Scientists have long established that the human body can do without food from fifty to seventy days, and without water you can live up to ten days. But the most important for life support is the need for breathing. Without oxygen, the body will last only a few minutes.
Recently, it has become a popular trend to set various records and achievements in many fields of activity. Testing the capabilities of the human body is no exception. Divers and athletes compete against each other, trying to break the world record for holding their breath. Everyone understands that an unprepared person is not able to do without air for a long time. Therefore, despite the fact that the record for holding the breath was set, the champion had to train for a very long time before this.
Capability of the body
Under normal conditions, a simple adult is able to hold his breath for forty-sixty seconds. It's no secret that this ability is individual, and in the process of training, you can achieve more effective and lasting results.
The record for holding the breath helps to establish hyperinflation of the lungs, that is, frequent and deep inhalation of atmospheric air. After this exercise, divers can stay underwater for up to nine minutes. The first record for holding your breath at depth belongs to a Frenchman named Michel Bade. He sat motionless underwater for six minutes and four seconds.
A little trick
It has been established that, after inhaling pure oxygen, one can go without air for a longer time. The world record for holding your breath at a depth of six meters without special equipment was set in 1959. At the age of thirty-two, Robert Foster, a native of the United States, sat underwater for thirteen minutes and forty-two seconds. Pre-breathing pure oxygen for thirty minutes helped set the achievement for the champion.
Oxygen reserve in the body
With such a phenomenon as apnea (breath-holding), the human body uses almost all of its oxygen reserves. The reserve of this vital compound is about two liters. Of these, nine hundred milliliters is present in the lungs of a person, six hundred milliliters is retained by blood, and five hundred milliliters is located in the muscles. Of the total, the person who set the world record for holding his breath could use only one and a half liters. Furtherstaying under water would bring direct damage to he alth, due to a sharp decrease in the concentration of this important substance and oxygen starvation of cells.
World Achievement
The Guinness World Record for holding your breath is held by a German freediver named Tom Sitas. This man survived without air underwater for twenty-two minutes and twenty-two seconds.
The previous world record for breath-holding was set by Ricardo Baja, who did not breathe for twenty minutes and twenty-one seconds. The new champion, Tom Sitas, five hours before the competition, refused to eat to slow down the metabolic processes in the body, and immediately before the dive he breathed pure oxygen. It should also be noted that the world record for holding his breath helped him to set a large lung capacity, which is twenty percent more than that of an ordinary person.
Inexplicable but true
Few people know that in 1991, a seventy-year-old resident of India named Ravindra Mishra, in the presence of observers, specialists, and a group of scientists, was able to stay under water for six days. All this time, under the supervision of a special device, the man meditated. Dr. Raksh Kafadi carefully observed that the guru did not come to the surface to catch his breath or use other tricks to deceive the numerous observers. At the end of the allotted time, Mishra surfaced in good spirits and mind. Researchers have confirmed thatthe man spent under water one hundred and forty-four hours, sixteen minutes and twenty-two seconds. All this time he sat in the lotus position at a depth of nineteen meters. Experts believe that Mishra plunged his body into a special state of meditation, when the vital activity of all organs was reduced to the maximum. With the help of this method, the man avoided such a phenomenon as oxygen deficiency. Mishra himself said that an ancient goddess allegedly helped him to sit under water for such a long time, in whose honor he set this record.
Phenomenal dive
In the same year, a Filipino named Jorge Pachino, a simple fisherman, was underwater for one hour and five minutes. At the same time, the immersion depth was sixty meters. There were no special devices and scuba gear that allowed breathing under water. This was witnessed by cameramen filming the dive. Physiologists cannot explain the process that made an ordinary fisherman from the city of Ampari a famous person.
Dangers
Meanwhile, prolonged breath-holds and apnea training techniques are likely to cause detrimental effects on the he alth of the body. Hyperventilation of the lungs can directly contribute to loss of consciousness. And the method of buccal pumping, during which air previously taken into the mouth is involved in breathing, can even lead to rupture of the lungs. In this regard, any freediver must observe safety precautions. All training must be carried out only in a group andunder supervision, even if the depth of immersion seems small.
