Holding Your Breath Underwater World Record Broken!

[Dene]

I would say loopy rather than amazing, but all the same . 11 days awake is not healthy, I would never encourage anyone to do more than 3 or it could cause serious psychological damage.

I specially logged in for this one, it's true, I played a computer game for almost 4 days straight and it happened three years ago, but I was ill for a few months afterwards and after seeing the doctor finally he told me I had Bronchitis.
I am also constantly tired that's why I don't cube that much.

Well it damaged my health system 'a bit', all I can say is that I don't suggest you do an 72 hour cube marathon.

But I am planning to do something about being tired constantly.

I've done this before for a bit under 4 days...but you say SERIOUS psychological damage? Like...how serious?

I don't know the details, try looking up things to do with it on a google search or wikipedia. I mean, the brain uses sleep as a time to do a lot of healing and fixing to the body, working on bugs and viruses. I assume your immune system would take a huge hit with lack of sleep. Then there are the more practical implications, like lack of focus (school or work) etc.

 

[Karthik]

I mean, the brain uses sleep as a time to do a lot of healing and fixing to the body, working on bugs and viruses.

Ha ha that made me laugh.

 

[dChan]

Yep, without sleep your mind will also not be able to rest which results in hallucinations and paranoia. I'm actually taking a Psychology class so I know little bit about this(more of the psychological side though than the physiological). David Blaine experienced this kind of thing when he encased himself in a large block of ice and stood without sleeping for three or four days as well as when he did the "Vertigo" stunt where he stood on a pillar a few stories high for two days(was it more?) without sleeping. He claimed that he heard people singing songs, saw people changing into things, etc. All kinds of common hallucinations related to people deprived of sleep.

It is actually very interesting to read his book, "Mysterious Stranger" because it details what he felt, saw, thought, and heard during these situations.

I don't think, though, that he will ever die from these things. He trains very hard and spends a year or more just to prepare for one stunt. He is very careful and always takes into account things that could happen if something goes wrong(e.g. in Vertigo he had rails that could be raised in case of high wind or if he started acting weird).

 

[shelley]

How though?
Wouldn't you pass out from lack of oxegen in your bloodstream?

Do you mean how does he hold his breath for so long? Effectively, yes his bloodstream would run out, but there is a lot more oxygen there in the first place than you think. I assume this is when the body goes into overdrive and the heart looks for any scraps of oxygen left.

If you hold your breath while sitting perfectly still, you could probably do it for a minute and a half or more. But when you hold your breath while swimming vigorously, or cubing, or anything else that requires more physical/mental activity, you don't last nearly as long. I'm guessing he trains by doing some kind of meditation, forcing his body into a state that doesn't use up oxygen as fast.

 

[Bryan]

What I don't get about these records is the rules that Guinness makes for them. For example, this guy was able to have 30 minutes of pure oxygen before he went underwater. Really, when I hear someone holding their breath, I envision them holding their breath. I don't envision them using medical equipment to prepare.

Some of the rules I see are just ridiculous. Like they get a 5 minute break every hour and 15 minute break every 8 hours (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9366979/)

But I guess that's what people think of 15 seconds of pre-inspection.

 

[MistArts]

How do you live with heart rate of 10s?

 

[pcwiz]

How do you live with heart rate of 10s?

The question is how to get a heart rate of 10. If you have a heart rate of 10 beats per minute.... your heart is VERY strong. People normally have a heart rate of 80 beats per minute.. When you have a lower number, your heart is stronger, and when you have a higher number, your hear is weaker. People who have a lower number of heart beats have strong hearts that can pump an enormous amount of blood at one time, and their hearts still have plenty of rest in between each beat. If your heart rate is too high, you've got some problems. So I think that Armstrong guy who survived cancer has like a heart beat of 40 beats per minute? Something like that. But 10 per minute - that's one every 6 seconds - unbelievable.

 

[fanwuq]

How do you live with heart rate of 10s?

If you have a heart rate of 10 beats per minute.... your heart is VERY strong.

Not necessarily. There are diseases where your heart stops completely for half a minute during sleep.

 

[qqwref]

Well, pcwiz, you're thinking of resting heart rate. I think it's normal to have something like 70, and high-performance athletes often get down to the 40s (where lower numbers = better cardiovascular health).

But heart rate varies a lot when you are doing various activities. If you're straining yourself or you're nervous, your heart rate is going to increase to bring more oxygen to your brain, and if you are relaxing your heart rate will be closer to the resting heart rate. For David Blaine there's also another factor: the Mammalian Diving Reflex. This means that when your face is in cold water your heart rate slows to conserve oxygen. Freedivers (people who practice diving without any breathing equipment) can often get their heart rate down in the 20s without negative effects.

Now the problem with getting down under 20 beats per minute is that the heart isn't really going fast enough to provide adequate oxygen to all of your tissues. This isn't a very serious problem for most parts of your body unless your heart does that for a long time (say if you are in a coma), but your heart, lungs, and brain can suffer if this happens even for short periods. You might notice at the end of Blaine's attempt that his heart was beating irregularly, which is because the heart isn't getting as much oxygen from the lungs as it needs to function properly. That's really dangerous, because if he has a cardiac arrest while underwater he could very well die...