Every breath you take ...

[spectrum]

Deep to vent the carbon dioxide so it's not triggering excess respiration.

Slow because at greater than 1 ATM you have plenty oxygen molecules to sustain you.

In a nutshell the DM summed it up.

Pick a rythym that works for you and long live your air supply.

Pete

I'd like to continue this discussion about breathing underwater.
During my first trip to Cozumel on a deep dive I was a bit nervous but thought my breathing was ok. The friendly dive master wrote a note to me on his slate,
"breathe deep, breathe slow"
I changed my breathing style and it served me well but I welcome comment on the DM's advise.
I'm returning to Cozumel for my second visit there so I'm thinking about things that will improve my dives
Thanks
Rex

 

[devolution365]

When swimming around I hardly think about my breathing, it's totally natural and I use very little air (for a beginner). But, recently I accompanied my fiance on his OW certification dives, and while kneeling on the platform as the class did their drills I had nothing to focus on. So, I started thinking about my breathing -trying to slow it down so I used less air. As I thought about it, it started feeling unnatural; then I started getting nervous, which is weird for me. And, of course, my breathing increased as a result. I tried slowing it down to where it was before, then it felt like I wasn't getting enough air. Finally, I took a deep breath or two and decided it's best not to think about it.

To anyone overly nervous about your breathing -try to ignore it and focus on something else. Don't put too much pressure on yourself to slow it down unless you're really breathing hard.

My 2¢

 

[tlawler]

Do you mean you skip breathe or you just take smaller sips?

Either way I'm thinking that if one "underbreathes" slightly to save air one may feel ok but ones muscles would still be relatively low on ox which could be bad if something unexpected were to happen. Also the dead air space in your lungs would possibly be bigger affecting efficieny.

I have this idea that efficiency is more about "milking" a given volume of breathing gas for as many oxygen molcules as possible before exhaling than about how much or how little you inhale. The body wants the oygen it wants at any given moment so I imagine there's a point during a breath where you've milked so much oxygen out of the gas that holding back further would only cause a debt that would have to be paid through subsequent breaths.

(Of course this would have little to do with whether you felt a need to breathe or not seeing as the breathing reflex is triggered by nitrogen buildup and not the presence or lack of oxygen).

I always thought the breathing reflex was triggered by the CO2 buildup.

I breathe in deeply, hold it just a second, then breathe out slowly. This gives the lungs more time to utilize the oxygen in the breath. The only problem with this is approach is the buoyancy issue, but if your timing is good you can get the slight pos and slight neg buoyancy to cancel each other out. Where buoyancy is ultra critical, I modify my breathing somewhat.
See this article for some good pointers:http://www.scubadiving.com/training/basic_skills/use_less_air_(2005)/

 

[tlawler]

Here's another good article:http://www.scubadiving.com/training/basic_skills/save_your_breath/0/

 

[jeckyll]

Currently I'm working on the "Breath in, breath out" method

Seriously, thanks for the thread. A friend (DM & instructor) has suggested getting to the count 2 in and count 3 out method. Which works for him.