Control Your Breath: Freediving Tips

If you already are a freediver or practice breathwork, you probably have found yourself in situations where you may struggle to control the urge to take a breath. If you haven’t, maybe take a moment to hold your breath and see what happens… It doesn’t feel great, does it?

This sensation is not very pleasant and it might feel a bit scary for beginner freedivers. But, as with most things in life, we can train to get used to them and master them. It doesn’t have to be something that will prevent you from enjoying your dives. With the right technique and practice, you can learn to control your urge to breathe and make freediving the most amazing experience! Let’s understand what the urge to breathe is, what it means for your body and explore some tips on how to do just that!

WHAT IS THE URGE TO BREATHE IN FREEDIVING?

When freediving, we take a very deep full breath before descending. Unlike scuba divers, we don’t take another breath until we surface. Therefore, the time we can spend underwater will depend on our ability to hold our breath. Several factors will affect this, like moving efficiently, training, how relaxed we can be in the water, the amount of recovery time and breathe-up, are but a few. All these factors will dictate how much time we can spend down there. Why? Because they will affect the speed at which oxygen is used and carbon dioxide is released into our bodies.

When we move more, are more stressed, our heart rates spike or our minds get very busy, the more oxygen we will use, and the more we will produce carbon dioxide. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE HOLD OUR BREATH FREEDIVING?

It is a common belief that the urge to breathe arises because of the lack of oxygen, but the truth is that the accumulation of carbon dioxide triggers the Urge to Breathe. When we freedive, we keep all the air we inhaled on the surface inside of our lungs for the duration of the dive.

When breathing normally on the surface, we breathe in air (that contains oxygen) and exhale the carbon dioxide that results from the metabolisation of that air. When freediving, that release of carbon dioxide is paused. As a result, we will have a carbon dioxide build up in our system, cells, blood and lungs.

This carbon dioxide build up in our system will send signals to our brain and say, “Hey dude! I’m sensing our carbon dioxide levels are higher than usual; please breathe so we can keep on minding our own business”. To which, if you are underwater and wanting to spend more time there, you will ignore, and ignore, and ignore. Your brain will be like “DUDE BREATHE!”. At this time, you’ll feel a big desire to breathe out to release that carbon dioxide that has been building up in your system. You might feel a need to swallow or you might feel a warm sensation in your torso. The most common sensation is to feel the pull of the diaphragm. 

The diaphragm is a muscle that goes across the bottom of the chest. The diaphragm’s job is to pull air into the lungs and expel carbon dioxide from them. When it contracts and relaxes, breathing takes place. So, that contraction that you’ll feel when holding your breath is nothing to worry about, it’s just the diaphragm diligently doing its job: reminding the body it’s usually time to breathe. Like when your tummy starts to churn in desire for food: it doesn’t mean you’ll die if you don’t eat, it just means that your system is used to receiving food around that time. 

HOW DO I HOLD MY BREATH FOR LONGER AND POST-PONE THE URGE TO BREATHE?

So… the first thing we need to do is understand why we feel the urge to breathe while underwater. It is because of the buildup of carbon dioxide that can trigger some distress in our bodies. This is why beginner divers often feel they need to take a breath even when they have plenty of air left in their lungs or why they turn around before getting to where they want to. It takes a bit of practice to get used to these sensations.

Some people have an innate ability for breath holding, as others might have a natural ability to run very fast. But, as with everything, we can train to improve and reach our whole potential and peak performance.

The higher than usual concentration of carbon dioxide (created by the metabolism of oxygen) in our cells and blood triggers the strong desire to breathe. So, to hold our breath for longer we can do two things:

1. Delay the metabolism of Oxygen into Carbon Dioxide. You can achieve this by training your mind to stay calm and your body to make the most efficient movements so as not to waste unnecessary energy.
2. Create a higher Carbon Dioxide Tolerance. You can read more about this here: 4 ways to train your carbon dioxide tolerance.

PRACTICE MAKES THE MASTER IN FREEDIVING (AND MOST OTHER THINGS)

To get better at controlling your urge to take a breath, it’s also important that you understand how your body reacts when you hold your breath. Once you can recognise and understand what triggers these sensations, you can then work towards learning how to control them so that they don’t interfere with your freediving. 

Some tips:

1. Practice deep breathing (NOT hyperventilation) exercises before each dive and do some dry breath holds. This will help your system become used to taking slow and steady breaths instead of short ones triggered by the urge to breathe. Deep breaths allow oxygen to circulate through our bloodstream, which keeps us calm and relaxed.
2. Focus on something else. I love to collect shells or small rocks underwater, go into some form of meditation, or simply repeat a mantra underwater. This will help you take your focus off the urge to breathe and into something else. If you stress about the sensations, the time, tense up or panic, this can make it harder for your body not to react instinctively by trying to take a deep breath. 
3. Practice makes perfect! The more dives you do, the better you will become at controlling your breathing reflexes. Don’t shy away from repeating dives until you feel confident enough with them. Over time, as long as you remain mindful about keeping yourself relaxed and focused on slow breathing techniques, eventually, these skills will become second nature!  

Fun Diving at Lord Howe Island

TO WRAP IT UP…

Controlling your urge to breathe while diving takes time and practice, but it doesn’t have to be something that stops you from enjoying each freediving session. Understanding why and how our bodies react when we hold our breaths is crucial. We must get to know our breath and understand what we are capable of in a safe environment to improve. By implementing simple breathing techniques such as deep breaths and relaxation methods, we can learn how best to manage our instincts when diving so that we don’t run out of air prematurely! You can learn many different techniques in our FREE 7-day Breathwork Course. With patience and practice, anyone can master this skill – happy diving!

References: Manual of Freediving by Umberto Pelizzari and Stefano Tovaglieri