Just a few centuries ago, the ability to not breathe under water for a long time could provide a person with food and resources for trade. Fish, pearls, algae - all this could be obtained by diving without scuba gear.
Now static apnea is used in sports, meditation and even magic tricks. The editors of our diving club Baltika decided to describe this phenomenon in detail. In this article we will look at world records, and also try to understand what helps divers overcome themselves.
Static apnea: what is it?
From ancient Greek the word apnea is translated as “calmness”. And indeed: respiratory activity has completely stopped, complete “calm” reigns in the lungs. Static apnea is a sports discipline for the bravest and most resilient, because realizing oneself at depth without an air tank is very exciting and can be confusing. How do swimmers cope with this task? What is the human body really capable of? Top 10 records for holding your breath underwater. Which swimmers are not included in the Guinness Book of Records?
The average person can go without breathing for about one minute, and with light exercise this figure increases to 4 minutes.
Now competitions are being held on static apnea, and special techniques are being developed to increase lung capacity . Such training helps not only athletes, but also people who have great responsibility on their shoulders: rescuers, police officers, firefighters. This skill can save lives in critical situations , for example, when there is a high concentration of burning or toxic substances in the air.
Training regimen and effect
Usually, breath-holding exercises are included in the general training plan. Since they are short, they are done at the beginning or end of a regular lesson, sometimes every other day. “The preparation process is long,” explains Mikhail Stepachev. — First you need to confidently learn to dive and hold your breath for 1-2 minutes. After a couple of weeks - already for 3-4 minutes. Only regular training without skipping will help increase these figures by two or three times.”
As a result, you will learn to hold your breath for a long time, and functioning in conditions of lack of oxygen will not be stressful for your body.
The benefits and harms of not breathing for a long time
With the right approach to technique, apnea can benefit the human body. Eg:
- Stimulation of metabolism - holding your breath as you exhale fills the body with vital energy and stimulates regeneration processes.
- Stress relief - breathing practices are actively used in the treatment of depressive disorders.
- Normalization of physiological processes - digestion, blood circulation, sweating.
- Increased endurance - a person can stay “on his feet” much longer if he trains his lungs. This is a great help for people whose profession involves physical activity.
“Everything is poison and all medicine” - this quote also applies to breathing practices. If you do not follow precautions, you may encounter negative consequences:
- Oxygen starvation - prolonged holding of breath has a detrimental effect on well-being and health in general.
- Hyperventilation - can lead to loss of consciousness and injury.
- Lung rupture – can occur due to improper cheek pumping.
Beginner freedivers should not practice alone due to the risk of fainting. By the way, we offer freediving courses in St. Petersburg.
Inflate a balloon
Tatyana Shapovalenko proposed this test to Sergei Trofimov, better known as Trofim. Trofim is a heavy smoker with many years of experience, and the doctor had to convince the musician that smoking does not leave its mark on the body. Tatyana Shapovalenko asked Sergei to take a deep breath and try to inflate the balloon with one exhalation
. The resulting ball is the volume of his lungs. With a normal lung capacity of 3.5 liters, Trofim was able to pump only 2.4 liters of air into the balloon. This is very little - and it means that the lungs are no longer working at full capacity. Sergei urgently needs to quit smoking. Try to inflate the balloon too. And know that quitting smoking will change the situation pretty soon.
How to learn to hold your breath for a long time?
To navigate underwater without air, novice athletes practice on land. The main point in such exercises is the ability to hold your breath correctly - this should be done not by clamping the larynx, but by working the chest.
Exercises on dry land
The following static exercise will help you build endurance and reduce stress during a real dive:
- Take a deep breath and exhale slowly - feel how your lungs fill and empty.
- Don't breathe for 5 seconds.
- Repeat the first step.
- Increase the time you hold your breath by another 5 seconds.
- Exercise according to the following scheme - one minute as usual, 5 seconds delay, 1 minute as usual - 10 seconds delay, etc. Repeat the exercise 5 times.
