S.C.U.B.A. Tips: Control Breathing - By: Travis Tresp

Breathing is simple as pie , right? We do it involuntarily. Good air in, bad air out . Simple, and easy, right ? Wrong! In S.C.U.B.A. , taking a breath properly serves three notable purposes, and missing out on knowing how to breathe properly can lead to a unsafe dive.

Why should your learn a different way to breathe for scuba diving? Well, the technique that will be given here isn't really just for scuba diving, it is meant to hike the ability at which your body processes oxygen in general , and will benefit anything and everything of your life requiring physical activity.

First off , proper breathing helps you to control your buoyancy . If your S.C.U.B.A. certified instructor asks you to hold your breath while fitting your regulator to control your diving depth, you will immediately wind up blue in the face. This is definitely not a thilling experience. Instead of holding your breath and relying on the regulator and weights to adjust your buoyancy, breathing properly can cause small shifts in your buoyancy.

Also, proper breathing on a s.c.u.b.a. dive boosts your air time. The breathing technique described here enables the body to convert more oxygen, sending it to the body with greater efficiency and extending the amount of oxygen that gets introduced into the blood stream. You won't use your air tank up as quickly, and can prolong your time S.C.U.B.A. diving.

Ultimately, proper breathing combined with suitable control over your ascent and descent rate helps to minimize decompression sickness , which is a difficulty that hits divers when the immediate changes in external pressure on the body generate masses of air bubbles within the blood stream , the heart, and the sinuses. Those little air pockets cause an affliction that divers refer to as The Bends, which can be anything from slightly painful and annoying , to ultimately fatal by producing a stroke and/or braindamage.

That said and done , let's get into the appropriate breathing method to use .

Speaking from my personal scuba diving experience , the breathing technique that should be employed in underwater diving are related to that used by singers, martial artists, yoga practitioners, and gymnasts. This is a method called diaphragm breathing , and goes by several fancy names depending on which the discipline is using it, like in martial arts where it is referred to as Ki or Chi Breathing.

To make use of diaphragm breathing, either sit up straight or stand ( however you please), and just breathe in and out . Don't slouch. Be sure to how you breathe the air in. Your chest should expand when taking a breath . This is normal, everyday breathing. While implementing diaphragm breathing, the lower stomach expands instead of the chest.

To do this accurately , the idea is to relax. Your stomach muscles will actually instinctively tighten up when you take a breath in and try to concentrate on your stomach. Don't concentrate on your gut, just relax and take a breath in, but make sure you are actually relaxing your navel area when you take a breath in. A lot of people get diaphragm breathing wrong because they tense up the muscles in their gut in an effort to send their breath there. Tightening these muscles causes them to contract, which keeps air from making it all the way to the diaphragm. This is all there is to this way of breathing. It is simple , once you get the hang of it.

Its very important to keep your breathing in rhythm slow, deep, and even when you're practicing this method, inhaling as far as you can , holding the air in your lungs for just a few seconds , then exhale the air slowly and evenly . Breathing shallow and rapidly, as most medical practitioners know, is a very, very bad thing, which can lead to asphyxiation, a state where there is not enough oxygen run through the body.

By the way, the air, of course , isn't really going into your stomach. The stomach just expands because the diaphragm is situated right above it in the body. Small anatomy lesson here: the diaphragm is actually membrane which controls the expansion of the lungs, which causes the inhaling and exhaling of air. Fundamentally, what this form of breathing achieves is to help strengthen your diaphragm itself, while all the time increasing the efficiency of your lungs. Keep practicing this method until it seems inborn and almost instinctive, and you'll be surprised at the results . Not just in your S.C.U.B.A. , but helping in your overall physical condition.

About the Author

Travis Tresp is an avid scuba diver. He has traveled all over the world in search of the perfect dive. From The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, to the Florida Keys he has see it all. http://www.scubadivingnut.com

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