Re:The World’s Greatest Freediver
by YeGoblynQueenne on Tuesday September 28, 2021 @02:03PM
(#28685621)
Blackout underwater is normally game over, especially as it tends to happen at the end of the dive and because you've run out of oxygen.
The reason that competition freedivers don't die as often as they have blackouts is because they have numerous support team members diving with them that are specifically there to rescue them if they lose consciousness.
What may not be entirely clear from the article is that competitive freedivers hyperventilate. Hyperventilation clears the lungs of CO2 and thus delays the breathing reflex that causes the feeling of suffocation, though without significantly increasing the amount of oxygen. Hyperventilating before a dive increases the risk that oxygen will run out before the breathing reflex kicks in. The training that freedivers undergo is to learn their limits and know exactly how long they can last before this happens.
In the text, there's an oblique reference to how Alexey hyperventilates, in the sentence "The breaths fill his enormous lungs" followed later by "Alexey fills his lungs with one great inhalation". "The breaths", plural, because he's taking multiple, deep breaths to clear his lungs of CO2. Then one last breath to push in as much air as he can.
We then read how he keeps checking the time. A major reason for this, left as subtext to the knowing, is that checking the time is how he keeps track of how much oxygen he has left. Since he's suppressed his breathing reflex he has no other indication of how close he is to suffocating.
As should be obvious, the least error here can be fatal. A blackout is lights out, everybody.
Source: I freedive recreationally, without hyperventilating. I love freediving. Can't freedive dead.
The reason that competition freedivers don't die as often as they have blackouts is because they have numerous support team members diving with them that are specifically there to rescue them if they lose consciousness.
What may not be entirely clear from the article is that competitive freedivers hyperventilate. Hyperventilation clears the lungs of CO2 and thus delays the breathing reflex that causes the feeling of suffocation, though without significantly increasing the amount of oxygen. Hyperventilating before a dive increases the risk that oxygen will run out before the breathing reflex kicks in. The training that freedivers undergo is to learn their limits and know exactly how long they can last before this happens.
In the text, there's an oblique reference to how Alexey hyperventilates, in the sentence "The breaths fill his enormous lungs" followed later by "Alexey fills his lungs with one great inhalation". "The breaths", plural, because he's taking multiple, deep breaths to clear his lungs of CO2. Then one last breath to push in as much air as he can.
We then read how he keeps checking the time. A major reason for this, left as subtext to the knowing, is that checking the time is how he keeps track of how much oxygen he has left. Since he's suppressed his breathing reflex he has no other indication of how close he is to suffocating.
As should be obvious, the least error here can be fatal. A blackout is lights out, everybody.
Source: I freedive recreationally, without hyperventilating. I love freediving. Can't freedive dead.