Ascending And Descending When Freediving – What To Know

Freediving can be a rewarding experience. The weightlessness you feel as you glide through the water is the closest thing that most people will ever experience to flying. However, diving to increasingly deeper depths can pose a certain degree of strain on the body. If this strain is not properly addressed, a driver can sustain severe injury and possibly even death. In this article, we will discuss the dangers associated with descending into the water and ascending back to the surface. We will also discuss what you need to know in order to do these safely.

What Are The Dangers Of Descending While Freediving?

The main issue with deep freediving comes in the form of intense pressure that is imposed on the body. As you dive deeper, this pressure intensifies and the effects of the pressure are amplified. A few dangers that come with intense water pressure are as follows.

Barotrauma – Whenever you freedive deeper into the ocean, you increase the amount of pressure on your inner ear. This can result in damage to the ear due to direct pressure on the air pocket in the middle ear. Sometimes, the pressure in your ear can be nullified or “equalized” by closing your mount and pinching your nose shut and gently blowing. Or, you can try making chewing motions with your jaw or even try swallowing. These actions can push more air into the inner ear and combat the added pressure you are experiencing.

Nitrogen Narcosis – When your body is subjected to the intense pressure of repetitive deep-dives, it can start to store up nitrogen in the body. As the nitrogen builds up in your system, it can create a narcotic effect that leaves the diver feeling loopy and with an altered state of consciousness. Usually, freedivers won’t be so deep underwater that they can’t safely return to the surface to regulate their body’s again. Be careful to manage your ascent, though. There are dangers that come with ascending to the surface too quickly which we will discuss later.

What are the Dangers Of Ascending While Freediving?

Decompression Sickness – This is sometimes referred to as “the bends” and it is caused when your body’s tissues begin absorbing more nitrogen than normal due to the increase in pressure on your body. When you ascend to the surface, the pressure on your body becomes reduced. When this happens, the built-up nitrogen in your body can form harmful bubbles that, if not release properly, can result in joint pain, paralysis or even death.

Latent Hypoxia – Hypoxia itself is simply the condition in which your tissues within your body are deprived of oxygen. Although this is often a general term for deprivation of oxygen, hypoxia can be serious when we talk about oxygen deprivation to the brain. Latent Hypoxia occurs when a freediver has sufficient oxygen in their body to sustain consciousness at the heightened pressure at a particular depth. However, as the diver ascends to the surface, the oxygen concentration within the diver’s body is no longer sufficient to maintain consciousness at surface pressure. This can result in freediving blackouts.

How Can You Safely Descend While Freediving?

Be Mindful Of Your Comfort Level – Always be cognizant of any pain or discomfort you might experience while freediving. If you start to feel pain in your sinuses or ears, that is a sign that the pressure of your depth is causing damage and it needs to be addressed. Try to equalize often by using the techniques we discussed earlier to move more air around within your inner ear. If the pain persists, gradually climb to a higher depth near the surface until the pain subsides. If the discomfort continues to persist, swim to the surface for a moment to reevaluate your condition.

Do Not Hyperventilate Before Your Dive – Although controlled, deep breathing before a dive is good for oxygenating the body, rapid intakes of air combined with the increase in pressure as you descend into the water can result in blackouts or premature needs to breathe that can result in drowning. You should be calm and breathing slowly before you execute your freedive.

How Can You Safely Ascend While Freediving?

For starters, it is a good idea to surface from a dive gradually, if possible. As we mentioned previously, your body is subjected to certain stresses from the pressure of a freedive. As you swim around during a dive, your body attempts to regulate itself to the new, added pressure. The same can be said for when you surface from a dive. However, it is noticeably easier to swim to the surface from a freedive which means that you can reach the surface much faster than your initial descent into the dive. This means that that your body is subjected to much more rapid physical fluctuations as you surface which can lead to improper release of nitrogen in your body’s tissues. This can result in physical pain and even death.

It’s also a good idea to begin to exhale as you reach the surface from a dive. Normally, this is encouraged with SCUBA divers who take in full breaths at deep depths. When you swim toward the surface, the pressure on your chest cavity and lungs is decreased. If you have your lungs filled with air, the decrease in pressure can cause them to expand and potentially rupture due. However, freedivers aren’t taking fresh breaths mid-dive. Freedives consist of one breath hold that begins at the surface and lasts throughout the dive all the way to the re-surface. So there won’t be any new air added to your lungs at the high-pressure depth that could potentially expand as pressure decreases. However, by exhaling slowly as you near the surface, you prepare yourself to receive fresh oxygen immediately upon reaching the surface. This can save you precious seconds if you have overexerted yourself on a dive. You will be able to inhale the second you breach the surface.

The main thing to remember when freediving is to listen to your body. It is easy to get wrapped up in the fun of the freedive but you must always remember that there are serious physiological changes happening to the body whenever you repetitively increase and decrease the pressure being exerted on it. Be sure to take frequent brakes and remember to properly oxygenate yourself between dives and you will have a fun freediving experience.