Apnea Media Base

Description from www.apneanutrition.com:

Most of the freedivers around the world have probably wondered if they could increase their performance if they eat in a specific manner or at specific times before a performance. At this site I will try to answer some of the questions and give a few tips regarding supplements which may have positive effect on the performance.

Please read some of the information with care since most of the supplements is not yet proved to have positive effects on freediving performance. However, all information is based on scientific research although not connected to freediving. This makes the information highly theoretical/hypothetical and may not work in the real life. I hope however that you going to find the information interesting and hopefully increase your results. I am not going to relate to my own experience since that is highly unscientific. One can never exclude placebo effects and evidence can never be based at the experience of only one person.

Never "exaggerate" the intake of supplements, especially not under a long time since that can lead to a disturbed homeostasis with unknown sideeffects!

If you're interested in how the body reacts to severe stress, whether it be encountered at great depths, high altitude or heavy exercise, researcher Claes Lundgren says, "It is useful to push the body to its limits. These conditions allow you to look at how the body reacts as if it were under a magnifying glass." Lundgren is Director of the Center for Research and Education in Special Environments (CRESE) at SUNY Buffalo, which is set up to determine how humans cope with extreme conditions.

Under the magnifying glass in Lundgren's studies is "the diving response," a universal reaction shared by all mammals, including humans, seals, dolphins and whales, to going underwater. And Lundgren's studies - including seven New York Sea Grant-funded projects since the mid-1980s - provide new data to better understand how humans and other mammals sharing this deep diving mechanism cope with underwater conditions.

Description from www.nature.com:

Vitamin C supplementation influences the antioxidant response and nitric oxide handling of erythrocytes and lymphocytes to diving apnea

Objective: We have investigated the influence of vitamin C diet supplementation on the antioxidant response and nitrite levels in lymphocytes and erythrocytes during diving apnea.

Subjects: Seven male professional apnea divers participated in a double blind crossover study. Divers were randomly assigned to either vitamin C supplemented or placebo groups. The subjects did not take any other supplements than the ones provided for this study.

Intervention: One group was supplemented with vitamin C capsules (1 g per day) for 7 days while the other group took a placebo composed of lactose. The usual dietary habits of participants were assessed using a self-reported 7-days 24-h recall before the day of the study. Blood samples were taken under basal conditions, immediately after diving apnea for 4 h and after 1 h of recovery.

Results: Catalase activity increased in erythrocytes (23%) and superoxide dismutase increased in lymphocytes (35%) during the recovery only in the placebo group. Lymphocyte ascorbate levels increased in the supplemented group after diving (85%) and maintained high at recovery. Plasma nitrite levels increased about twofold in both groups during the recovery. Erythrocyte nitrite levels increased after diving (50%) and about twofold during the recovery in the supplemented group. Nitrite levels and iNOS levels in lymphocytes were higher in the placebo group than in the supplemented during the recovery. Erythrocyte carbonyl derivates were unchanged in all situations.

Conclusions: Vitamin C supplementation influenced the antioxidant response and NO handling in erythrocytes and lymphocytes to the oxidative stress induced by hypoxia–reoxygenation.

Description from www.dailymotion.com:

Regarder Plongeescience(2) sur Dailymotion Partagez Vos Videos. Science et aonée

Related Items

• website: Learning Apnea - Dr. Peter Lindholm

The World Free Diving Medical Association (WFDMA) is a non profit organization dedicated to providing a forum and international medical information center for allied health care workers interested in free diving. Our goal is to promote safety, education and medical research for the breath holding diving community.

This organization is founded by Ralph Potkin MD, Cedars Sinai Medical Center,Los Angeles, California and Medical Director of the Beverly Hills Center for Hyperbaric Medicine, and John Fitz-Clarke, MD, PhD, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.

We have established a medical forum to discuss pertinent topics concerning the physiology and other medical aspects of breath holding diving. A membership directory is also being created to provide an easily accessible reference list for people interested in this field and to facilitate communication among health care providers and research staff in this exciting area of medicine.

Apnea Academy School for the Instruction and Research of Freediving