schwim@piefed.zip 2 weeks ago
It’s the same as being unable to breathe the first few seconds of submerging yourself in water while wearing SCUBA gear. Your brain is overriding your normal action of breathing but doing this multiple times teaches your brain that it’s not unsafe so that involuntary response diminishes over time until it simply doesn’t occur.
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
What is this called? You can’t breathe through the regulator at first?
Krzd@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s called the “diving reflex”. There’s a small area right between your upper lip and nose, that, when getting wet, triggers your body to stop breathing and slows down your heartbeat. IIRC it’s something all mammals have, but you can ‘override’ it. It’s pretty uncomfortable at first, especially the first breath, but you can train yourself to ignore it after a while.
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Thanks! would this reflex trigger when swimming laps and turning your head to the side, or snorkeling with your face submerged?
When kids learn to “bob” down into the water and back up for air, are they fine tuning this reflex?
I’m definitely going to do more research
Krzd@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Re: Swimming Strong maybe. During the face down portion definitely, but when they turn their head the skin’s still wet, however your brain definitely knows that there’s air to breathe, probably automatically overriding that reflex.
RE: bobbing Kinda. Especially small children and toddlers are incapable of overriding that reflex, meaning they can and will “drown” when that part is submerged.
The bobbing motion is just more efficient (for 99% of untrained swimmers).
You’ll do the same when exhausted while swimming.
Your body generally isn’t buoyant enough in a normal swimming position. Which means you’ll want to keep your lungs as full as possible, resulting in quick exhale, inhale, and then recouping (and sinking) while being lighter, requiring less force to resurface.