Tight suit equals high air consumption

[fisherdvm]

I dove in cozumel last week. First two days, I dove with a tight suit on my chest. My air consumption was terrible. I took off the suit and dove with a T shirt the last 3 days, and my air consumption was back to normal.

Tight restrictive suit make it hard to have maximum breath capacity, and thus make you less efficient....

Now I know, have you experienced this before??

 

[nagel]

I don't know if actually the tightness of the suit has anything to do with it, but it possibly does. For me, I hate the feeling of being constricted in any way; in fact, I have to cut a slit in the collar of my t-shirts because I hate the feeling of something tight around my neck. (Go figure, I'm a diver and hate this) Anyway, I've dove in T-shirts and wetsuits, and when I have the unconstricted feeling of a t-shirt, I am more relaxed; therefore, my air consumption is much better. I would also say that my buoyancy is much better in a t-shirt; which, leads to relaxation; which leads to calmer feeling; which leads to less air consumption.

By the way, for me, forget about the farmer john, way too constrictive for me I can actual feel that hyper feeling in a farmer john.

Just my 0.02.

S. Nagel

 

[in_cavediver]

First, I doubt the suit tightness had a direct impact on your air consumption. If it did, you would have breathing difficulties on the surface as well as below.

That said, the suit was likely a significant stressor and stressors cause increased air consumption. The larger the stressor, the greater the impact. Remove the stressor, you relax and your air consumption goes down.

 

[HowardE]

A lot of people have an improvement in their air consumption on the latter half of a multi-day trip. Maybe it had nothing to do with the suit.

But along in_cavediver's point... if you think that it will improve your SAC, then it probably will.

 

[spectrum]

Now I know, have you experienced this before??

Good lesson. A tight suit will drive a premature exhale and force less efficient use of you air supply. Meanwhile pulling harder to fill your lungs will create an uneasiness that will be a stressor in it's own right and it all goes downhill from there. If you were venturing down to a new maximum depth or were otherwise challenged the effect could have been dangerous.

I had a 7mm suit that was a little tight in the chest and after a 90 minute skin-dive it had actually strained some abdominal muscles to the point where my ribs hurt and my breathing was not quite right for several weeks. When I got it and before I went in it really did not feel all that tight but the strain was cumulative. That's why I say to watch out for a suit that helps you exhale in any way.

Pete

 

[fisherdvm]

My theory is tidal volume. On the surface, I can feel that my breath are really shallow. Deep below, it gets worse.

Without the suit, I feel I can take deep deep breath. Last year, I wore a loose fitting shortie, and had no air consumption issue.

 

[spectrum]

My theory is tidal volume. On the surface, I can feel that my breath are really shallow. Deep below, it gets worse.

Without the suit, I feel I can take deep deep breath. Last year, I wore a loose fitting shortie, and had no air consumption issue.

Tidal volume without a doubt will suffer and drive usage.

Depending on the tune of your regulator and how deep you went, depth could make it even worse. There is also the disconcerting feeling of needing to work for your air with a lot of water over your head.

No good can come from a poorly fitted wetsuit, or any dive gear for that mater.