]

Originally posted by picksmither
That is, if your not Gene Simmons who has had his surgically altered, you aren't Gene Simmons are you?

Hmm, not sure, I'll have to ask my mom, she should probably know.

Maybe swallowing the tongue is some lay expression to some tissue that goes down with gravity and blocks the airway?
I heard this tongue swallowing issue quite a few times, especially regarding epileptics, but never from a proffesional.
I called a friend of mine who is in second or third year in med school, but she doesn't answer. Will update if/when I'll get an answer.

 

[immerlustig]

i could imagine some danger when you bo after an empty lung static with reverse packing. especially after hyperventilating. if you bo and happen to fall over in a position where your head is not overstretched, which i guess is most likely, then the neg pressure you created with reverse packing would keep your tongue sucked in, preventing inhalation. coughing up should be rather impossible without any air left to cough up.

 

[DeepThought]

Good point Roland.
Though I guess it could happen only if your tonque would be in that position in the first place.

Just to clarify, I asked my friend and she told me that "swollowing your tonque" doesn't mean the actual act of swallowing one's tongue, but the back part of the tongue's muscle to drop down with gravity and block the airway. She said that it depends on the nevous system, as it usally prevents this sort of stuff. She couldn't tell me if it is possible due to an hypoxic induced b/o or myoclonic episode.
My guess that if it was probable, we would've heard about it due to some casualty already.

 

[wdaf]

Hi everybody!

First of all: Thanks for the good input.

Originally posted by cebaztian

WDAF you seem to be very worried about swollowing your tongue.
Why is that.

i am not very worried about my tongue. ;-)
but i am somebody who wants to know the risks, und not "just do it".

Because i remember seeing it on TV (when a soccer player saved a teammate which was unconcieousness by grabbing into his mouth, and it was told "he swallowed his tongue")
o.k. that's a quite unreliable source.

maybe i should stop watching TV. ;-)

Originally posted by DeepThought
... She said that it depends on the nevous system, as it usally prevents this sort of stuff.

sounds reasonable

Originally posted by DeepThought
My guess that if it was probable, we would've heard about
it due to some casualty already.

this sounds logic for me too.
but it still is just a guess.

by the way:
Do you now the last words of the poisonous snake?
Damn! I bit myself into the tongue.

Wolfgang