The record for holding your breath on land belongs to Ricardo Baja and is 10 minutes. Remarkably, he survived underwater without air for much longer. This phenomenon is explained by the natural instinct of self-preservation, which becomes aggravated in conditions of real danger.
Immersion exercises at home
Once you feel confident in your own abilities, you can go into the water. And for this you don’t need to go to the pool or pond. It is enough to fill a deep basin or bathtub with water and use the following technique:
- Place a container of water in front of you or stand in front of the bathtub.
- Take a deep breath and slowly close your eyes.
- Start the timer. Immerse your face in water so that access to oxygen is completely blocked.
- Hold on as long as possible, raise your head and take a smooth breath, gradually restoring your breathing rhythm.
Exercises in a pool or pond
The next stage is the transition to deep water. This is always exciting, so in order to avoid injury, it is permissible to use auxiliary means: hold on to the handrails or the edge of the pool. As you gain confidence, you can sink to the bottom on your own. The main thing is that someone from the outside monitors the exercises and in case of muscle spasm or loss of consciousness, he can get you out of the water . You need to increase the time spent in water gradually - adding 5-10 seconds with each session.
Regularity is the key to success. It is better to exercise a little every day than to load yourself with intensive exercise once a week. Otherwise, you will only overload your lungs and blood vessels without getting any benefit.
Restoring breathing after exercise
After a long stay without oxygen, it is very important to restore normal breathing rhythm, because blood circulation and brain activity depend on this. To do this, you need to take a smooth but deep breath “all the way” and exhale the same slowly, gradually returning to the usual, uncontrolled rhythm . If you find it difficult to perform the exercise while standing, sit or lie down to reduce intracranial pressure and calm your heart rate.
Auxiliary sports
Self-control, endurance, coordination - these are the qualities a diver must have in order to achieve high results in static apnea. The following sports will help improve physical performance:
- Bodybuilding – strengthening the muscle corset.
- Fitness/cross-fit – develops endurance and strengthens the heart muscle.
- Swimming - teaches you to stay on and under water, develops coordination of movements.
- Cycling improves the functioning of the vestibular apparatus and strengthens the calf muscles.
- Alpine skiing - develops coordination of movements, strengthens leg muscles, increases endurance.
- Yoga teaches you to “hear” your body and breathe correctly.
How to increase lung capacity?
The following techniques will be useful for this:
Cardio exercises - running, cycling, skiing, cardio equipment - also increase lung capacity. Especially if they are carried out in mid-mountain areas in conditions of lack of oxygen, or if these conditions are simulated with a special hypoxic mask like a respirator.
Belly breathing is an exercise for the lower part of the lungs. It is poorly developed in people leading a sedentary lifestyle. Try breathing only with your stomach for 1-2 minutes! Place one hand above the navel and the other on the ribs, and make sure that the stomach moves actively, pushing forward when inhaling and retracting when exhaling.
Uddiyana bandha is an exercise for the diaphragm, which is called the “diaphragmatic lock” or “yogic vacuum”. Its meaning is to strongly draw in the stomach, pulling the navel up. “By practicing Uddiyana Bandha every morning on an empty stomach, over time you will notice how your breath retention has increased and your digestive system has begun to work properly,” says Faina Karandina.
Breathing while walking is a kind of game. Count the number of steps you take per inhalation/exhalation and try to fit more steps into each breathing cycle.
However, you can expand your lungs without holding your breath. “One of the most common exercises to increase lung capacity is inflating balloons and balls,” says Vladimir Muzlanov. - Ten times during the day, ten times in the evening. By the way, after Covid, lung function is restored in the same way.”
What happens to the body during static apnea?
Holding your breath always implies oxygen deprivation - this is something worth remembering before you begin static apnea training. Be sure to get a full medical examination to understand how this may affect your health.
So, what does a diver’s body experience when diving without scuba gear?
- O2 deficiency (hypoxia ). During a dive, the muscles begin to consume oxygen very quickly. The specific rate at which oxygen reserves are burned depends on the depth of the dive, water temperature, heart rate and lung capacity of the freediver.
