Geo

BINGO! This is the key. It's something that is taught in martial arts as well. It's a technique I used when I started running at 260 lbs and it was critical to my running. I teach this to all new runners we get in Team in Training.

Also, something I didn't see mentioned (I skimmed) is to exhale as completely as possible. This is probably THE most overlooked element of breathing. You can only take in as much as you expel. That bears repeating. You can only take in as much air as you expel. If you breath shallow, you will take in a much smaller amount of oxygen. Deeper breathing will get you more oxygen and will keep you stronger longer.

kurt M

This is interesting. Why does your heart rate go up if you have less restricted air flow as in breathing through your mouth? Increased O2 and CO2 transfer is good then why force a slower transfer rate? Would breathing through your mouth deeply work the same?
One factor not mentioned is that the nose helps condition the air you pull into your lungs. As you move air out of you nose you strip out some of the added moisture from you lungs. As you breathe in you put some back. Would higher humidity have a part in gas transfer?

I am an X nut job weekend wreck diver. I would do long deep dives and would work hard prying stuff off old ships for fun. Gas transfer efficiency’s, volumetric consumption and metabolic rate were hot topics around us brass hounds as we were often well outside the weekend diver range in depth and bottom time. Much has been learned by the US Navy and others on this. I bet there is some information that would cross over or explain the anecdotal findings of other disciplines. High CO2 blood gas levels play a part in heart rate. Low CO2 = slower heart rate. I would hit pure O2 at 30 feet for required deco and continue on even after I was out of the water and well out of deco. All was taken in via mouth but my heart would loaf while on O2 and I have dozed off while hanging at 30 a time or two. If I remember right it is not low O2 levels that make you want to breathe it is high CO2 levels. (I had to start hanging a soggy paperback on the O2 bottle for something to do for the last deco, some of them were 45 min long and you can only look at the crap in the lift bag but so much before you drop something back into the abyss)

cooleyjb

I was wondering if some "nut job wreck diver" type person would sign in on this seeming that they know more about breathing and gas exchange than most people ever should.

What cool wrecks have you dove on?

<----- Has no desire to go much lower than 150 or so feet and thinks that those who do 200+ are totally cuckoo but I can understand why.

I think it boils down to good steady deep breaths will facilitate good gas exchange and keep CO2 levels low, which as kurt pointed out, is the big factor in many things, like heart rate and desire to breathe again.

Z-man

So lemme get this straight - as long as I take deep breaths, there is no need to stick my head out the window at the apex?!?

-Z

Matt Sheppard

My yoga instructor says the same thing. All I know is if I start breathing through my mouth durring triangle pose, I "blow up" and I have to lay down until I can nose-breath again. Hardest thing I've ever done.

Larry Herman

Breathe through your eyelids.

cooleyjb

No you still need to do that. But you must have an open face helmet and wear a garter belt while breathing through the eyelids.

chancecasey

Most importantly, you don't want to be seen as a "mouth breather"...

Bull

Z, you better try for another indicator for when to stick your head out, like something you are familiar with on track.

gbaker

That's the what we were taught in dive school--purely amateur, BTW. 45 min at 30' on O2? Man, that's serious stuff. You ever do any splash dives, just to be young and foolish? (Not me, for the record.)

"What cool wrecks have you dove on?"

The Nellie Sherwood, Tobermory, Canada. Deep, dark, cold and a 100 years old. Only in fresh water. I'd love to dive the Edmond Fitzgerald in Lake Superior, but I'm too old and wise for that.

cooleyjb

I've only dove in dark murky cold stuff here in the midwest. Someday I'll see what this stuff people call visibility.

leif997

Diaphragmatic breathing results in less accessory thoracic muscles used to intake the same amount of air or even more and thus less 02 used to breath and more C02 passively exhaled upon release of the diaphragm. In martial arts this is also called breathing from the " tanden" or region below the navel.

The carotid body is an 02 chemoreceptor that will increase the rate of respiration upon detection of low 02. People who are C02 driven are usually those with common repiratory compromises such as COPD'S

You Tech Divers are a crazy lot and really stretch the normal envelope of human respiratory physiology.

kurt M

In diving to be good on air you need to be calm cool and breath easy and deep. I guess we have lots of words for cool calm deep breathing. BTW not that it matters but I missspoke earler, the pure O2 deco is only the 15 foot stop. Pure O2 is a nono at 3 bar. 15 and 30 combined would often be 30 to 45 min. I miss that stuff but diving and driving was busting my time and $ budget.

TD in DC

Very useful thread. At most tracks, I do not notice breathing being a problem. At some tracks, like Shenandoah Circuit, I find myself to be out of breath at the end of the session, which suggests that I am not breathing correctly. It has made me question whether I am breathing incorrectly at all tracks and just do not notice it, most noticeably not breathing during corners. I think it is common for people to pucker at both ends rather than just one.

mitch236

And here I thought this thread was going to be about student's breathing into the communicator, which can be quite disturbing at times!