Dec

13

This competition in the Bahamas has produced incredible results across the board and I think there are very important lessons to be learned here. Quite apart from the physical conditions of comparatively warm, deep and current-less water, without much surface disturbance, there are other very important factors at work here.

The main one I believe is the length of the competition –10 days. This gives the divers some very substantial advantages. They can approach their maximum depth gradually, this allows some acclimatisation to pressure. In the past, last year in Greece for example, divers who had been training in the pool and Continued…

Dec

8

NO was discovered in the 1970’ s in research that was awarded a Nobel Prize. It is a vasodilator, like a natural Viagra, actually exploiting the same pathways in the body. It is a gas that is produced in the Para nasal sinuses in very small quantities. In large quantities it is toxic. It is of extreme interest to freedivers, it improves breath hold and also protects the system being overcome by ROS (free radicals) during blood shift (ischemia and referfusion) during the Ischemic stage phase, where it behaves like a powerfull anti oxidant.

I have long speculated that diver exhaustion after a series of extreme deep dives might be due to NO depletion, or the 3rd day exhaustion factor. NO also behaves as an anti inflammatory and is helpful in preventing DCS in freedivers.

Erika agreed that this might be an exciting subject for research.