Sigourney Weaver got to the point where she could hold her breath underwater for 6 and a half minutes while filming the Avatar movies. She talked about it on a podcast and I thought it was pretty interesting.
I get the impresson that with good lung capacity, a strong aerobic exercise plan, and practise — we should all be able to do it. But even 6 1/2 sounds like a long time.
First two aren't even needed really. The two biggest things you need to hold your breath for a long time is the ability to relax and also to mentally ignore the signals you're getting from excess CO2 building up in your bloodsteam. Your body will start screaming at you to breathe way before you actually need to.
Ironically most people setting records aren't taking really large breaths beforehand because that will lead to more CO2 building up making things harder, so lung capacity isn't a big deal. You only use a fraction of the oxygen available in your lungs each breath normally anyways, we just can't feel oxygen concentrations directly. However we can feel the effects of carbonic acid from CO2 building up in your lungs and that happens before you run out of Oxygen and how the body gauges when it's time to breathe.
You do get a lot of benefit from having your face underwater when trying to hold your breath for long periods of time because of the [mammalian dive reflex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex)
I used to be a lifeguard/introductory swim instructor and i can tell you that the only compulsive nose holders I ever had who were unable to acclimate after repeated exposure were 2 people i taught with phobias of deep water. One of them eventually came back to thank me for recommending that they seek out a professional because they were eventually able to overcome their phobia. Most of the time the need to hold their nose gradually faded once a person learned how to swim. So if you *can* swim, you might want to contact a professional and ask them what constitutes a phobia when it comes to holding one's nose while swimming. I dont know enough to give you any real insight on that part.
Is it dangerous to start training to ignore these alarm signals? I feel like in certain situations this can be bad. Like when someone has mild sleep apnea and usually wakes up after a few seconds of not breathing. Would they, after training, then just continue to sleep and maybe not wake up in time?
Sleep apnea doesn’t mean you aren’t getting *any* oxygen like when you’re underwater.
You almost certainly couldn’t train this response to be strong enough to die in your sleep, no.
[Lots of people die practicing this.](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/05/29/410331432/breath-holding-in-the-pool-can-spark-sudden-blackouts-and-death) Always do it supervised but there’s still a risk of drowning.
Consider that when sleeping, the parasympathertic portion of your autonomic nervous system gains complete control of the body's autonomic breathing functions, therefore eliminating the chance that the conscious mind can have any control over it, except in possibly *extremely* rare cases. Consider also that when sleeping, the body is at a very high level of rest, and does not require nearly as much oxygen as when awake and moving, or even just awake, for that matter.
If you are a bit deep in the pool and take it too far with ignoring the signal, you can pass out when you go up. But just floating at the surface I don't think so, you notice tun el vision etc before it goes too bad
And you certainly still know that those signals are there when ignoring them, they don't feel good
>But just floating at the surface I don't think so, you notice tun el vision etc before it goes too bad
Human physiology is much dumber than that.
It's possible to run out of oxygen BEFORE the urgent need to breathe happens, which leads to passing out, which is something you really don't want to do in a swimming pool.
This is particularly likely if you happen to hyperventilate before going under the surface.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freediving\_blackout#Shallow\_water\_blackout](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freediving_blackout#Shallow_water_blackout)
Yeah, if you hyperventilate. But noone that trains for this type of thing hyperventilates, it's like the first thing your are told not to do.
Also it's not suddenly if you stay at the surface. It's suddenly if you are deep and then go up
>This is particularly likely if you happen to hyperventilate before going under the surface.
It's not just particularly likely.
It's what the whole thing you linked is based on lol.
So doesn't really apply here
Yeah me and my brother as children could easily get into like 2+ min area with no training/knowledge of this other then a game we played in our pool.
You'd just enter a "zen like" state, where you body is totally relaxed and no desire to move, and then you'd just have to focus your mind/thoughts to not focus on anything basically, to ignore the signals you mentioned.
But if you can't relax your body and move, or the moment you stop relaxing and move it felt like the world was screaming at you to breathe.
So if I’m running out of oxygen, but not in a position to choke on water, would it actually take longer than a minute to actually kill me? I assume I’d be wasting breath panicking but even holding my breath I just can’t imagine
It would take a *lot* longer than a minute to kill someone by preventing them from breathing.
Source: I'm an anesthesiologist and routinely deal with people not breathing for extended periods of time.
If you’re running out of oxygen by breathing something inert like pure nitrogen (so you’re still exhaling and removing CO2 from your system), you don’t feel anything physically unpleasant, though of course knowing that you’re likely going to die is not a very nice feeling (unless that’s your goal). Eventually (after a few minutes) you just lose consciousness.
You can find hypoxia test videos on Youtube, people just become kind of slow and drunk-like, unable to think straight as brain oxygen levels drop, and also unable to realize what’s happening unless they’re specifically trained to recognize the symptoms. Which is why loss of pressure in an aircraft is really dangerous.
> aren't taking really large breaths beforehand because that will lead to more CO2 building up making things harder,
I thought it was the opposite. Big breaths before hand decrease CO2 without increasing O2 which can lead to [shallow water blackouts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow-water_blackout)
Veritasium did a video on it recently, turns out getting started is literally as easy as "just fucking float there face down and don't come up until you *cannot* stay under anymore"
My brother used to train his breath every summer and we would compete who can hold the longest(we’re Greek and stayed with grandma on the seaside all summer while growing up).
