Is Freediving Dangerous?

Freediving really exists as a sport. But the number of freedivers-athletes is negligible compared to amateur freedivers, for whom freediving is a type of active recreation.

It so happened that the film “The Blue Abyss” (Luc Besson, 1988) used to be the starting point for most people in freediving. And he also formed the main opinion about freediving as a heroic pursuit of meters of depth. And now the brightest materials that get into the “ether” also cover mainly only the sports component. If you lack extreme feelings, then visit the site Bet20 login.

But the vast majority of freedivers do not dive to depths of more than 30 meters. And a depth of 30 meters is a simple, achievable and safe mark. Amateur (recreational) freediving does not require extra effort, strict sports diets and exhausting workouts. With a reasonable and competent approach, you can easily dive to 15-20 or even 30 meters of depth. 15-20 meters of depth is approximately the height of a 5-storey building, 30 meters — a 9-storey building.

All About Freediving

It is known that a normal atmospheric pressure equal to 760 mm Hg corresponds to one atmosphere (1 atm).

Every 10 meters of a water column exerts pressure in one atmosphere, therefore, at a depth of ten meters under water, a person is under pressure equal to two atmospheres, that is, twice the normal atmospheric pressure.

For example, at a depth of fifty meters, this value will already be equal to six atmospheres.

How does such high pressure affect our body and can it cope with it?

To answer these questions, it is important to understand some aspects of the physical processes associated with our breathing.

When breathing, human cells are saturated with an air mixture, which mainly includes oxygen and nitrogen.

Oxygen is captured by hemoglobin and further used for our vital activity, nitrogen is not absorbed by the body and is in it in dissolved form.

With an increase in external pressure, the amount of gas dissolved in the human body increases. The process of oversaturation of the body with gas molecules begins.

The human body is able to tolerate this condition, although there are various risks — due to high nitrogen saturation, so-called nitrogen anesthesia may occur.

With an excess of nitrogen, a feeling of euphoria is first experienced, then coordination is disrupted, hallucinations begin and thinking becomes difficult, eventually a person may lose consciousness.

What Is Freediving?

Freediving is a type of scuba diving in which a person holds his breath. As part of this class, some people have been training for many years to achieve certain depths.

The world record for diving into the depth with breath retention belongs to the Austrian Herbert Nitsch, who in 2012 reached a depth of 253 meters.

Among divers, the world record for scuba diving belongs to the Egyptian Ahmed Gabr, who in 2014 reached a depth of 332 meters. Staggering numbers, aren’t they?

However, you should know that surfacing from a depth is fraught with much more dangers than diving — there are diseases that occur when lifting incorrectly from a depth: ear barotrauma, decompression sickness (caisson disease), lung barotrauma, general and local compression. These conditions are treated by a specialist physiologist.

Despite the seemingly limitless possibilities of the human body, our body is quite fragile, which confirms the wide range of dangers associated with exposure to the pressure of the aquatic environment.

It is important to remember the rules and precautions in any human activity, and no matter what records you set, do not forget about the most important thing — your health.

“Freedivers Are Special People, I Definitely Can’t Do That”

Freediving is based on the natural capabilities of the human body. The so-called diving reactions of mammals are what allows absolutely all people to hold their breath, spend some time underwater in a comfortable state and come up without stress and excitement. An untrained person, after correct preparatory breathing and a properly selected series of warm-up breath delays, relaxing, can hold his breath for more than one and a half to two minutes. With training, consciousness and body progress rapidly, so among freedivers, holding their breath in static for three to four minutes is not something extraordinary.

It is not difficult for a freediving instructor to demonstrate their capabilities to students already on the first day of the beginner course. Breathing exercises and physiology are studied, preparation for breath retention, correct restorative breathing is explained, breath retention on land is trained. After a person begins to understand what is happening to the body, what sensations may arise and what they mean, the instructor suggests listening to yourself during the first workout in the pool. As a result, already on the first day of classes, many are very pleased with their own result.