Pause breathing to control buoyancy

[windapp]

This thread is very helpful, thank you! May I ask about 'normal' breathing underwater. I find that I am usually the first to surface any advice? Thanks!

My diving instructor explained a technique that will drastically help you to reduce your air consumption. Do this in private so people don't think you are crazy.

1. Breath in slowly, imagining the air moving all the way down to your diaphram. Do the same while exhaling. Imagine the air is coming up from your diaphram through your mouth.
2. Hold your hand to your mouth with your elbow bent. Straighten your elbow out. Then bring your hand back again.
3. Repeat #2 but this time, do it as slowly as you possibly can. Try to make your movements imperceptible.
4. Do #3 many times until you are really good at it.
5. Repeat 3, but this time, take a deep breath, and slowly exhale as you straighten your elbow. Try to keep exhaling until your hand is all the way out (This is supposed to be difficult, by the way). While you are doing this, visualize the air coming up from your diaphram out to your hand. You are pulling it out like a string. When you slowly bring your hand back to your mouth, inhale slowly as if you are pushing the air back down. Don't make any sound or use your throat to slow the air. This is cheating, and defeats the purpose of the exercise which is to develop your fine diaphram control
6. Repeat # 5 until you are very good at it.
7. Drop the hand moving part, and just do the breathing part. You will find that this slows your heart rate, and blood pressure. Both of these things reduce your oxygen requirements.

Right before you do a dive, close your eyes, and do this breathing again several times until it calms you. When you are diving, concentrate on breathing very slowly, especially when you are exhaling. Try to breath as slowly as when you were doing the excercises on land. Eventually it just becomes natural and you don't have to think about it.

I guarantee that if you try this, you will be looking at your SPG with absolute amazement over how slowly it is dropping. It is an awesome feeling the first time you have to accend because your buddy is low on air and not you.

 

[qwerty988]

of course, this discussion hinges on an open system. if you are rebreathing, you aren't going to get that nice bounce, or drop.

 

[blackvans1234]

Many of us "pause" our breathing to rise or fall. What is critically important is that expanding gas have a free path to exhaust from the lungs. If you hold your breath like most people on land do, you close your glottis, and expanding gas cannot exit. That closure is strong enough that the expanding gas will rip the lungs because it cannot get out.

To feel the difference, as you are sitting at your computer, take a deep breath. Now breathe very shallowly in and out, with the lungs that full. That's an open glottis.

Now relax and "close your throat", so you can relax completely without letting your breath out. That's a closed glottis. It's the same feeling you get as you are preparing to cough.

It is an integral part of the valsalva maneuver
What's the valsalva maneuver you ask?
its the closing of the glottis and then ''bearing down'' against it, bearing down as in while trying to push out a bowel movement, or a baby
a valsalva maneuver increases thoracic pressure, stimulates the vagal nerve in the neck, lowering heart rate, and can cause cardiac arrest in the elderly. (ask an EMT about the majority of their early morning calls to unresponsive elderly person- passed out in the bathroom)

moral of my daunting anatomy and physiology comment?
while diving, dont close your glottis like you do when you're trying to take a dump (you know, to push)

 

[bowlofpetunias]

It is an integral part of the valsalva maneuver
What's the valsalva maneuver you ask?
its the closing of the glottis and then ''bearing down'' against it, bearing down as in while trying to push out a bowel movement, or a baby
a valsalva maneuver increases thoracic pressure, stimulates the vagal nerve in the neck, lowering heart rate, and can cause cardiac arrest in the elderly. (ask an EMT about the majority of their early morning calls to unresponsive elderly person- passed out in the bathroom)

moral of my daunting anatomy and physiology comment?
while diving, dont close your glottis like you do when you're trying to take a dump (you know, to push)

Now that is the clearest and also the most graphic explanation I have ever heard!:worship:

 

[AbyssalPlains]

I am a newbie diver and still figuring out good techniques for controlling buoyancy. One thing that works for me is to pause breathing (either with full or empty lungs) for 1 - 2 seconds to move up or down a little bit. But I read / heard many times that is it not good to hold or skip breath. Is what I am doing potentially dangerous or is taking a short pause different from holding breath? Thanks!

