menemsha43
Contributor
I went to your link on GUE. Did I read that correctly on the GUE prerequisites, you must be a nonsmoker? What's that all about?
DIR and Smoking (Split from DIR Fin thread)
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MHK
Guest
menemsha43:
GUE promotes an overall fitness approach to diving. Naturally smoking is counterproductive to effective circulatory effeciency and overall decreases the ability to transport oxygen. Potential side effects include coronary vasoconstriction, increased bronchospasms, increased pulmonary infection, decreased stroke volume, increased heart rate, increased possibility of C02 toxicity, increase likeliehood of carbon monoxide binding to a divers hemoglobin just to name a few.
The real question that should be asked, given all the known adverse attributes associated with smoking, isn't why GUE requires non-smoking, but why do other agencies allow it and/or ignore the issue?
Regards
OP
menemsha43
Contributor
MHK:
Well I'm not a smoker (I think cigarettes are horrible) but I think that's simply ridiculous. Do you have to have acceptable cholesterol levels as well? I am really amazed by this. But to each his own I guess. Its their agency.
I think it's fair that a tech-oriented agency teaching things like accelerated decompression procedures and extended cave exploration have a minimum standard of "in good health" which includes being athletically fit (as measured by swim tests) and being a non-smoker.menemsha43:
Smoking does terrible things to your body.
Reinoud
Contributor
menemsha43:
Cholesterol levels are not directly related to increased decompression sickness risks. Smoking is.
OP
menemsha43
Contributor
Reinoud:
That's a good point. I'm not a physician nor do I play one on TV, just in case you couldn't tell. Lol. I wonder if they differentiate between cigar smokers and cigarette smokers? It just struck me as a very odd thing. Safety first I suppose.
I didn't realize the "tech angle" of the agency. That makes more sense now. I don't know much about these agencies which is why I come over here from time to time to browse. It still seems a bit of a slippery slope. Drinking causes dehydration which may make one more susceptible to DCS.
And just to stay on topic, I just bought some Quattros - I wasn't too impressed with the Volos. Before that I dove with Scubapro fins - not the jets but they had the vents and were very squared off. I can't recall the names - kindof a transluent blue material. They were pretty powerful fins. Not too easy on the feet though. Maybe they were seawings or something like that.
Drinking before dives is totally not DIR either. Drink, in moderation, only after your diving is donemenemsha43:
MHK
Guest
menemsha43:
As you suggest, to each it's own. That said, it is a question that we get asked often, so it does warrant a response. When you consider the overall known problems associated with smoking, and the overall reduced fitness issues relating to smoking, as I've outlined above, it really isn't that outrageous of a issue. Whoever thought at one point NYC or Dublin would ever move forward with banning smoking in restaurants and bars? The fact is there is a more educated movement in the direction relating to a second hand smoke causes, moreover smoking in the workplace is continually frowned upon as a result of second hand smoke claims.
In the instant case, we aren't talking about a second hand smoke issue, we are concerned with a diver that voluntarily smokes, which according to the American Cancer Society studies, means that up to 25% of a divers hemoglobin will be bound with carbon monoxide and the carboxyhaemoglobnin levels in smokers will increase up to 9%. Accordingly, that diver is at a significant increased susecptibility to DSC and if he wants to increase his/her chances at getting bent, he/she is free to do so with another agency. Again, this all notwithstanding all of the other known problems associated with smoking. GUE is trying to take a broader approach and promote an overall different approach to diving. An approach that views diving as a sport, complete with necessary physical fitness levels, and smoking stands in stark contrast to that vantage point. Those of us that teach for GUE are fully aware that our style of teaching, and our approach will not endear us to the masses, and we are very comfortable in that regard. In our own Mission Statement, we say right from the start that we are an agency that wants to cater to the discriminating diver. Our goal will never to be to expand at the expense of sacraficing our core values and beliefs. We'd rather remain small and elite.
Regards,
Reinoud:
Actually, elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein in one's bloodstream may well contribute to elevated risk of DCS. Certainly plaque build-up compromises blood flow. Couple this with issues relating to the general behavior of gases and lipids and I would suggest a pretty good case can be made that one can draw a direct relationship between "unearned" hits and cholesterol levels. And that one can say with some conviction that divers with high levels of cholesterol should dive conservatively.
As an aside, and in response to the original question, it is outside the privacy guidelines in Ontario for me to ask a perspective student if they smoke! Go figure...
salty
Contributor
Make them run a few wind sprints, the answer should become apparent
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