We, like all other mammals, have the coolest reflex. It's the Mammalian Dive Reflex, which if you read about it in a textbook (which I did in Physiology class back in the Pleistocene) doesn't sound like much. OK if you're a seal, but it's not like we're furry punks that survive on sushi. So I never gave it much thought, until today.
Today was our second on the free diving course here at Koh Tao. Swell was up, and a stiff driving breeze put T out of action in spite of some serious meds she had taken in advance. Unfortunately, with free diving there is no alcohol (at all), caffeine of any sort, no dairy if you battle with getting bunged up, oh and no breakfast that morning either. All these things interfere with your performance, and chiefly that MDR.
This means taking sea sick meds is tough, to say the least.
But getting the MDR to work is how you dive to ridiculous depths, and breathold for many minutes. It shuts down peripheral blood flow, shunts blood to the thorax, buffers the lungs and blood, and causes seriously significant lowered heart rate - all of these things keep you going underwater, for longer.
I hit 18m today and T and I celebrated with an epic snorkel amongst the most colourful kaleidoscope of fish I have ever seen. mind blowing.
Awsome, keep it up - since I never go to FB anymore, best you put some pics up here too. Thinks of it as an online diary.
ReplyDeleteWill do old boy, once I figure out how to do that with the eePad
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