What you do is totally fine. I fine-tune my buoyancy with my lungs all the time. When I do photography, I even hold my breath for a half a minute or longer because it's the only way to stay in a very precise position sometimes (when taking pictures, you sometimes have to hold your position within inches for a long time). As long as you have good buoyancy control and aren't going anywhere (staying level at the same depth), there is not the slightest thing wrong with holding your breath. Many experienced divers do this. The reason we tell people to "Never, ever hold your breath" is because when you're totally new at diving, your buoyancy control and even your awareness of whether you're going up or down is not developed yet. I remember when I first started, I was so preoccupied with trying to get a grip on my equipment and my technique and skills that I would go up or down for ten feet and not notice it. Nowadays, I notice it immediately when I go up a foot or less.

It's all practice.

I thought it was very interesting that when I took my first technical diving class, my instructor told me, "Remember the first rule of scuba diving?" I replied, "Yes, never hold your breath?" -- He said, "Yep, that one. Forget about it."

Now, all that said, I do want to point out that especially for a new diver, sticking to that rule is not a bad idea. As long as you understand diving physics and THINK about it (Many divers don't): Holding your breath is potentially dangerous if the air volume in your lungs changes, by going up or down without exhaling or inhaling. As long as it doesn't do that, what is going to happen? Nothing.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

QUOTE:

My diving instructor explained a technique that will drastically help you to reduce your air consumption. Do this in private so people don't think you are crazy.

1. Breath in slowly, imagining the air moving all the way down to your diaphram. Do the same while exhaling. Imagine the air is coming up from your diaphram through your mouth.
2. Hold your hand to your mouth with your elbow bent. Straighten your elbow out. Then bring your hand back again.
3. Repeat #2 but this time, do it as slowly as you possibly can. Try to make your movements imperceptible.
4. Do #3 many times until you are really good at it.
5. Repeat 3, but this time, take a deep breath, and slowly exhale as you straighten your elbow. Try to keep exhaling until your hand is all the way out (This is supposed to be difficult, by the way). While you are doing this, visualize the air coming up from your diaphram out to your hand. You are pulling it out like a string. When you slowly bring your hand back to your mouth, inhale slowly as if you are pushing the air back down. Don't make any sound or use your throat to slow the air. This is cheating, and defeats the purpose of the exercise which is to develop your fine diaphram control
6. Repeat # 5 until you are very good at it.
7. Drop the hand moving part, and just do the breathing part. You will find that this slows your heart rate, and blood pressure. Both of these things reduce your oxygen requirements.

Right before you do a dive, close your eyes, and do this breathing again several times until it calms you. When you are diving, concentrate on breathing very slowly, especially when you are exhaling. Try to breath as slowly as when you were doing the excercises on land. Eventually it just becomes natural and you don't have to think about it. QUOTE END

This is a cool description of a great exercise. I can attest to its effectiveness from a "Zen Diver" Class I took a long time ago.

 

[Dack]

I like it. Now if you have any recommendations on how to get rid of the trickle of noisy bubbles rushing past my ears, we could make this a totally Zen experience...

 

[bracko]

in terms of buoyancy control i tell all my students the following....

when you breath on air you don't breath from 0% lung capacity to 100% lung capacity, so why do it under water (which i see a lot of students doing). you normally probably breath from 40% full lungs to 60%, therefore try that under water. when you begin to feel comfortable, and you are naturally buoyant, breath between 20-40% of your lung capacity to sink, and 60-80% to rise. try to always breath in the same range when scuba diving, so make sure your gear isn't too tight in warm or cold water, make sure your gear fits.

this actually really works on a lot of students. as an engineer i call it comon sense, but i can appreciate that not everyone thinks like an engineer.

 

[herman]

I like it. Now if you have any recommendations on how to get rid of the trickle of noisy bubbles rushing past my ears, we could make this a totally Zen experience...

Easy, a double hose reg or rebreather......DH reg is cheaper and less trouble.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

But let's not over think this. Stay with the never- hold -your- breath- rule, and there are still ways to use breathing control to trim buoyancy, based upon respiration rate and volume. Practice, practice, practice. No open water or aow class, or even peak performance buoyancy class is going to give you the discipline of years of yoga or other similar practice. Follow the no-breath-holding- rule, but on each dive be aware of and work on breathing control in the areas of rate and volume. Also, remeber you you low pressure inflator/deflator works. Use tiny adjustments to obtain peak performance buoyancy. I observe most divers with buoyancy promlems add or subtract too much air from their bc a each event
DivemasterDennis