diver 85
Contributor
1 strating place is to breath like you do on land----then alter that routine if need be?????....
Breathing basics?
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Booyakasha
Registered
I don't see any issues with short pauses in breathing while you are diving or slowing or extending an inhale or exhale. If you are using your lungs for boyancy control and to move your self up and down small distances. I do it all the time exploring reefs if I am going to need to look under a ledge or go through a low swim through I will exhale almost completely to make my self sink sometimes pausing at the bottom of the exhale and then very slowly inhaling. The opposite is true when I want to go look up on top of a coral mound or something. I will take a deep breath inhaling till I get to where I want to go and then exhale slowly to I am neutral again. I really find that your lungs are the best way to move you up and down in the water column during a dive.
B.
B.
2 Big 2 Fail
Contributor
I present this, and you can do with it what you want.
Unfortunately, what for most people is "normal" breathing is thoroughly abnormal. There are two physical mechanisms that will, to one degree or another, get air into the lungs. They are the diaphragm and the array of chest muscles. The diaphragm is a substantial mass of continuous muscle that moves downward to increase the size of the chest cavity and therefore the compartment around the lungs. The chest muscles, between the ribs and elsewhere, expand the chest outward. The diaphragm is by far the most effective. It is also how you breathed before you learned stress, fear and tension and became a chest breather. Watch a baby breath. The abdomen, not the chest, moves. Watch most adults breath. Only the chest moves. Forming the habit of using the diaphragm, rather than the chest, does two things. One is the the lower reaches of the lungs get air in and out, because the diaphragm more fully fills the lungs. More available oxygen. Less retained (in the lungs - more on this later) CO2. It also leaves the chest relaxed, which avoids tension in those muscle groups where physical stress is part of mental stress. Because lung function is more efficient with diaphragmatic breathing, the rate can be much slower. The proper cycle has a short and deep inhalation that fills the lungs and a long, slow exhalation that empties them and expels a maximum of CO2 and depleted air.
Advice to breath normally is correct. But with some practice, actual normal breathing can become a habit. The "long, slow breaths" advice has to be viewed with care. If that means to you that you should breath slowly and deeply in and then slowly and deeply out, you may well be hyperventilating. And disrupting normal CO2 levels is not good. CO2 is not evil. The long, slow exhalation of proper breathing helps maintain an adequate blood CO2 and is proper following deep inhalation. Oddly, the poor rapid shallow breathing habits of most people, puffing along at 12 or more per minute when three would better serve, seems to most often result in abnormally low blood CO2 from rapid breathing than high CO2 from shallow breathing. Low CO2 produces a galaxy of too many bad effects to go through here.
Divers, of course, don't always breath unconsciously, at least until very highly experienced indeed. Conscious buoyancy control may change the pattern a bit, but the fundamentals still apply. This is, of course, not strictly a diving issue, but there's a lot of benefit to divers to become habitually good breathers. Respiration is our primary concern, and managing stress reaction is a close second.
Unfortunately, what for most people is "normal" breathing is thoroughly abnormal. There are two physical mechanisms that will, to one degree or another, get air into the lungs. They are the diaphragm and the array of chest muscles. The diaphragm is a substantial mass of continuous muscle that moves downward to increase the size of the chest cavity and therefore the compartment around the lungs. The chest muscles, between the ribs and elsewhere, expand the chest outward. The diaphragm is by far the most effective. It is also how you breathed before you learned stress, fear and tension and became a chest breather. Watch a baby breath. The abdomen, not the chest, moves. Watch most adults breath. Only the chest moves. Forming the habit of using the diaphragm, rather than the chest, does two things. One is the the lower reaches of the lungs get air in and out, because the diaphragm more fully fills the lungs. More available oxygen. Less retained (in the lungs - more on this later) CO2. It also leaves the chest relaxed, which avoids tension in those muscle groups where physical stress is part of mental stress. Because lung function is more efficient with diaphragmatic breathing, the rate can be much slower. The proper cycle has a short and deep inhalation that fills the lungs and a long, slow exhalation that empties them and expels a maximum of CO2 and depleted air.
Advice to breath normally is correct. But with some practice, actual normal breathing can become a habit. The "long, slow breaths" advice has to be viewed with care. If that means to you that you should breath slowly and deeply in and then slowly and deeply out, you may well be hyperventilating. And disrupting normal CO2 levels is not good. CO2 is not evil. The long, slow exhalation of proper breathing helps maintain an adequate blood CO2 and is proper following deep inhalation. Oddly, the poor rapid shallow breathing habits of most people, puffing along at 12 or more per minute when three would better serve, seems to most often result in abnormally low blood CO2 from rapid breathing than high CO2 from shallow breathing. Low CO2 produces a galaxy of too many bad effects to go through here.
Divers, of course, don't always breath unconsciously, at least until very highly experienced indeed. Conscious buoyancy control may change the pattern a bit, but the fundamentals still apply. This is, of course, not strictly a diving issue, but there's a lot of benefit to divers to become habitually good breathers. Respiration is our primary concern, and managing stress reaction is a close second.
To answer your original question: There is nothing at all wrong with pausing at the end of inhalation OR exhalation . . . so long as the airway is kept open. The problem is that most people don't know the difference between an open airway and a closed glottis, so the prescription for divers is simplified to "never hold your breath", because that's safe.
