8 ms·
That's 29min 4sec after breathing pure oxygen. The record for regular air is 11min 35sec. Pretty impressive either way.
by nfriedly 1y ago
That's 29min 4sec after breathing pure oxygen.
The record for regular air is 11min 35sec.
Pretty impressive either way.
- stavros 1y agoHolding your breath for more than 11 minutes?! That's absolutely crazy, wow.
- dhosek 1y agoWhen I was a kid in the 70s, I think the record was somewhere in the neighborhood of 3–5 minutes (maybe seven?) and we used to think that was such a short time that we could do it and then trying in the backyard bucket pools that were endemic in my neighborhood we found that cracking a minute was enough of a challenge.
- sejje 1y agoAt first. I was also a kid doing this, my cousins and I held ourselves underwater with the ladder rungs in a swimming pool. At first, yeah a minute was tough. But then it rapidly increased. Unfortunately I don't remember where we topped out, but I think ~3 minutes. We would also swim pool lengths underwater(but it was a relatively small pool at a condo building). I think I swam 9 once. They'd let us stay out all night at that pool, it was great. Florida summers don't really get chilly.
- Terr_ 1y agoSuch contests are more dangerous than they first appear: Many kids will grasp the obvious trick of hyperventilating to improve their time, but that can lead to abrupt unconsciousness and drowning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow-water_blackout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow-water_blackout
- sejje 1y agoI know that now, and I would prevent any kids from breath-holding contests. But I didn't at 14 years old, nor did my mom or uncle, apparently.
- Terr_ 1y agoI imagine a safe version could be made... that would suck all the direct-competition spontaneity out of it. Like "do it on land", or "only in standing-height water and take turns with someone timing and acting as a spotter."
- sejje 1y agoYes, although as another commenter pointed out, being underwater triggers a response in our body that lowers our oxygen consumption. We did spot for each other, even then, but I don't ever remember anyone thinking they almost passed out or anything.
- wiether 1y agoFunny, I did exactly the same things in my childhood, in my cousin's pool. But it was on the other side of the pond!
- rebuilder 1y agoI once held my breath for 5 minutes when I was 14, sitting in class. I suppose it’s possible I was accidentally breathing through my nose a little as I wasn’t underwater.
- rajamaka 1y agoGlad I'm not the only one who was bored enough in class to do this.
- hermitcrab 1y agoFrom my experience, holding your breath in air and in water are totally different things. I guess, because it is difficult to stop any intake of air when you are in air.
- yownie 1y ago¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- throwaway81523 1y agoI could do 3 minutes pretty easily as a kid, again, sitting in class like another poster. Maybe we had the same boring classes.
- The_Fox 1y agoAs a teenager I did about 4.5 minutes, as I recall, in a bucket of water. I played the trumpet quite a bit at the time, so I think my capacity was above average. It was a competition and I got first, and the second place fellow was also a trumpet player.
- macNchz 1y agoAll three of us trumpet players in my middle school band would sit in the back and have breath holding contests while the director was working with other sections or whatever.
- therealpygon 1y agoIn middle school, I was a swimmer on two teams and played trombone. We had a fun little “who can play the longest note” contest…everyone thought I cheated because I lasted about 30 seconds longer than anyone else. Really wasn’t that hard once you find the right position to use minimal air output, since the game wasn’t who could hold the same note, but any note. We regularly trained on the swim team to go as far as possible underwater in an Olympic pool — record on our team was 4 or 5 round-trips if I recall correctly (can’t remember 100%…long ago…but that kid was crazy in both speed and time underwater). Pretty demoralizing to be labeled a cheater after such hard work expanding lung capacity and efficiency. After that, I wouldn’t even try anymore just so I wouldn’t be called a cheater again. Quit band the next year.
- Zobat 1y agoI wonder if circular breathing would work, or works, for trombone. If so you could have held that note "forever" with some training.
- dhosek 1y agoIt should given that it works with trumpet (and even voice). I remember listening to some jazz piece on the radio where the DJ, before the song, alerted listeners to the long note that was being held and suggested trying holding your breath for the length of the note (but not—he warned—if you were driving).
- mdaniel 1y agoI somehow thought that pure oxygen was poisonous[1], and it needed to be a nitrogen mix. I mean, I guess this stunt demonstrates that I'm clearly mistaken, or that the nuance is in the pressures involed? 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity
- greesil 1y agoIt's dangerous in an enclosed environment, see Apollo 1 for more details.
