schwim@piefed.zip 5 hours 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 1 hour ago
What is this called? You can’t breathe through the regulator at first?
Krzd@lemmy.world 12 minutes 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.