As you sit here at the computer, take a deep breath, hold it, and bear down like you're trying to cough (without actually doing it). That's a closed glottis. Now take a deep breath and "hold" it, but breathe very, very tiny breaths in and out. That's an open airway. Feel the difference in your throat? You can learn to be conscious of this underwater, too, although most very new divers are so bandwidth-deficient (so MANY things to think about!) that it's probably dangerous to trust that they can reliably monitor this one -- thus the "don't hold your breath" principle.
I think most experienced divers use a breathing pattern that involves a small pause at the end of each phase, but it's important not to prolong it, because that's called "skip breathing", and results in CO2 retention.
A respiratory rate of about 10 to 12 is normal. Normal people (without lung disease) will keep their pCO2 VERY close to 40. It's quite unusual for a normal human being to run a pCO2 below 40 in a non-stressed situation. CO2 is a key part of pH control, and the body is pretty darned careful about keeping the pH at 7.4 and the pCO2 normal. Certain disease states perturb that, and stress and anxiety can result in blowing off significant CO2. But to state that people should have a normal respiratory rate of 3 is bad advice, I'm sorry.
And again to the OP: Although you didn't ask the question of how to reduce gas consumption, a lot of people have given you some good information. I have a small essay I wrote some time back on the topic, that you might also find useful.
As you sit here at the computer, take a deep breath, hold it, and bear down like you're trying to cough (without actually doing it). That's a closed glottis. Now take a deep breath and "hold" it, but breathe very, very tiny breaths in and out. That's an open airway. Feel the difference in your throat? You can learn to be conscious of this underwater, too, although most very new divers are so bandwidth-deficient (so MANY things to think about!) that it's probably dangerous to trust that they can reliably monitor this one -- thus the "don't hold your breath" principle.
I think most experienced divers use a breathing pattern that involves a small pause at the end of each phase, but it's important not to prolong it, because that's called "skip breathing", and results in CO2 retention.
A respiratory rate of about 10 to 12 is normal. Normal people (without lung disease) will keep their pCO2 VERY close to 40. It's quite unusual for a normal human being to run a pCO2 below 40 in a non-stressed situation. CO2 is a key part of pH control, and the body is pretty darned careful about keeping the pH at 7.4 and the pCO2 normal. Certain disease states perturb that, and stress and anxiety can result in blowing off significant CO2. But to state that people should have a normal respiratory rate of 3 is bad advice, I'm sorry.
And again to the OP: Although you didn't ask the question of how to reduce gas consumption, a lot of people have given you some good information. I have a small essay I wrote some time back on the topic, that you might also find useful.
2 Big 2 Fail
Contributor
In isolation, it would indeed be incorrect to blindly advice most people to simply breath at a much lower rate. A rate of 10 to 12 is the expected rate, and could therefore be considered "normal" for most of the population for which poor habits are so common that departure from that range may be considered abnormal for them. Their shallow breathing requires them to breath at the higher rate. My own rate at relative rest is more like 4, perhaps 5, and unconsciously lower under other conditions. If I were to breath 12 time per minute at rest, I would be hyperventilating.
It would be pointless for me to relate my experience that cannot be directly shared or examined in an Internet post. It is quite easy for anyone to make their own inquiries and explore the matter for themselves.
jdetmold
Registered
I havent been diving for long about a year but my consumption rate when way down when I put a camera in my hand! when i thought about it latter the camera distracted me from thinking about my breathing and i just breath normally.
fire_diver
Contributor
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
A lot of people try to rely on breathing techniques to extend bottom times and come away with mixed results. The reason for this is simple. Slower breathing increases the CO2 in your system. Unfortunately, CO2 is the main trigger for breathing and once elevated, it's hard to get it back down without consuming a ton of air. IOW, it's counter productive to try and conserve air by skip breathing. Your breathing rate will increase and you may very well develop a headache.
However, proper breathing technique will keep you calm and will help your buoyancy. Rather than concentrate on your breathing, just concentrate on relaxing. Put your hands together, get your buoyancy just right and relax. Use just your feet to propel yourself and to change direction. It will be unnatural at first as many people rely on their hands for not only directional change, but to compensate for poor buoyancy. You'll find that keeping your hands together will help you to nail your buoyancy rather quickly and it will drastically reduce your air consumption.
However, proper breathing technique will keep you calm and will help your buoyancy. Rather than concentrate on your breathing, just concentrate on relaxing. Put your hands together, get your buoyancy just right and relax. Use just your feet to propel yourself and to change direction. It will be unnatural at first as many people rely on their hands for not only directional change, but to compensate for poor buoyancy. You'll find that keeping your hands together will help you to nail your buoyancy rather quickly and it will drastically reduce your air consumption.
kimbalabala
Contributor
I really liked Kari's response - visualizing is GREAT! When I am stressed in the water I tend to hyperventilate, and I'm not sure that my form of hyperventilating is the same as everyone else's (not a doc and don't play one on tv) but I find that I take quick gulps (intakes) of breath without completely exhaling what I already have in my lungs. I actually wrote on my slate "EXHALE" to remind myself that there are two parts of the breathing process - in and out!! It seems that when I'm anxious I have no problem remembering to inhale - it's the EXhaling I forget about! Anyway, I don't think I would consciously allow a "pause" after an exhale - rather, I would focus on complete evacuation of all air followed by a new intake of fresh air. Just my 2 cents.
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