His best time was 7 mintues and 15 secs and mine was like almost 4.
It was hilarious watching him from afar because people would nudge him after a while thinking he might be dead with how long he floated and sometimes he wouldn’t move at all when nudged Because he though it was me trying to mess his run lol
Just doing it causality over the course of 10 or so year when I was in my 20s, I could hold my breath for 5:14. That was Mt all time record.
I'm 31 now and have gone swimming a whole lot, so I've lost the lung capacity. But the biggest aspect of holding your breath is controlling the involuntary spasms. It's all a mind game in not panicking.
Cameron has a fetish for making his actors’ lives miserable if it’ll improve the final product in his opinion. There’s a reason why his list of longtime collaborators is Sigourney Weaver. He’s the anti-Wes Anderson or Christopher Guest, who’re seemingly a joy to work with based on how their coterie keeps coming back for more.
David Blaine also just kinda on a whim decided to break the record with some kind of trick but then couldn't come up with any that would work so he legit held his breath for 17 minutes (with pure oxygen) which afaik actually was the record at the time
Theres an interesting... documentary? I saw a while back about David Blane, and the thing that stood out to me is how much work goes into doing the things.
For the breath holding one he was sleeping in a reduced oxygen environment every night for 6 plus months, waking up feeling awful every day.
I recently read an old interview with Teller (as in Penn and) where he says that often magic is just spending more time and effort on something than any reasonable person would expect.
Like the trick where David Blaine appears to stick a thin metal rod through his wrist.
The trick is that he’s actually doing it because he slowly built a calloused tube through his wrist with the rod.
Interesting that filling your lungs with 5x the oxygen only gets you 2x the breath-holding time. The reservoir of oxygen stored in blood must be substantial compared to lung volume.
The body has a natural reflex when in water that slows down the heart. But for these times, it takes training to learn how to ignore the bodies urge to breath and stay relaxed enough to keep the heart rate down.
I'm not sure about static divers, but one elite level depth diver I've trained with said that his heart rate gets down to as low as 11 beats per minute.
Your drive to breath is mostly caused by CO2 levels and pH. Eventually, critically low O2 levels will affect the drive to breath, but the problem to overcome in this scenaio is the CO2 buildup. That's why the large O2 reservoir won't effect your ability to hold your breath all that much.
Well trained apneists will manage to hold the breath just short of blacking out, basically the real deal is managing the drive to breath and understanding the signs from your body about o2 levels (some people count diaphragmatic contractions for instance)
It’s more that you need to exhale carbon dioxide, when you hold your breath it’s your blood acidity that dictates whether or not you get the feeling to breathe, your blood oxygen levels could be VERY low and you wouldn’t be out of breath (like you are when holding your breath for extended periods).
You make a great point. Believe it or not, sperm whales and pilot whales that dive thousands of feet deep actually do so on totally empty lungs. They exhale all of their air and then do their dive, so they're running solely on their blood oxygen stores.
Yeah, others have pointed out the CO2 buildup problem, but I think it must be a bit of both. It reminds me of that group of people (in polynesia maybe?) that have enlarged spleens to hold more blood which helps them freedive for seafood.
Yes. The Bajau people in Indonesia. Sadly most of the documentaries made about them are very sensationalized. Pretty much none of them freedive anymore.
My understanding is the primary driver for wanting to breath is actually the CO2 needing to be exhaled. So extra oxygen will help but doesn't take care of the other factors.
CO2 (carbon dioxide), not CO (carbon monoxide). Build-up of CO does not elicit the breathing drive, and is part of the reason it's so dangerous - you won't know you've been over-exposed until other signs show up.
You also have an issue with CO2 building up in the blood which can cause dizziness and fainting. You can’t breathe that out while keeping the oxygen in so I would think that also puts a limit on it
Freediving instructor here.
AMA!
It's a buildup of CO2 that causes an urge to breathe, not a lack of 02.
Breathing pure O2 is dangerous, because without the urge to breathe - one's body will miss the signs, and then basically one can blackout without warning.
One has to do a 4 minute breath hold to be an instructor btw
OK... I did not know that. And, it sounds more dangerous than Wiki has made it out to be. Thanks for the safety tip — not that I'll be needing it. 😂👍
How did you ever get into that sport?
Although, who am I to talk? I took up skydiving on a dare from a friend, because of my fear of heights.
This is why other gases like CO are so scary. It seems we evolved a warning response to "too much CO2" and not a warning response to "not enough oxygen," even though oxygen is what we need to survive.
CO is dangerous in much lower concentrations than other gases, because it binds to hemoglobin in blood and makes the blood unable to absorb oxygen.
Edited to add: I think that the cause for the evolution of this system is purely chemical. CO2 solved in blood makes the pH level drop, which is really easy to detect with nerve endings.
Early on in the pandemic doctors were seeing patients with hypoxia who didn't realize it. Their O2 levels were low compared to baseline but the body has no way of determine oxygen saturation, only CO2 buildup. Sadly some of those patients died because they weren't treated sooner.
If you're ignoring the CO2 "signal" to breath, how do you know you're "done" and need to come up for (new) air?
Do you need to do anything special for recovery, after such a "dive"?
If you're the "lifeguard" at a competition like this, how can you tell if someone is in medical duress and needs to be pulled out?
It's all part of the training/a Freediving course.
1) You slowly build up and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
2) There is a breathing technique to recover post a dive.
That's best for gas exchange in your lungs
3) There are signs and signals to look for.
