How to make your air last and dive longer ?
After learning to dive and spending time on a dive boat, many divers quickly realise that as a beginner, you breathe and use your air supply faster than other divers! Heres how to make it last longer!
Most divers will only really begin to grasp the relationship between techniques and your air consumption during your advanced diving course. The amount of air in your tank (and how efficient you are when using it) will directly affect the length of time you will be able to remain underwater. It does not come as a surprise then that using your air as effectively as possible is the way to extend your dives. And trust me, if you do things right you will be able to spend from 30% to 50% more time enjoying the never ending-beauty and wonder on display. So just follow these steps:
follow these steps to entend your air and dive for longer
Be as streamline as possible
Ever wondered why dolphins and other underwater animals are so smooth? It’s all about the way your body (both shape and texture) ‘fight’ the water resistance. The more you can manage to maintain a small water profile, by tucking all your equipment tightly against your body and making sure nothing is hanging, you will ensure you fight the resistance less. This will mean less energy spend and ultimately much more air available for you to enjoy your dive. Check Out The Peak Performance Buoyancy Speciality Course To Learn About Streamlining.
Pro Dive Tip: Don’t carry more than you need (gear and weight) think weight distribution!
Relax and breath slowly, Be a Yogi and Breathe deeply to dive for longer
There’s a huge difference between big breaths and deep breaths, you must remember is about the rhythm rather than the size of your breath. Always attempt to take slow, deep and rhythmic breaths instead of just trying to breathe in as much air as possible. Any yoga expert will tell you our body is a very complex machine that becomes much more efficient at oxygenating the blood when taking very deep and slow breaths, this also applies when exhaling. In any case, practising your deep breathing exercises while you are away from the water will get you used to the perfect rhythm your body needs to maintain a comfortable level of inhale/exhale ratio. In this particular topic, yoga practitioners are at quite the advantage, just keep doing what your instructor has always told you, take slow deep breaths and you will ensure you last longer underwater.Pro Dive Tip: Learn to ‘sip’ your air not only time your breathing but feel it!
Efficient Kicking! Slow like a cheetah?!
Under certain occasions, you will want to swim a bit faster in order to catch a glimpse of that mysterious sea turtle that seems to be getting away from sight, in all other circumstances though, keep it real slow. With slow and regular kicks (while keeping your arms tucked away around your chest) you can manage to swim at a good speed while maintaining a streamlined shape. This will help to not only extend your time underwater, but you will also be cruising at a much better speed to be able to take all the beauty in.
Pro Dive Tip: Remember less is more if your kicking technique is correct
Drink your water
A lot of people are surprised when they hear how easy it is to dehydrate while scuba diving.
Not only is the air you breathe in from the tanks very dry (as it should be to keep rust damage to a minimum) you are also sweating while making a physical effort, once dehydration kicks in, your body will start to become less efficient at oxygenating, this will produce your breath to become shallower and, ultimately, consume your air faster.
How to fix it? Well just make sure you drink plenty of water before and after each dive. After all, don’t forget it is a lot easier to dispel wastewater than drink some fresh H20 while scuba diving.
Pro Dive Tip: Drink ectrolytes with water 24 hrs before diving and during the diving day
Practice makes it last longer
Yes, Of-course!! The best way to keep your air longer while scuba diving is to remember all the things above and keep diving! The more you get used to being underwater the more efficient your body becomes, not only physically, but mentally you will become much more relaxed (as you learn what to expect and how your body feels under the pressure) until you’ll realize you are managing to extend your dives more and more each time you revisit the underwater world.
So don’t forget, drink your water, tuck all your equipment in, relax and keep diving! In case you want to learn some more about the wonders of diving in Pattaya here are some more scuba diving tips and advice from all of us at Seafari.
Pro Dive Tip: Take Your Peak Perfance Buoyancy Course to learn about these techinques
