The Diving Reflex Of Breath-Holding In People!

PROBLEM!

  How does sticking your head under water influence people’s oxygen level and their puls e rate?

HYPOTHESIS!

  I think that the person with their head under the water will loose their oxygen slower than a person with there head out of the water and the person with their head under the water is going to have a slower pulse rate than the person with their head out of the water!

METHOD

  Step#1 First of all you get a container and fill it up with warm water!

Step#2 Next they stick there head in the water for about 30 seconds or longer!

Step#3 Then we will measure their O2 saturation level with the Oxi-Meter right when their head comes out of the water!

Step#4 Next you write down all of the data on your data sheet and data sheet!

Step #5 Finally you clean out the container and start on the next person!

Data table

Names!	Puls in water	O2 level out of water	Puls in water	O2 level in water
Kathy	69	88	72	92
Myles	62	97	51	92
Jee-hoon	67	92	73	94
Jee-hoon	111	99	71	91
Abby	69	75	48	66
Joey	80	98	88	75
Chad	67	69	60	65
Jee-hae	78	95	62	96
Melanie	93	94	71	95
Dan	50	50	65	97
Dan	37	88	62	97
Myles	66	65	31	69

Conclusion:

I was wrong, the shortest amount of time someone can hold there breath was 12 seconds by Myles and Mel! And the longest was 50 seconds by Jee-Hoon!

Kathy 15 sec

Myles 15 sec 

Myles 12 sec

Jee-hoon 50 sec

Jee-hoon 30 sec 

Abby 13 sec 

Joey 13 sec

Chad 40 sec

Jee-hae 35 sec

Mel 12 sec

Dan 25 sec

Dan 20 sec

Marine Mammals

  Long-term breath holding is typical behavior of marine mammals.  Whether making long dives below the surface for food, to get better at swimming by diving below the high drag condition found at the surface.  Whales and pinnipeds sometimes dive for more than one hour.  These are exceptional divers.

A person noticed that over 20 years ago that dolphins are air breathing mammals.  But it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that the “physiological basis” for deep and “prolonged” breath holding that dives from marine mammals were explored.  The total blood volume (relative to body mass) of the diving mammals is 2-3 times more than in non-diving mammals.

Two Main Problems

Marine mammals have two main problems while diving.  The first is that the amount of oxygen in their blood gets smaller because the mammal uses more oxygen as it dives.  This is a problem because in order to dive and swim they need oxygen.  The second problem is that when the mammals are diving there is no ventilation.  This causes there to be more carbon dioxide and lactate in the blood and muscles.  “This causes the blood serum and cell fluid to be more acidic.”  This is called hypoxia!  During long periods of hypoxia it is unlikely that some organs (like the brain & heart) will survive.

In Order to Dive

As mammals dive they experience an increases in water pressure.  As the mammal dives down in the water the pressure on the outside causes any air filled spaces on the inside of the animal to be squeezed.  When the mammal returns to the surface from a dive there is a chance that it will have absorbed too much oxygen or nitrogen, which can form bubbles in the tissue and blood vessels and that can be deadly.

The best breath holding in people are the Ama pearl divers of Japan.  They can dive without SCUBA gear to depths of 25m and stay underwater for 30-90 seconds.  The maximal free diving depth for humans is more than 70m and breath holding can last as long as 6 minutes, although not while diving.

Definitions of Peripheral Vasoconstriction & Bradycardia

Definition #1

- the slowing of the heart beat rate that accompanies a dive.

  Definition #2

A slow heart rate.

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