Hyperventilation in spearfishing. We will begin by defining the word apnea . It is consists of the arrest of respiratory movements; the strike can be voluntary, as in the case of underwater hunters, or involuntary.
Summary
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- 1 Practice of underwater hunting
- 1 Hyperventilation
- 2 Dangers of Hyperventilation
- 2 Sources
Underwater hunting practice
For the practice of underwater hunting , apnea is necessary, practicing apnea diving from the moment the man enters the water ; and everywhere the technique of this is the same. The subject executes wide and slow respiratory movements , using the totality of his vital capacity; After a deep inspiration, it submerges and performs its activity in apnea until it reaches the surface. The realization of this deep inspiration has two reasons: To introduce a large amount of O2 into the lungs and offer the SO2increased alveolar diffusion, thereby increasing the apnea time. At the end of the apnea, the hunter will atone deeply and practice wide and slow respiratory movements to renew the alveolar air , and thereby reduce the O2 debt produced during the apnea while eliminating the CO2 accumulated during it.
The duration of apnea is highly variable, ranging from a few dozen seconds to approximately two minutes, depending on: the initial composition of the alveolar air , which in turn depends on the efforts and ventilation made by the individual before the apnea ; of the vital capacity of the subject; O2 consumption and CO2 production as a result of the subject’s own cellular combustion, influenced by the type of physical effort made or by psychological causes such as fear, etc.
As is also known, muscular effort increases the consumption of O2 and produces an increase in CO2 , so due to the large amount of physical efforts that are generally carried out during apnea, hyperventilation occurs in the underwater house .
the hyperventilation
The hyperventilation is to attempt to completely remove the residual air remains in the lungs , which contains a certain amount of CO2 . To carry it out, the hunter must remain as immobile as possible on the surface and proceed to carry out a series of very large inspirations, followed by equally large exhalations, which will empty the lungs of the residual air that was contained in them, and that you will fill with the renewed air rich in O2. This can be done with a duration of 30 seconds to several minutes, being undeniable that the hunter’s stay in apnea increases, but since he does not know this action in most cases, the physiological principle of this action, nor the objective of the residual air that was in the lungs before hyperventilating, is that he makes an indiscriminate practice of it, which could put his life in danger.
Dangers of Hyperventilation
The residual air that is in the lungs when being eliminated as a result of hyperventilation , reduces the content of CO2 in them and in turn that is found in the blood . The CO2 is the principal agent of the chemical stimulator respiratory center, which takes dig through chemoreceptors, chemicals, which are in the main arteries . These agents are in charge of bringing the impulses to excite respiration to the spinal bubo; This action is therefore delayed due to the decrease in CO2for the reasons explained above and prevents the arrival of these impulses to the medulla oblongata at the necessary moment. Due to the absence of this stimulus, the underwater hunter will not feel the need to take inspiration and will not be aware of the lack of O2 . As a product of this great O2 debt , the central nervous system, as a defense mechanism against hypoxia above the physiological levels that man can bear , produces in him a loss of consciousness, called Blackout and as a result of this it can occur anoxia, which could cause the death of the hunter by suffocation .
In short, we have been able to observe the dangers that can occur as a result of the indiscriminate practice of hyperventilation.