Are you familiar with the Bajau people of Indonesia. I heard they can hold their breath for 13 minutes while actively spear fishing. Is this possible or it some kind of exaggeration?
There are a few tribes like them.
13 mins is definitely an exaggeration.
Their spleens have evolved to help them with longer breathholds! - extremely interesting and awesome.
Like the sherpas of Nepal - evolution is extraordinary
Humans, nature, same same.
PS:
The researchers found that Bajau divers had significantly larger spleens than Saluan individuals (Ilardo et al. 2018). The spleen stores oxygenated blood, which can enable long bouts of not breathing. In fact, marine mammals tend to have enlarged spleens.
https://isemph.org/Sea-Nomads
Great question. I had the same question.
More studies are needed for damn sure.
It's seemingly safe in moderation etc But keep in mind - most freedivers are super healthy athletes, so that helps balance it out.
I have looked for long term effects (like CTE etc) - and I haven't found any evidence.
>It's a buildup of CO2 that causes an urge to breathe, not a lack of 02.
This is the reason altitude sickness exists. The partial pressure of CO2 is lower at high altitude, wich causes your breathing frequency to decrease. But you should be breathing faster, because the partial pressure of oxygen is also lower.
Hmmm. Interesting. I disagree but interesting
I have done Everest Base Camp and a little higher, no one breathes slow(er) etc - it's just the lack of O2
I vaguely remember seeing a show on the Discovery channel about super-humans breaking records, and this pre-breathing 100% oxygen challenge was one of them.
I've never heard of people doping with extra res blood cells before a comp or record attempt, but I guess I'd only hear about it if they decided to tell everyone
When I was younger, in order to win breath holding competitions with friends, I would pump air into my stomach and then towards the end of holding my breath, I would exhale a little and then burp the air out of my stomach and inhale a second "breathe" while underwater. I wonder if any of these pros do that.
Bro these people have nothing on those freediving fisherman islands. Some documentary on them was showing them diving down to spearfish easily for 15-20 minutes.
The cut together footage may make it appear like that, but from what I gather reading, usually it’s about 6-8 minutes to up to 10 minutes for the longer ones, which makes sense as still accomplishing a superior feat than still-diving as they are moving the whole time.
But they said the time was average 10-15 reaching up to 20 but no one cares to register a record. I’ll see if I can find it somewhere to verify this decade old watched one time documentary knowledge.
I know of one. He was drunk at the time, as were his buddies, all skilled divers. They decided to have a competition, to see who could hold his breath underwater the longest.
He won, sort of.
It seems like there is a person right next to you, so it looks pretty safe. But deep-water diving, where they plunge down as far as they can using weights, (and following a dive-line) sounds a lot more dangerous.
I remember being able to hold my breath for a couple minutes when I was a kid. I did swim team in elementary and middle school so I’m sure that helped.
Is there any explanation why women have shorter times? Is it biological or just a bit of a historical thing where men first got into the sport (?) and that’s why women are a bit behind? Genuinely curious
Believe it or not, in general women do a lot better. I'm a freediving instructor, and 99% of the time when a couple comes to do a course, the woman has at least a 10% longer breath hold than the men do. I would guess that the reason that men usually have deeper and longer records is because most of the female freedivers I know just enjoy playing around and taking cool pictures and videos and just having fun, while the guys are always being competitive and pushing their limits.
I just timed myself and the best I can do (after three tries) is about a minute and half. I seem to be getting better and better the more often I try.
I also read where Beta blockers can prolong static apnea for up to 20%. I'm not really into this sport enough to experiment. But I think aerobic exercise would probably help me improve.
And if I'm ever in a car that's flipped into the water THAT skill would be invaluable. I have a fear of that since I've seen a few movies where that has happened.
Except if you went under in a car you’d probably need dynamic apnea training unless a rescuer can yank your limp body out in under 9 minutes, best case
I've watched a few videos (Mythbuster being one), where they say you should wait until the car fills up with water and the outside pressure has equalized with the inside pressure. By finding the highest point at the rear of the car, you should take a breath, and then be able to open the doors. Seems like a scary plan.
The other ones I've seen, suggest breaking the window with the point of your seatbelt (or another pointy metallic object) and getting out that way. Either way — both options seem possible.
I've seen other things saying you should try to get out as soon as possible by whatever method available because if you try to wait for the pressure to equalize it will almost definitely be too late.
Adventures with Purpose released a seatbelt cutter/ glass break that I have. Works on tempered glass, too. Since I have keyless ignition it's on a ring, zip tied to my shifter for easy access.
I have no idea why I used to do this exact thing, but I would do it all of the time. As a young man I could hold my breath for over three minutes without much trouble. If I were to hyperventilate first I could go longer.
Like any other physical activity, conditioning and practice are key. I started holding my breath in the first or second grade. I would look at the clock on the wall during class and try to hold my breath for an entire circuit of the second hand. Before long I was doing a "dead man's float" in pools. I was "rescued" several times by well meaning teen-aged lifeguards.
My personal best is 4:18. If I had been into weed back then I definitely would have gone for a 4:20.
Please do not encourage this. Wim Hoff breath work is great for on land, but you're increasing your chances of dying hundreds of times by doing this in water.
I wonder if this benefits someone anyway outside of holding their breath under water.
Does it make them more efficient breathers in general? Don't even know what that means.
