If you’re a heavy breather who runs out of air before
everyone else, you can breathe easier – literally. A study
in the European Journal of Applied Physiology finds that you
can increase your respiratory strength – and your underwater
time – with breathing exercises.
Claes E. G. Lundgren, a physiologist at the State
University of New York at Buffalo, assigned 30 healthy
young men to three groups: a placebo group that did
breath-holding exercises; a resistance respiratory muscle-
training group that did exercises breathing in and
out against pressure; an endurance respiratory muscletraining
group that performed exercises to progressively
increase breathing frequency. They did the exercises for
30 minutes, five days a week. After four weeks of training,
the men in the resistance training group were able
to swim 66 percent longer underwater with scuba gear
and 33 percent longer on the surface using a snorkel, and
they also decreased their underwater breathing frequency
by 23 percent. The endurance respiratory muscle training
group showed a 26 percent increase in underwater endurance
and a 38 percent increase in surface endurance.
Both groups increased the amount of air they breathed
in and out. The breath-holding placebo group showed no
significant improvements. (More about exactly what to do
with breathing exercises in a future issue of Undercurrent.)
However, staying underwater longer doesn’t come
without risks. The more you dive, the more you may be
at risk of developing lung dysfunction. Studies of commercial
divers’ lung functions show that continued scuba
diving decreases the volume of air forced out after taking
a deep breath (FEV1).
Research reported in the International Journal of Sports
Medicine reported decreases in the average rate of airflow
during the middle portion of a forced exhalation, suggesting
slight, small airways disease in older experienced
recreational divers.
And, if you’re a smoker, well, the problems only
get worse. A study reported in the journal Chest tracked
FEV1 in military scuba divers, both smokers and nonsmokers,
over five years. The combined exposure to
diving and smoking resulted in a significant decrease
in lung function. Nonsmoking recreational divers don’t
appear at substantially increased risk for obstructive lung
disease.
Of course, about the only people in the world who
don’t know that continued smoking is associated with
impaired pulmonary function are all in Borat’s immediate
family. Still, have you noticed how many dive guides
light up after a dive?