- Slow heart rate . Remarkably, the heart begins to beat slower, even if only the face is immersed in water. The blood flow is redistributed and oxygen primarily supplies vital organs - the brain and heart.
- Risk of loss of consciousness . The lungs compensate for the lack of oxygen by extracting it from tissues and organs, thereby increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the body. It is toxic and dangerous because it can abruptly turn off consciousness.
The third point is worth talking about separately. First, the swimmer feels unprecedented lightness and euphoria, and warmth in the body (as after a cup of hot tea), then vision becomes blurred, weakness appears, and the swimmer anticipates loss of consciousness. The last stage is convulsions and immediate fainting.
The above symptoms develop more dynamically if a person swims too fast or panics. A trained pearl hunter knows that you should not stay underwater for more than 8 minutes.
Changes in the body
The oxygen you inhale enters the bloodstream and is carried to different tissues of the body, where it is transformed into energy. At the end of this process, CO2 is formed, which goes back into the lungs and is expelled from the body through exhalation.
When you hold your breath, oxygen also turns into CO2, but there is nowhere for it to go. It circulates through your veins, acidifying your blood and signaling to your body that it's time to breathe. First it's burning lungs, and then - strong and painful spasms of the diaphragm.
Freedivers spend years of training to master breath-holding, and their physiology gradually changes in the process. The blood of freedivers oxidizes more slowly than the blood of ordinary people, who inhale and exhale reflexively throughout their lives.
Activation of the sympathetic nervous system causes their peripheral blood vessels to constrict shortly after they stop breathing. Oxygen-rich blood is stored in the body and redirected from the extremities to the most important organs, mainly the heart and brain.
Some freedivers also practice meditation to calm the heart. They slow down natural rhythms, and oxygen turns into carbon dioxide more slowly.
Meditation has a calming effect on the mind too, because the main difficulty in holding your breath lies in consciousness. You should know that your body can exist on the oxygen it already has and successfully ignore the body's need to inhale.
This requires years of training, but there are other, faster ways to hold your breath.
Records for holding your breath underwater
These swimmers know firsthand what it means to overcome their own strengths and capabilities. Thanks to dedication and perseverance, they managed to get into the Guinness Book of Records.
10th place - Martin Stepanek (2001)
For the first time, the world was shocked by Czech freediver Martin Stepanek, who stayed underwater for 8 minutes and 6 seconds. His record remained in the leadership position for 8 years, until the next swimmer replaced him.
9th place - Stefan Misfud (2009)
The French diver proved that he could survive without oxygen for even longer, namely: 11 minutes and 35 seconds.
8th place – Robert Foster (1959)
“How long can a person not breathe underwater?” — this was the question asked by a simple electronics technician, Robert Foster, and decided to answer it himself. He was able to survive without an oxygen tank for a full 13 minutes and 40 seconds.
7th place - Arvydas Gaiciunas (2007)
Another world achievement that does not belong to a swimmer. Arvydas Gaiciunas is a magician from Latvia who decided to amaze the audience with sleight of hand in an extreme situation. The trick was as follows: the illusionist and his charming assistant (the trickster’s sister) were chained and sent into a glass, transparent aquarium filled with water. Arvydas lasted without air for 15 minutes and 54 seconds. The maximum assistant time is 13 minutes.
6th place – David Blaine White (2008)
Less than a year later, another illusionist, David Blaine, announced himself. The American did not want to be in the shadow of the Latvians and promised his viewers that he would break all existing records. And the promise was fulfilled - he stayed in the glass aquarium for 17 minutes and 4 seconds ! In an interview, the magician stated that it took him 4 months to train his lungs and learn to “turn off” his mind to save oxygen.
Each of David Blaine's tricks is a break in patterns and ideas about the capabilities of the human body. The list of his accomplishments also includes being buried alive, being frozen in ice, standing for 35 hours on top of a high column, and being imprisoned in a box for 44 days without food.
