The terrible feeling of " Not enough air "

[BlueTrin]

Figured I would give an update to my original post at the start of this thread. I have successfully with flying colors passed my Open Water Certification. I finally got through my 4 open water dives. My wife (advanced open water diver) and I scheduled private open water dives 1-4 for me at a geothermal crater. These dives went perfect. Very relaxing and calming to be in 93 degree water. I had no issues what so ever with my breathing or anything else.....

Since these dives I have climbed back into colder water in a pool and put on the dreaded 7 mil wetsuit and hood (I forget to mention this in my original post). I was able to stay at 10 feet in the pool for 24 minutes breathing and did just fine. Still feel a little uncomfortable with all that heavy constricting neoprene on but its not so bad that i feel like i cant dive. The longer i stayed in it at the bottom of the pool the better it felt.

In the end.... I cant wait to get back in the water. Super excited to go diving with my wife !

That’s really great news, seems like you had a great time

 

[Steve Garnham]

Your instructor should be able to help you through this. But here is what I would suggest.

Set up your rig, and breathe for a few minutes out of the water. Get in the pool, then breathe on the surface for a few minutes. Then drop into the shallow end on your knees or squat so you can stand up but head submerged. Then sit on the bottom, breathe. Breathe until you convince your head that you can breathe underwater. Then start finning around. Burn as many tanks as necessary, although I would think 1 tank should get you close.

It's in your head, you just have to get it out of there.

Good luck,
Jay

On my first OW dive in Malta I was chugging air like there was no tomorrow. I was coming up to the surface with 50 bar, whilst my instructor had 110. On the second day we dropped to 20' , knelt, and just breathed. In for 3 secs and out for 3 secs. 10 minutes of this convinced me that the reg was delivering amply. The instructor told me the only thing I had to beat was myself...

 

[Neilwood]

On my first OW dive in Malta I was chugging air like there was no tomorrow. I was coming up to the surface with 50 bar, whilst my instructor had 110. On the second day we dropped to 20' , knelt, and just breathed. In for 3 secs and out for 3 secs. 10 minutes of this convinced me that the reg was delivering amply. The instructor told me the only thing I had to beat was myself...

Yep - the best way to get used to how much air you can get is to chill out and relax. If I am feeling stressed about anything, I try to take a moment where I just shut my eyes(only for probably 5-10 secs) and think of my breathing rate with a conscious effort on a slow rhythmical breath pattern. Trying to gulp down air just increases the CO2 response from your body (as you aren't getting rid of as much CO2 as you need to) and just makes the vicious circle tighter.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Yes! Breathe out fully, then in slowly, then breathe out fully, until you feel more relaxed and in control.

 

[Pyde]

Yes! Breathe out fully, then in slowly, then breathe out fully, until you feel more relaxed and in control.

The breathing out really helps me. I breathe out longer than I inhale. This has made all the difference in my relaxation under the water........... Now to master buoyancy

 

[Neilwood]

The breathing out really helps me. I breathe out longer than I inhale. This has made all the difference in my relaxation under the water........... Now to master buoyancy

Remember that your breathing is a HUGE part of buoyancy.

Once you have your weighting near enough spot on (by doing weight checks), you shouldn't need huge amounts of air in your BCD. The BCD should only really be needed for gross buoyancy - ie it will get you in the area of where you want to be but your lungs are the fine control. Too many divers spend too much time adding and removing air when they should use their lungs.

Try to dive with a fixed object in front of you. Breath in with a normal breath and take a mental note of how long it takes for you to start rising. Then exhale and note that the same thing works in reverse - there will be a delay in your dropping down.

Pick an amount of deviation that you are happy with (for example +/-2ft to start with). Get to your fixed point with approx half full lungs. Using slow breaths, breath in which will cause you to start to climb, and then breathe out (before you get to the highest point). That will start you going down so breath in (probably close to the point you wanted) and by the time the rising effect of your inhalation takes effect you will be slightly below it. By balancing how much you breath, the speed you breathe and the timing you will find the see-saw (teeter totter for the Yanks) gets less and less until you can hover within a few inches.

Do not stress about it though - if you do you will breath harder which makes the whole exercise harder. One thing to note is that the above exercise is a LOT harder near the surface so if you can manage it in a swimming pool at 6ft, then keeping your depth at 20+ft will be a lot easier (the same lungful of air will have progressively less effect the deeper you go).

You will, at some point, find that you are doing it without actively thinking about it. It is an awesome feeling that you have finally "got it".

 

[Fletch1]

I had the exact same issue my first pool session. My instructor said there’s one in every class that has the “Mind vs Body” debate. Your mind is telling you this isn’t normal, you shouldn’t be able to breath under water, you need to get to the surface and your body is telling you Hey I got this, I’ve got air, I’m good. I find it easier to go under, take a few breaths, then surface (still breath through reg) then descend. For me it’s just brain reassurance that nothing is different between breathing through my reg at the surface and breathing though it under water. I’m sitting out the OW dives (happening right now) due to a double we infection but actually looking forward to being able to have more pool time and practice with next months class.