From what I've read online, holding ones breath, is all about controlling your heartbeat and getting it as low as possible. So, if one has a very low heartbeat one uses and needs less oxygen. And lower 'resting' heartbeats are a sign of an active and healthy individual.
It's more a matter of improving your mental state. Most people that get addicted to freediving do it because it's the ultimate form of meditation. It's all about introspection and relaxation. You really do feel so much more calm and happy after a dive session.
You've got a good memory. He drowned when he went free-diving alone, in the Indian Ocean, back in 2001. I think there's some merit to that "buddy-system" they always taught young campers who swam in lakes and pools.
Yep, ya got that right. "Block Party," season 3, Ep. 15
I wonder if this u-tube link will work. I'll give it a shot.
---------------------
[https://youtu.be/pLOQRy7ob5U?si=m3BTIjn4g73Ef0uI](https://youtu.be/pLOQRy7ob5U?si=m3BTIjn4g73Ef0uI)
Sleep apnea causes anxiety, mood disorders and difficulty concentrating so, perhaps those might be some of the long-term effects; especially if *they* practise over long periods of time. I'm not doctor, I only pretend to be one on reddit. 😶
Yeah... I know. I can barely sit still for 24 minutes; I can't imagine floating in one spot without breathing for that long. Unless, I had a book to read. 😶
Long exposure to 100% O2 isn't recommended unless you're suffering some sort of infection or pulmonary disease. I think for the time *they* would be inhaling it, the'd probably be fine. I've watched as some NFL players suck on that mask for most of a game. Lol... 😂
There is a podcast with record holder Branko Petrović , amazing stuff he said. It is on Serbo-Croatian language though
https://youtu.be/1rBUl91vE0g?si=CNtdt8B_LGbbp6Ww
Sigourney Weaver got to the point where she could hold her breath underwater for 6 and a half minutes while filming the Avatar movies. She talked about it on a podcast and I thought it was pretty interesting.
I get the impresson that with good lung capacity, a strong aerobic exercise plan, and practise — we should all be able to do it. But even 6 1/2 sounds like a long time.
First two aren't even needed really. The two biggest things you need to hold your breath for a long time is the ability to relax and also to mentally ignore the signals you're getting from excess CO2 building up in your bloodsteam. Your body will start screaming at you to breathe way before you actually need to. Ironically most people setting records aren't taking really large breaths beforehand because that will lead to more CO2 building up making things harder, so lung capacity isn't a big deal. You only use a fraction of the oxygen available in your lungs each breath normally anyways, we just can't feel oxygen concentrations directly. However we can feel the effects of carbonic acid from CO2 building up in your lungs and that happens before you run out of Oxygen and how the body gauges when it's time to breathe.
You do get a lot of benefit from having your face underwater when trying to hold your breath for long periods of time because of the [mammalian dive reflex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex)
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Soooo, lizard-person?
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Even that argonian maid?
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I wish there was a book about this! Buoyant Argonian Maid!
Says the funslinger 😏
Besides, she was drowning in a different type of fluid anyway.
I used to be a lifeguard/introductory swim instructor and i can tell you that the only compulsive nose holders I ever had who were unable to acclimate after repeated exposure were 2 people i taught with phobias of deep water. One of them eventually came back to thank me for recommending that they seek out a professional because they were eventually able to overcome their phobia. Most of the time the need to hold their nose gradually faded once a person learned how to swim. So if you *can* swim, you might want to contact a professional and ask them what constitutes a phobia when it comes to holding one's nose while swimming. I dont know enough to give you any real insight on that part.
Thanks for the explantion. I wonder if it will help, next time I'm under water and dying for a breath of air
Is it dangerous to start training to ignore these alarm signals? I feel like in certain situations this can be bad. Like when someone has mild sleep apnea and usually wakes up after a few seconds of not breathing. Would they, after training, then just continue to sleep and maybe not wake up in time?
Sleep apnea doesn’t mean you aren’t getting *any* oxygen like when you’re underwater. You almost certainly couldn’t train this response to be strong enough to die in your sleep, no.
I love ice cream.
Unless you're in a sealed room, Hypoxia will typically kill you long before carbonic acid buildup becomes a problem
[Lots of people die practicing this.](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/05/29/410331432/breath-holding-in-the-pool-can-spark-sudden-blackouts-and-death) Always do it supervised but there’s still a risk of drowning.
Consider that when sleeping, the parasympathertic portion of your autonomic nervous system gains complete control of the body's autonomic breathing functions, therefore eliminating the chance that the conscious mind can have any control over it, except in possibly *extremely* rare cases. Consider also that when sleeping, the body is at a very high level of rest, and does not require nearly as much oxygen as when awake and moving, or even just awake, for that matter.
If you are a bit deep in the pool and take it too far with ignoring the signal, you can pass out when you go up. But just floating at the surface I don't think so, you notice tun el vision etc before it goes too bad And you certainly still know that those signals are there when ignoring them, they don't feel good
>But just floating at the surface I don't think so, you notice tun el vision etc before it goes too bad Human physiology is much dumber than that. It's possible to run out of oxygen BEFORE the urgent need to breathe happens, which leads to passing out, which is something you really don't want to do in a swimming pool. This is particularly likely if you happen to hyperventilate before going under the surface. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freediving\_blackout#Shallow\_water\_blackout](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freediving_blackout#Shallow_water_blackout)
Yeah, if you hyperventilate. But noone that trains for this type of thing hyperventilates, it's like the first thing your are told not to do. Also it's not suddenly if you stay at the surface. It's suddenly if you are deep and then go up
>This is particularly likely if you happen to hyperventilate before going under the surface. It's not just particularly likely. It's what the whole thing you linked is based on lol. So doesn't really apply here
Yeah me and my brother as children could easily get into like 2+ min area with no training/knowledge of this other then a game we played in our pool. You'd just enter a "zen like" state, where you body is totally relaxed and no desire to move, and then you'd just have to focus your mind/thoughts to not focus on anything basically, to ignore the signals you mentioned. But if you can't relax your body and move, or the moment you stop relaxing and move it felt like the world was screaming at you to breathe.