5th place - Niccolo Putignano (2010)
Unlike the two previous participants, the Italian Niccolo Putignano did not pursue fame and outrageousness - he only wanted to prove to himself that he was capable of more. For many years, he did not miss a single freediving competition, time after time leaving his competitors behind him. In 2010, his efforts were noticed thanks to a new world record - 19 minutes and 3 seconds.
4th place - Peter Kola (2010)
Peter Kola overtook his predecessor only slightly - when he emerged from the water, the timer showed 19 minutes and 20 seconds. Nevertheless, he for a long time secured the title of the person capable of holding his breath for the longest time.
3rd place - Tom Sitas (2015)
Thomas grew up on the sea coast and therefore water is his second element. Since childhood, he has honed his skills in static apnea and his efforts were rewarded - with an indicator of 22 minutes and 22 seconds, he set a new world record . Thomas literally became a treasure of his country - his face constantly flashed on blue screens, he gave many interviews and advice on proper nutrition and training.
His story can be called truly amazing, because he became a celebrity thanks to a gap of just one second. A few months earlier, Brazilian two-time champion Ricardo Baja set a record of 22 minutes and 21 seconds.
2nd place - Goran Kolak (2016)
Diver from Croatia Goran Kolak is an example of determination and dynamic growth above oneself. He tirelessly felt in freediving competitions, winning gold medals every time (at the moment Goran is a ten-time champion) and walked towards his cherished goal of setting a world record. In 2021, he succeeded - he did not breathe for 22 minutes and 30 seconds .
1st place - Alex Segura (2016)
The mark of 24 minutes and 3 seconds is the maximum breath hold recorded by the Guinness Book of Records . Alex Segura is the most resilient freediver in history. Will anyone be able to beat his record? We can only follow events.
When is shortness of breath a reason to see a doctor?
In patients with bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, if shortness of breath and cough worsen, it is recommended to immediately seek help, since it is difficult to distinguish an exacerbation of the disease from COVID-19.
There are other conditions when you need to seek medical help:
- sudden acute shortness of breath at rest,
- intense pressing pain in the chest, accompanied by shortness of breath,
- shortness of breath with uneven rapid heartbeat,
- coughing up blood.
Beyond common sense: unique cases of static apnea
For many, advanced age is a time of passive rest and creation. But not for these two men. They proved that pensioner status is not at all a reason to exchange morning exercises for gossip with neighbors next door.
Zabelin V. M.
In 1990, a 70-year-old Russian pensioner interested the best experts at the Leningrad Research Institute of Physiology. The man showed that using a special technique he can hold his breath for 22 minutes. The specialists were amazed at this result and physical endurance.
Ravindra Mishra
The Indian yogi adheres to ascetic views - he believes that all a person needs to live is to taste the gifts of nature and breathe pure oxygen. And you can completely abandon the second one for a while with the help of meditation. So, in 1991, he dived to the bottom of the lake and plunged himself into a long, meditative sleep lasting 6 days . Amazingly, such an act did not affect his vital signs in any way - he simply floated to the surface, as if only a few minutes had passed.
It is worth noting that the reliability of the experiment was never documented - the entire action was described from the words of eyewitnesses. Is this true, or just cunning machinations to attract attention? Skeptics still argue fiercely.
What is difficulty breathing and what are its causes?
Difficulty breathing or dyspnea is rapid breathing, during which we use additional muscles in order to somehow inhale. With COVID-19, this condition occurs in only 30% of patients, and cough and fever still come first.
Difficulty breathing is not typical for common ARVIs. When you have a cold, the most common symptoms are nasal congestion, coughing, sneezing, and sore throat. Slight shortness of breath during ARVI may be present with a lingering dry cough.
Breathing disorders can be caused by:
- diseases of the respiratory system or cardiovascular system,
- anemia,
- psychogenic shortness of breath,
- damage to the respiratory center of the brain,
- metabolic disorders,
- pregnancy.
