deep water breath holding.

Mr.36 · January 18th, 2007, 10:21 PM

I have been training to be confident at deep water, but I found that whenever I am deeper than 7 feet, I am unable to keep a small amount of water from going straight up my nose and down my throat, which is annoying to say the least. Has anyone else had this problem, or does anyone else know what to do about it?

**pliny_2001** · January 18th, 2007, 10:38 PM

Are you new to swimming? When I started learning, they told us to keep blowing air out our noses to keep that from happening.

The reason that it may happen is that air compresses under pressure - at seven feet, you'll be under a bit more pressure, so the air that would normally fill your sinus cavity will take up a smaller volume, and water will fill the extra. The feeling of water in your sinuses will cause that brief panic and annoyance.

I don't really have a conscious thought about it when I dive, but I'd assume that I just exhale more air into my sinuses to keep an equal volume of pressurized air in there, so there's no space for water to come in.

Hope this helps.

Mr.36 · January 22nd, 2007, 04:46 PM

I am pretty new to swimming DEEP
So the trick is to exhale just a tiny bit so that the pressure keeps up?
What I thought was happening was the pressure was compressing my lungs, and forcing a small amount of air out of my nose, making a cavity that water fills in?

**pliny_2001** · January 23rd, 2007, 12:28 AM

Air is held in the body in three locations: lungs, sinuses, and inner ears. Water pressure acts on all of them, decreasing the volume of air in each. If you send (compressed) air from your lungs to join the (compressed) air in your sinus cavity, you can keep a constant volume of air in your sinuses, and probably keep water from coming in. Again, though, I don't really think about it when I'm swimming - I've been in the water for years, and scuba diving for a decade.

If you just work at it for a bit, you should figure it out pretty quickly. When I was much younger I used to choke on water when I'd do summersaults underwater, but I kept at it for a week or two during swimming lessons - figured it out eventually - I'm sure you will, too.

Mr.36 · January 23rd, 2007, 03:04 PM

Sounds good. I can only get into a pool once a week, though, but I'm devoting quite a bit of time for every session into under water confidence, as I want to scuba dive later in life

**cracken** · January 24th, 2007, 06:23 PM

Pliny gives you some good advice Mr.36.

All I can really add is to practice & become more comfortable in the water.

SCUBA will present different challenges in that area.

An important rule in SCUBA is to never hold your breath, in order to avoid lung expansion injuries, etc. You'll learn more when you start your training.

You'll have to develope the ability to breathe through your mouth with your nose exposed to the water, as in mask recovery.

When doing regulator recovery (mouth piece you breathe through), you'll be required to vent (exhale slowly) your lungs, again, so that you aren't holding your breath.

But, as you spend more time in the water, swimming on & under, you'll learn how to control air & water in your nose & mouth.

Never panic, relax, practice & learn.

Good luck & have fun.

Mr.36 · January 25th, 2007, 12:19 AM

Well, I was able to get in again today, and it was much easier this time, I managed to stay submerged with the aid of weights for 40 seconds before coming up, but I know that I can hold my breath for longer than that (I have done it on dry land for over 2 minutes) and when I actually had a simple task to do under water(swim 10 feet across the bottom, and retrieve the weight,) it seemed like I went out of air much much sooner. Ahh well. I will spend as much time in the water as I can manage

**EggbertEatsBugs** · February 22nd, 2007, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.36

Well, I was able to get in again today, and it was much easier this time, I managed to stay submerged with the aid of weights for 40 seconds before coming up, but I know that I can hold my breath for longer than that (I have done it on dry land for over 2 minutes) and when I actually had a simple task to do under water(swim 10 feet across the bottom, and retrieve the weight,) it seemed like I went out of air much much sooner. Ahh well. I will spend as much time in the water as I can manage

You will notice that if you swim underwater much, much slower with a more relaxed stroke you'll be able to swim further on one breath than if you push the pace.