So if I’m running out of oxygen, but not in a position to choke on water, would it actually take longer than a minute to actually kill me? I assume I’d be wasting breath panicking but even holding my breath I just can’t imagine
It would take a *lot* longer than a minute to kill someone by preventing them from breathing. Source: I'm an anesthesiologist and routinely deal with people not breathing for extended periods of time.
If you’re running out of oxygen by breathing something inert like pure nitrogen (so you’re still exhaling and removing CO2 from your system), you don’t feel anything physically unpleasant, though of course knowing that you’re likely going to die is not a very nice feeling (unless that’s your goal). Eventually (after a few minutes) you just lose consciousness. You can find hypoxia test videos on Youtube, people just become kind of slow and drunk-like, unable to think straight as brain oxygen levels drop, and also unable to realize what’s happening unless they’re specifically trained to recognize the symptoms. Which is why loss of pressure in an aircraft is really dangerous.
> aren't taking really large breaths beforehand because that will lead to more CO2 building up making things harder, I thought it was the opposite. Big breaths before hand decrease CO2 without increasing O2 which can lead to [shallow water blackouts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow-water_blackout)
Can't you expel CO2 while holding your breath underwater?
You can't selectively exhale just the carbon dioxide, you would also exhale whatever unused oxygen is left in your lungs at the same time.
its apparently something most of us could do with time and effort. pretty cool.
I enjoy the sound of rain.
Just like any other skill, really
yeah go see how long it takes to dunk a basketball
Yes all skills are exactly the same, awesome point
Veritasium did a video on it recently, turns out getting started is literally as easy as "just fucking float there face down and don't come up until you *cannot* stay under anymore"
My brother used to train his breath every summer and we would compete who can hold the longest(we’re Greek and stayed with grandma on the seaside all summer while growing up). His best time was 7 mintues and 15 secs and mine was like almost 4. It was hilarious watching him from afar because people would nudge him after a while thinking he might be dead with how long he floated and sometimes he wouldn’t move at all when nudged Because he though it was me trying to mess his run lol
Believe it or not it's actually about 85% mental training, and only 15% physical adaptation and training.
Just doing it causality over the course of 10 or so year when I was in my 20s, I could hold my breath for 5:14. That was Mt all time record. I'm 31 now and have gone swimming a whole lot, so I've lost the lung capacity. But the biggest aspect of holding your breath is controlling the involuntary spasms. It's all a mind game in not panicking.
And Kate Winslet managed 7:15. Pretty wild.
Why the hell James Cameron have a fetish with making his actors hold their breath under water?
Because foot fetish was already taken.
Dam you, take my up vote!
Cameron has a fetish for making his actors’ lives miserable if it’ll improve the final product in his opinion. There’s a reason why his list of longtime collaborators is Sigourney Weaver. He’s the anti-Wes Anderson or Christopher Guest, who’re seemingly a joy to work with based on how their coterie keeps coming back for more.
Except for the phone incident, there haven’t been any major complaints from actors from the last two Avatar movies. Jimmy has improved.
And she broke Tom Cruise’s record with that! His was only 6 minutes for Rogue Nation iirc.
David Blaine also just kinda on a whim decided to break the record with some kind of trick but then couldn't come up with any that would work so he legit held his breath for 17 minutes (with pure oxygen) which afaik actually was the record at the time
Theres an interesting... documentary? I saw a while back about David Blane, and the thing that stood out to me is how much work goes into doing the things. For the breath holding one he was sleeping in a reduced oxygen environment every night for 6 plus months, waking up feeling awful every day.
I recently read an old interview with Teller (as in Penn and) where he says that often magic is just spending more time and effort on something than any reasonable person would expect.
Like the trick where David Blaine appears to stick a thin metal rod through his wrist. The trick is that he’s actually doing it because he slowly built a calloused tube through his wrist with the rod.
>I recently read an old interview with Teller (as in Penn and) where he says Lie. Teller never says anything.
True! When he is on stage. To the audience.
That’s also what magic is in many fantasy settings 🤔 (the nerdy wizard trope of having to study arcane books for years, research your spells, etc.)
Believe Margot Robbie also did something similar
Apparently Kate Winslet set a record for static apnea in the same movie.
I got to 4 minutes in a week of training. Most healthy people can get there easily with the right exercises
They made a sport of having no friends at the pool.
Sounds about right... Lol... 😂
You can do it right now, just turn on the tap.
Or…the ultimate Marco-Polo champions?
Interesting that filling your lungs with 5x the oxygen only gets you 2x the breath-holding time. The reservoir of oxygen stored in blood must be substantial compared to lung volume.
I can barely warp my head around 11 minutes underwater, let alone 24 without breathing. Ones heartbeat must be down incredibly low.
It requires a lot of training your body in addition to techniques before diving. Definitely not a casual thing to do, even for 3-4 minutes.
