![]() ![]() Wallowing in the shallows of a London swimming pool, Danish freediver Stig Severinsen managed to hold his breath for 22 minutes in 2012, setting a world record that has yet to be beaten. (Even submerging the face in cold water is enough to trigger this effect.)īut although these dives are incredible for their crushing depths, we can last much longer in less extreme circumstances. ![]() Freedivers benefit from a physical reaction known as the ‘mammalian dive reflex’, which slows the heart when the body plunges underwater. The freediver who holds the record for the deepest dive, Herbert Nitch, plunged to 214 metres (702ft) on a specially-designed submersible, remaining under the surface for four and a half minutes. His last memory before waking again was the saliva boiling away on his tongue.įreedivers, who swim down to the limit of their ability without scuba equipment, fare better, regularly spending three minutes or more underwater. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t at risk from exploding, although at such a low pressure, exposed body fluids will vaporise at body temperature. In 1965, a ruptured spacesuit briefly exposed a worker at Nasa’s Johnson Space Facility to an almost complete vacuum in a test chamber. In the emptiness of space, unconsciousness approaches very quickly. ![]() How long can someone stay underwater without surfacing? How long can anyone go without breathing? As humans push into our two final frontiers – deep space and the deep ocean – an understanding of our survival in airless environments is worth exploring. Mevoli’s goal was to reach a depth of more than 70 metres (230ft) – and do it on a single breath of air. Then with a small splash, he dove under the water and began swimming down into the Dean’s Blue Hole – an underwater cave in the Bahamas. Last November, 32-year-old Nicholas Mevoli lay on his back on the ocean surface, gulping air like a fish to pack his lungs with air. ![]()
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