- tjohns 1y agoThere's definitely nuance here. Pure oxygen puts oxidative stress on your cells. Your body can handle that just fine at 1 atm, but at elevated partial pressures the increased concentration will (quickly) overwhelm your cellular mechanics. Underwater, the maximum operating depth for 100% O2 is 6 meters (20 feet) - which isn't very much at all. If you dive any deeper than that, you'll be at severe risk for a seizure and unconsciousness, and likely drown. (I'm simplifying, see [1].) Which is why you don't go diving with pure O2. However, in this case the freediver wouldn't be breathing compressed O2 gas underwater. They would've been breathing it at the surface, at 1 atm. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_operating_depth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_operating_depth
- QuinnyPig 1y agoYes. It’s under pressure that oxygen toxicity becomes an issue. It’s why you’ve gotta pay attention to your depth when diving with enriched air.
- TylerE 1y agoIt is, kinda sorta, but at 1 atm you need to be breathing pure o2 for ~24 hrs before its meaningful (and longer than that before treatment is anything beyond "stop breathing pure o2". The dose isn't even cumulative. Just being on room air for 20-30 minutes resets the clock.
- teraflop 1y agoYes, partial pressure is what matters. Normal air at 1 bar (1 atmosphere) contains about 0.2 bar of O2. Pure oxygen at sea level is 1 bar of O2. The article you linked has a graph showing that 0.5 bar of O2 can be tolerated pretty much indefinitely, and it takes hours for significant toxicity to show up at 1 bar. Higher partial pressures cause much faster symptoms.
- throwmeaway222 1y agoholding your breath for 11 minutes is asking to see the gates damn
- ksynwa 1y agoHow is it even possible to hold breath for 11 minutes? I tried it last week (to avoid inhaling insecticide fumes) and could manage about a minute after trying very hard.
- freilanzer 1y agoTraining and genetics.
- dns_snek 1y agoGenetics/randomness must play a significant role. When I was a teenager I could hold my breath for ~1.5 minutes without even trying. With a bit of technique I got it up to 2 minutes with relative ease, I think my max was around 2.5 minutes. The odd thing is that I had no reason to be able to do that, I was pretty out of shape, I didn't play any instruments, or have any other hobbies that would help build that kind of stamina. On the flip side, out of all the genetic benefits one can get, this might be the lamest one. :(
- ljf 1y agoI'm rather unfit these days - but as a teen I could easily do 3mins at my desk in a class. I can't remember the volume but we did a lung capacity test at school and I had the highest in the class, despite not being sporty or active at all, so I think I have genetics on my side. I recently tried the 'Wim Hof' method, and was well over 4mins after just a few days practice, and I just went snorkelling and was able to outlast all those I went with. If I was healthier I am sure I could get longer still.
- hinkley 1y agoI would think that high altitude cultures with genes for handling altitude sickness would do well in breath holding contents. Like why isn't some Peruvian on Nepalese person the record holder? Lakes too cold for recreational swimming maybe?
- sobjornstad 1y agoBeing underwater does make it significantly easier, though the effect is fairly moderate in most humans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex
- kurito 1y agoAmazingly so Stephane Mifsud's 11:35 "regular air" WR apnea was set in 2009 and has stood since (at least as far as AIDA is concerned). There was a lot of speculation online back then as it is an extraordinary time and was quite high compared to the previous record. If I recall correctly the hold was performed at his home pool, and he has a lung capacity almost double the average adult male's. This is a video of the end of Mifsud's 11:35 breath hold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHPGKb7ipgc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHPGKb7ipgc . The protocol after the hold is that you have to take off your goggles/mask and noseclip, look at the judges and do a clear hand signal that you're ok. Your chin/face should not touch the water before you get a reply from the judges, in the form of a card. It's nothing short of amazing how clearly he follows protocol given that his brain has been oxygen deprived for more than 11 minutes.
- surmoi 1y agoWe train for surface protocol to become automatic, so even depraved of oxygen, it becomes a reflex. It does a big difference, you'd be surprised to see how many ppl blackout when surfacing because they exhale too much first :/ Regarding Mifsud, he had a YouTube channel, in French, which is full of information about freediving ! He worked a lot with scientists to understand how his body work and how to reach this world record. Also he confessed that he does not have spams when holding breath, so it helps a bit.