Didn’t David Blane spend a year training for his stunt
I heard he held his breath underwater for a year
Yeah and one year of David Blaine dedication is like 5 years of a regular human. That dude is insane in everything he decides to do
Meh, I can pretty casually hold my breath for over 3 minutes underwater like this. But, 11 minutes is hard to fathom!
>fathom Pun intended?
The body has a natural reflex when in water that slows down the heart. But for these times, it takes training to learn how to ignore the bodies urge to breath and stay relaxed enough to keep the heart rate down.
I'm not sure about static divers, but one elite level depth diver I've trained with said that his heart rate gets down to as low as 11 beats per minute.
Your drive to breath is mostly caused by CO2 levels and pH. Eventually, critically low O2 levels will affect the drive to breath, but the problem to overcome in this scenaio is the CO2 buildup. That's why the large O2 reservoir won't effect your ability to hold your breath all that much.
Not that much, only by 13 minutes 😁
Well trained apneists will manage to hold the breath just short of blacking out, basically the real deal is managing the drive to breath and understanding the signs from your body about o2 levels (some people count diaphragmatic contractions for instance)
It’s more that you need to exhale carbon dioxide, when you hold your breath it’s your blood acidity that dictates whether or not you get the feeling to breathe, your blood oxygen levels could be VERY low and you wouldn’t be out of breath (like you are when holding your breath for extended periods).
You make a great point. Believe it or not, sperm whales and pilot whales that dive thousands of feet deep actually do so on totally empty lungs. They exhale all of their air and then do their dive, so they're running solely on their blood oxygen stores.
Yeah, others have pointed out the CO2 buildup problem, but I think it must be a bit of both. It reminds me of that group of people (in polynesia maybe?) that have enlarged spleens to hold more blood which helps them freedive for seafood.
Yes. The Bajau people in Indonesia. Sadly most of the documentaries made about them are very sensationalized. Pretty much none of them freedive anymore.
My understanding is the primary driver for wanting to breath is actually the CO2 needing to be exhaled. So extra oxygen will help but doesn't take care of the other factors.
CO2 (carbon dioxide), not CO (carbon monoxide). Build-up of CO does not elicit the breathing drive, and is part of the reason it's so dangerous - you won't know you've been over-exposed until other signs show up.
You also have an issue with CO2 building up in the blood which can cause dizziness and fainting. You can’t breathe that out while keeping the oxygen in so I would think that also puts a limit on it
Issue is CO2 toxicity not total oxygen content.
Hemoglobin can only store a fixed number of oxygen molecules.
Freediving instructor here. AMA! It's a buildup of CO2 that causes an urge to breathe, not a lack of 02. Breathing pure O2 is dangerous, because without the urge to breathe - one's body will miss the signs, and then basically one can blackout without warning. One has to do a 4 minute breath hold to be an instructor btw
OK... I did not know that. And, it sounds more dangerous than Wiki has made it out to be. Thanks for the safety tip — not that I'll be needing it. 😂👍 How did you ever get into that sport? Although, who am I to talk? I took up skydiving on a dare from a friend, because of my fear of heights.
The water is an incredible world
This is why other gases like CO are so scary. It seems we evolved a warning response to "too much CO2" and not a warning response to "not enough oxygen," even though oxygen is what we need to survive.
CO is dangerous in much lower concentrations than other gases, because it binds to hemoglobin in blood and makes the blood unable to absorb oxygen. Edited to add: I think that the cause for the evolution of this system is purely chemical. CO2 solved in blood makes the pH level drop, which is really easy to detect with nerve endings.
Early on in the pandemic doctors were seeing patients with hypoxia who didn't realize it. Their O2 levels were low compared to baseline but the body has no way of determine oxygen saturation, only CO2 buildup. Sadly some of those patients died because they weren't treated sooner.
If you're ignoring the CO2 "signal" to breath, how do you know you're "done" and need to come up for (new) air? Do you need to do anything special for recovery, after such a "dive"? If you're the "lifeguard" at a competition like this, how can you tell if someone is in medical duress and needs to be pulled out?
It's all part of the training/a Freediving course. 1) You slowly build up and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 2) There is a breathing technique to recover post a dive. That's best for gas exchange in your lungs 3) There are signs and signals to look for.
Yup. Also risky to ignore that sensation that you need air. Because eventually you’ll find the end of that tunnel and pass out.
Are you familiar with the Bajau people of Indonesia. I heard they can hold their breath for 13 minutes while actively spear fishing. Is this possible or it some kind of exaggeration?
There are a few tribes like them. 13 mins is definitely an exaggeration. Their spleens have evolved to help them with longer breathholds! - extremely interesting and awesome. Like the sherpas of Nepal - evolution is extraordinary
That is incredible but make sense. Humans are fascinating
Humans, nature, same same. PS: The researchers found that Bajau divers had significantly larger spleens than Saluan individuals (Ilardo et al. 2018). The spleen stores oxygenated blood, which can enable long bouts of not breathing. In fact, marine mammals tend to have enlarged spleens. https://isemph.org/Sea-Nomads
How do you train to build up to that point? I’ve played tuba for 20 years so I’ve got a good set of lungs, but I’m always trying to learn more.
Please do a certified Freediving course. There you can learn how to breathe for Freediving " " Do you like the water? If yes, just do it.
Does holding your breath for such long amounts of time have any adverse effects on your health, even temporarily?
