Friday Five #8

Hey, good morning!

Here is your Friday 5 roundup of this week’s facts, fun and f’ups…

🎙️ What you can listen to (or read):

• I recorded and transcribed a new episode for the podcast this week, called Motivation and Goal Setting for Freediving. If you have the choice, I’d recommend listening to it as I think it’s easier to digest. But if reading is your thing – it’s ready for ya!

👂 What else you can listen to:

• After a recent website redesign my blog posts got all messed up, so now I’m adding them back one by one.
   
• I just added back this post: Static Apnea Relaxation Music and Downloads, where you can download my FREE MP3’s to listen to while doing static apnea. You’ll be guided through a full-body de-tensioning process by yours truly 🙂
   
• It’s on YouTube too with a slideshow of some freediving pics

🍬 What two things can help you avoid LMC/BO?

• When the body is under hypoxic situations it has to switch to anaerobic metabolism, so it’s in need of more glucose. Therefore, insulin is more or less a key regulator in hypoxic conditions:
  
  “Freedivers that go over the breakpoint of breath-holding could exhibit seizures and thus the effect of insulin, blood glucose levels and corticosteroids in hippocampal seizures”
  
  
• So from what I understand from Rosita Dangmann’s hypothesis (to put it simply) is that there are two things can help you hold your breath longer and avoid having an LMC/BO:

1.  Make sure your blood sugar doesn’t get too low – If your blood sugar gets excessively too low (hypoglycemia) during your dive, you increase your chance of LMC/BO 
    
2. Training the diaphragm – After you do a full inhale, the diaphragm is held contracted while you hold your breath, then stretch receptors are triggered and insulin levels diminish. “This explains why training of the diaphragm results in increased breath-holding performances.”

💬 What quote I’ve been thinking about –

“Some researchers beleive that [sperm whales] are able to keep in contact with one another through these clicks on other sides of the planet. These clicks are so powerful in the water that they can blow out your eardrums easily and they can actually vibrate a human body to death. So when you’re diving with them, it’s a little sketchy…

So you’re gonna notice the whale’s gonna flip on it’s belly, that’s where it’s going to collect those echos, underneath its jaw. They don’t use ears underwater.”

-James Nestor
Sperm Whales Clicking You Inside Out

👌 What advice mr.10minutes has for full exhale static apnea?

• I’ve been doing some empty lung + RP breath-holds to prepare for deep diving and came across Florian Dagoury’s (aka mr.10minutes) safety tips for exhale static apnea training in order to avoid lung squeezes and long black-outs:

1. warm-up with 10 min stretching
2. exhale should be proportional to your static level (5 min PB = FRC, 6 min PB = half way between FRC & RV, 7 min PB = RV, 8 min PB = RV + a few reverse packs)
3. The discomfort and contractions should NEVER be overwhelming
4. No noseclip, all airways should be open if you blackout
5. No laying down position, always sitting upright
6. Use light hyperventilation (5s IN, 5s OUT) to improve your pool disciplines. Use tidal breathing to improve depth disciplines (be conservative and patient with results)

It’s a pleasure and honor getting to spend some time with you, I hope you have a great weekend!

Renee