Air Conservation

[K J]

Hi Guys,

Agree with all the people who promote general fitness standards. This, in combination with relaxing and enjoying your dive instead of worrying about your air consumption are about the only safe ways to eventually reduce your consumption rate!
Skip breathing is definitely not the answer!! it can lead to dizzy spells and above all can lead to DCS!! At depth you build up on CO2 but because your not breathing enough, your body simply doesn’t exchange the CO2 for fresh O2.
So my advise is to just relax and enjoy your dive. I mean that's what diving’s all about; in my humble opinion it’s not a competition who can stay down the longest!!
regards,

KJ

 

[Zagnut]

Take a camera

I've found the opposite to be true. When I have a camera with me, I tend to use a little more air because I inhale or exhale before I need to, to trim my buoyancy to get in for that "great" shot. That, or I may swim against a current to stay in place for that "great" shot...and damn those folks at the photo mat! They must be screwing somethin' up down there because when I get all my "great" shots back from them, they don't look all that great?!?..

For me, being in shape, being relaxed, and concentrating a little on slowing my breathing, like everyone else has said, does the trick. After awhile you will be "concentrating" on your breathing without even realizing it. Also, I've found that if I'm fiddling with my gear underwatwer, I tend to focus on that, and then my air consumption increases due to my lack of focus on breathing. Being comfortable underwater will really make a difference, too.

 

[steeldiver]

If taking another piece of equipment relaxes you ,go for it
Besides general fitness,body mass(gerally speaking)
and state of mind.Equipment is the next factor in breathing rate.
Besides fit and comfort,drag and unformilrisation of equipment will make you suck.
Next is the standard of your first and second stage
and then the size of your cylinder the bigger the tank
the more you breath.
Howard

 

[Charlie99]

It's not a competition, so don't sweat the air consumption too much.

Tips that might help:

1) a lot of new divers are both overweighted and swimming around negatively buoyant. That makes you go throught the water at an angle, spending a lot of effort finning to keep from sinking. Learn to adjust the air in your BC so that you can stop all motion, both hand and feet and stay at the same position in the water column. While this might not seem related to air consumption, it makes a surprising difference.

2) Breathe deeply. This works better both for reducing air consumption and also for better elmination of CO2. Breathing deeply will also get you breathing more slowly.

3). Stay a bit shallower than the rest of the group. A 10' difference will reduce your at depth air consumption by about 1/3 of your SAC since you are about 1/3 atmosphere higher. Over the length of a dive, this will add up.

4. Relax. Don't fin hard. Keep those hands tucked away.

Enjoy your dives -- don't worry about air consumption. If you have buddies that are upset by having to go up early, you need better buddies.

Charlie

 

[Scubaroo]

If you regularly get headaches after diving, CO2 buildup could be a factor - in this case conserving air is NOT smart - you need to be breathing for your lungs to do their job properly.

I used to skip breath, and would have terrible headaches after diving - now I just "breathe", and the headaches are gone. More diving rather than a particular breathing pattern has helped my SAC down to around 0.6cfm in a drysuit, and 0.5cfm in a wetsuit. I'm a big guy so I expect those rates are higher than someone with smaller lungs or more dive experience

 

[jbd]

relax, slow down and get your weighting down. I think using the frog kick helps also-- kick once, glide several feet with no body motion.