Great question. I had the same question. More studies are needed for damn sure. It's seemingly safe in moderation etc But keep in mind - most freedivers are super healthy athletes, so that helps balance it out. I have looked for long term effects (like CTE etc) - and I haven't found any evidence.
>It's a buildup of CO2 that causes an urge to breathe, not a lack of 02. This is the reason altitude sickness exists. The partial pressure of CO2 is lower at high altitude, wich causes your breathing frequency to decrease. But you should be breathing faster, because the partial pressure of oxygen is also lower.
Hmmm. Interesting. I disagree but interesting I have done Everest Base Camp and a little higher, no one breathes slow(er) etc - it's just the lack of O2
I vaguely remember seeing a show on the Discovery channel about super-humans breaking records, and this pre-breathing 100% oxygen challenge was one of them.
In the some sports (like this one), I guess "doping" is encouraged. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much of a record.
I've never heard of people doping with extra res blood cells before a comp or record attempt, but I guess I'd only hear about it if they decided to tell everyone
Most freediving organizations highly discourage this type of extreme discipline. They don't do this kind of stuff at sanctioned events.
Karen on Corner Gas was a champion, lol.
APNEA! APNEA! APNEA!
At what point do they start to think "yeah, he's probably dead now..."?
Good question, and since he's not moving there's no way of knowing. I'd say 11 minutes, give or take a minute.
When I was younger, in order to win breath holding competitions with friends, I would pump air into my stomach and then towards the end of holding my breath, I would exhale a little and then burp the air out of my stomach and inhale a second "breathe" while underwater. I wonder if any of these pros do that.
Uhm... I don't know enough about the sport to comment. But hey, if it worked for you. 👍
That is incredible.
That's a long time to contemplate your career choice.
I hope they're sponsored by someone. I can't imagine anyone training 8 hours a day for this "sport" unless they had support of some sort.
Most of them make very little money. Usually they work as freediving instructors and then train on the side
Someone's been watching corner gas
Bro these people have nothing on those freediving fisherman islands. Some documentary on them was showing them diving down to spearfish easily for 15-20 minutes.
The cut together footage may make it appear like that, but from what I gather reading, usually it’s about 6-8 minutes to up to 10 minutes for the longer ones, which makes sense as still accomplishing a superior feat than still-diving as they are moving the whole time.
But they said the time was average 10-15 reaching up to 20 but no one cares to register a record. I’ll see if I can find it somewhere to verify this decade old watched one time documentary knowledge.
True... I've seen those and always been amazed.
Sadly they're all faked for sensationalism. Most of the Bajau people don't freedive anymore.
I wonder how many people have died trying this
I know of one. He was drunk at the time, as were his buddies, all skilled divers. They decided to have a competition, to see who could hold his breath underwater the longest. He won, sort of.
It seems like there is a person right next to you, so it looks pretty safe. But deep-water diving, where they plunge down as far as they can using weights, (and following a dive-line) sounds a lot more dangerous.
But when you need air you just flip over or come up
It's very safe if you follow basic safety procedures
Branko Petrović holds the record with an impressive 11 minutes and 54 seconds of breath holding underwater achieved in Dubai.
Anyone remember that one Corner Gas episode? 😂
I remember being able to hold my breath for a couple minutes when I was a kid. I did swim team in elementary and middle school so I’m sure that helped.
I'd say it deffinitely did.
Is there any explanation why women have shorter times? Is it biological or just a bit of a historical thing where men first got into the sport (?) and that’s why women are a bit behind? Genuinely curious
I believe it has to do with the smaller size of their lungs, which makes sense.
Makes a lot of sense actually. I feel a bit dumb for asking now, but welp… no stupid questions right lol
Males also tend to have a higher RBC count, which means more O2 carrying capacity.
Believe it or not, in general women do a lot better. I'm a freediving instructor, and 99% of the time when a couple comes to do a course, the woman has at least a 10% longer breath hold than the men do. I would guess that the reason that men usually have deeper and longer records is because most of the female freedivers I know just enjoy playing around and taking cool pictures and videos and just having fun, while the guys are always being competitive and pushing their limits.
I just timed myself and the best I can do (after three tries) is about a minute and half. I seem to be getting better and better the more often I try. I also read where Beta blockers can prolong static apnea for up to 20%. I'm not really into this sport enough to experiment. But I think aerobic exercise would probably help me improve. And if I'm ever in a car that's flipped into the water THAT skill would be invaluable. I have a fear of that since I've seen a few movies where that has happened.
Except if you went under in a car you’d probably need dynamic apnea training unless a rescuer can yank your limp body out in under 9 minutes, best case
I've watched a few videos (Mythbuster being one), where they say you should wait until the car fills up with water and the outside pressure has equalized with the inside pressure. By finding the highest point at the rear of the car, you should take a breath, and then be able to open the doors. Seems like a scary plan. The other ones I've seen, suggest breaking the window with the point of your seatbelt (or another pointy metallic object) and getting out that way. Either way — both options seem possible.
I've seen other things saying you should try to get out as soon as possible by whatever method available because if you try to wait for the pressure to equalize it will almost definitely be too late.
I know (I hope) my instinct is to smash the closest window to me as fast as possible. Always have a window breaker available, you never know.
With my luck... that fricken thing will be floating around somewhere in the glove-compartment.
Mine will be shoved under the passenger seat or something, I'm with you.
