Does Nitrox make you feel better? (split from Nitrox on OW course)

[RJP]

Great the divers where using Nitrox, But what percentage?? 22% to 99% Give a diver doing a open water course a 32% mix sure they will come out of the water feeling better than 21%

A.) Anything above 0% O₂ is technically nitrox

B.) Why will a diver feel better diving 32% than if they were diving 21%?

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Look what I found using the search function. It's really cool try it sometime.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/172366-does-nitrox-make-you-feel-good.html

Now my Opinion.
Nitrox seemed to have some benefits for me when doing week long 3+ dives a day and when diving 80-110 feet. Other than that I use air. Just my opinion but I usually don't get a Nitrox fill to do a single or 2 dives to 60' and then I won't be diving for at least a week.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

A.) Anything above 0% O₂ is technically nitrox

Only if the remaining percentage is Nitrogen??? (just splitting hairs sorry! )

 

[KY_BOB]

A.) Anything above 0% O₂ is technically nitrox

B.) Why will a diver feel better diving 32% than if they were diving 21%?

I read but never get into these debates. Maybe it's the overdose of turkey today, I don't know why I picked this one.

A: true (edit: I stand corrected. "Only if the remaining percentage is Nitrogen??? (just splitting hairs sorry!)" would be the correct answer. got to give credit to 1 T for that one)

B: ...the whole point of this thread. It doesn't me but it seems to have that effect on some.

The problem is that there is no way to test how someone "feels". Tests can be done to see how much, whatever chemical, endorphin, or whatever is in someone but feeling is purely an opinion.

 

[bleeb]

If some feel better after breathing higher concentrations of O2, well they are not alone in the world. Living at 9000', I see the impact of thin air on folks who are not acclimated to less O2. Working in Denver, it's a common site to see folks running around with O2 bottles. More so than in other cities I have lived at low elevation.

So argue the feeling impact all you like to no end, but the reality is that higher levels of O2 is beneficial

Not sure that particular argument is relevant to the discussion (neither for nor against) for two reasons.

I believe the first is a point one of the medical types brought up during one of the previous incarnations of this discussion. Basically, at altitude, a person may have less oxygen than they're used to. At depth, with non-technical gas mixes, a person has all the oxygen their system can use regardless of mix, and unless their cardio system has significant problems (in which case why are they diving?), their blood O2 saturation isn't going to change significantly with depth or what they're breathing.

This is a bit speculative, but as a result, I think most people on both sides of the argument tend to feel any benefits of nitrox are from the reduced nitrogen content, and not the extra oxygen.

 

[RonFrank]

...I think most people on both sides of the argument tend to feel any benefits of nitrox are from the reduced nitrogen content, and not the extra oxygen.

The reduced nitrogen content is BECAUSE of the higher O2 content?

I also indicated:

What one should be acknowledging is that rich air mixes slow nitrogen buildup, and that is a good thing!

So teet, tat, whatever, more O2 = less nitrogen. We can ignore the O2 altogether.. but ohh wait, that is the other gas involved. We are not discussing some other third party ingredient. The O2 is also rather important in calculating P02?

We can throw helium into the equation, but this is a basic discussion..

And some folks DO feel higher concentrations of O2 help. That was the point I was making as well, even if I believe it's difficult to argue subjective things.

 

[holeup]

I have a case point that will prove one mix can make you feel better than another and put an end to this debate. Breath CO2 for 1.5 minutes at any given depth then switch to any % Nitrox and I guarantee you will feel 200% better, if of course you actually survive.

(please dont actually try this)

 

[Van Isle]

FACT: I perform better, am more alert, have better cognitive and motor skills (there, see how I removed "*feel* better") after diving on EAN32.
FACT: for a given dive that I do, EAN32 reduces nitrogen loading compared to air.

Good enough.

Please understand that we don't always need the scientific method to understand things. The scientific method is but ONE way to gain knowledge. For example, there have never been any double blind, repeatable, placebo blah blah studies that will tell me if I will feel worse or better if I am hit by a semi truck at 100mph while crossing the road...yet I can be pretty sure I know will feel worse. Sure, an Einsteinian will say there is a non-zero probability that I will pass through the truck, but...

VI

 

[holeup]

FACT: I perform better, am more alert, have better cognitive and motor skills (there, see how I removed "*feel* better") after diving on EAN32.
FACT: for a given dive that I do, EAN32 reduces nitrogen loading compared to air.

Good enough.

Please understand that we don't always need the scientific method to understand things. The scientific method is but ONE way to gain knowledge. For example, there have never been any double blind, repeatable, placebo blah blah studies that will tell me if I will feel worse or better if I am hit by a semi truck at 100mph while crossing the road...yet I can be pretty sure I know will feel worse. Sure, an Einsteinian will say there is a non-zero probability that I will pass through the truck, but...

VI

Einstein did not dive. He has no bearing on this subject whatsoever

 

[jridg]

I used to DM for an instructor and would do up to six dives a day at times. At the beginning of working with this instructor, I would have a headache following multiple dive days (more than three dives). When I took the Nitrox class and began diving nitrox, I found the headaches did not occur on days such as those.

Other than that, I love it for extending bottom time and the reduced dry mouth effect.

That's all I have to base it on - my own observations over several years. I dive nitrox whenever I am able - and I am not always able because, oddly, most shops in my area do not pump nitrox.