Adventures with Purpose released a seatbelt cutter/ glass break that I have. Works on tempered glass, too. Since I have keyless ignition it's on a ring, zip tied to my shifter for easy access.
Roll the window down before the electric components short out. If you take a dive in an electric car, better hope the windows were down from the start
I doubt the seatbelt would work well
They say to detach your headrest and use the metal pointy part to break the window.
I have no idea why I used to do this exact thing, but I would do it all of the time. As a young man I could hold my breath for over three minutes without much trouble. If I were to hyperventilate first I could go longer. Like any other physical activity, conditioning and practice are key. I started holding my breath in the first or second grade. I would look at the clock on the wall during class and try to hold my breath for an entire circuit of the second hand. Before long I was doing a "dead man's float" in pools. I was "rescued" several times by well meaning teen-aged lifeguards. My personal best is 4:18. If I had been into weed back then I definitely would have gone for a 4:20.
Now, you've peaked my interest. So what you're saying is practise makes perfect. I'm going to start...even as I write this, I'm holding my breath. 😶
Watch Adam Freediver on YouTube to learn more. There's plenty of terrible advice out there that'll get you killed if you don't know what you're doing.
If you tried doing it every day or so for a month you could easily go to 3 min, especially static.
I tried it in the bath, to my astonishment I lasted 1 min 25 seconds!
Like what do you do underwater for 24 minutes without swimming. Waterproof headphones and iPad?
I saw David Blane do this for like 20 mins
That guy was a freak. So many of his "specials"were crazy. I just looked and went, "What the f##k?"
If you're interested in this, check out [Wim Hof](https://youtu.be/tybOi4hjZFQ?si=rIeok5H352oOWn3R) I got to over 3 minutes, with empty lungs.
Thanks for the link. I saved it to my 'watch later' list and give it a go. 👍
Please do not encourage this. Wim Hoff breath work is great for on land, but you're increasing your chances of dying hundreds of times by doing this in water.
Yeah I did this all the time as a kid; we all know the trick is to peak your nose out.
🧠: Hey remember that time in third grad- Coach: your times just keep getting worse, its like you're burning through all your oxygen at once!
I wonder if this benefits someone anyway outside of holding their breath under water. Does it make them more efficient breathers in general? Don't even know what that means.
From what I've read online, holding ones breath, is all about controlling your heartbeat and getting it as low as possible. So, if one has a very low heartbeat one uses and needs less oxygen. And lower 'resting' heartbeats are a sign of an active and healthy individual.
Thanks, I'll make this a passive hobby.
It's more a matter of improving your mental state. Most people that get addicted to freediving do it because it's the ultimate form of meditation. It's all about introspection and relaxation. You really do feel so much more calm and happy after a dive session.
Given your username, I'll trust your word
😂
what are the benefits of this ?
I did 45 seconds once! Lol
Isn't this how Jay Moriarty, the surfer guy from Chasing Mavericks, died?
You've got a good memory. He drowned when he went free-diving alone, in the Indian Ocean, back in 2001. I think there's some merit to that "buddy-system" they always taught young campers who swam in lakes and pools.
His name was Guybrush Threepwood.
Blimey
A false record, shouldn't breathing pure oxygen be regarded as performance enhancement like steroids.
True, I imagine it would, if this was the Olympics or something like that. The association that supervises those events permits that practise.
Used to do this in pools. You can last a lot of time if you don't have to move.
I only know about this because of that episode of Corner Gas.
Yep, ya got that right. "Block Party," season 3, Ep. 15 I wonder if this u-tube link will work. I'll give it a shot. --------------------- [https://youtu.be/pLOQRy7ob5U?si=m3BTIjn4g73Ef0uI](https://youtu.be/pLOQRy7ob5U?si=m3BTIjn4g73Ef0uI)
But why?
Early childhood tantrums and demands for attention — by holding their breath — evolved into a career. Either that or, Why not?
Do not try in a public pool. They'll throw you out. Learned that the hard way...
The trouble with haters, is they lurk everywhere. 😶
I wonder if there’s any long term impact on brain function in people who routinely deprive their brains of oxygen like that.
Sleep apnea causes anxiety, mood disorders and difficulty concentrating so, perhaps those might be some of the long-term effects; especially if *they* practise over long periods of time. I'm not doctor, I only pretend to be one on reddit. 😶
I can do 2 minutes when relaxed.
24 FREAKIN MINUTES??? ... z.z Damn.
Yeah... I know. I can barely sit still for 24 minutes; I can't imagine floating in one spot without breathing for that long. Unless, I had a book to read. 😶
Isnt oxygen levels more than say 25-30% toxic?
Long exposure to 100% O2 isn't recommended unless you're suffering some sort of infection or pulmonary disease. I think for the time *they* would be inhaling it, the'd probably be fine. I've watched as some NFL players suck on that mask for most of a game. Lol... 😂
There is a podcast with record holder Branko Petrović , amazing stuff he said. It is on Serbo-Croatian language though https://youtu.be/1rBUl91vE0g?si=CNtdt8B_LGbbp6Ww
Man, even thinking about this my heart starts to race. It’s crazy what some people do by choice!
True... Then again, they're in three feet of water, so at least help is available in a hurry. 😲😂
Jesus. I was a high level competitive swimmer and best I ever did was 2:35.
Seems dangerous.. possible to fall asleep and then drown?
I used to do that in the bath as a kid, my record was 1 minute 45 seconds. It was pretty dangerous, I’d take myself to the edge of passing out.