My Breathing...

Question
Hi Mike,
I recently completed my PADI open water dive course.
Immediately after my course, I did a total of six dives ranging from 12m to the max of 18m.
However, I realised that my breathing technique is affecting my dive time. With a full tank I can last for 40 minutes and by this time I would have reached the 50bar mark. My worst experience was when we did the 18m dive. Our instructor wanted us, my wife and another lady diver to experience/feel the depth, thermo cline and the under current. It is because of me, for this 18m dive, in 30 minutes I hit my 50bar; that we all had to make an early safety stop ascent. When we reached the surface, I reached the 30bar. How disappointing to myself, my wife and the other lady diver. As for my wife and the other diver, they were somewhere between the 60-70bar. My instructor has commented on my breathing and shared with me the right method. And for this reason, during the six dives, I had to update him the balance of my air in the tank progressively.
I have read the attributes of the 1st and 2nd stage as claimed by manufacturers that it can assist divers in their breathing method/technique so as to assist divers to consume less air. [I hope I am right in what I have read.]. My question is 慞lease advise/help...?br> Thanks
Remy

Answer
Hi Remy,

I can understand your disappointment at running low on air before the rest of your dive group.  However, keep in mind that SOMEONE always runs low first on every dive!!  Sorry...I shouldn't make light of your predicament.  Actually I may have some suggestions to assist you.  I've read your question carefully and it seems that your instructor is on top of your problem and has already offered some suggestions to help you conserve air.

Part of the solution is to understand what may make you use more air in the first place.  

Is your physical conditioning such that you get out of breath easily?  If so, improving your conditioning will help.  Respiratory issues like smoking or chronic pulmonary diseases will also have significant effects on your breathing and, thus, air consumption.

Are you anxious about diving?  This is normal for new divers and will pass as you gain experience.  Being anxious will increase your breathing rate.  Avoid challenging dives until you are more comfortable in your underwater environment

Dealing with thermoclines and currents will also cause you to use more air since it requires more exertion and you will use more air if you are chilled.  Avoid diving in currents if possible.  If you must dive in currents, try to stay low to the bottom or stay behind objects to help you minimize the effects of the current.

Your physical size as compared to the ladies you were diving with could cause you to use more air due to your increased lung volume.  Keep in mind that all of you have the same amount of air to start so the smaller lung volumes of the ladies will mean that they don't use as much air on each breath.

Is your gear configured to minimize drag?  Are you properly weighted?  Is your swimming position horizontal or are you swimming in more of a "heads-up" position?  Overweighting means that you're using more air in your BCD to counteract negative buoyancy and this gives you a larger cross-sectional area, increasing drag and requiring more energy to move through the water.  The same is true for your swimming position.  Your instructor can help you with these problems.

See what you can do to minimize the effects I've noted above.

On the personal side, try to concentrate on your breathing rate.  Count slowly to 4 as you inhale, pause, and then count slowly to 4 as you exhale.  Don't hold your breath.  Try to relax while doing this.  Obviously this won't work if you're out of breath so relax and pace yourself while diving.  You can practice this technique while sitting in your easy chair at home.

Another technique that may help you is to expand your lung volume.  Take a deep breath and then see if you can inhale just a bit more.  With an expanded lung volume you won't get out of breath quite so easily since you can get more effective air volume exchange with each breath.  Again, you can practice this at home.  Keep in mind that this is NOT hyperventilation.  Don't do this in rapid succession...just slowly with an emphasis on adding just a bit more to each inhalation.

Your reference to equipment manufacturers claim that their designs will enable you to use less air are more hype than fact.  While it's certainly true that a regulator that breathes more easily will result in less air usage, all modern regulators are capable of being adjusted to provide ease of breathing.  Thus the difference between different manufactures is not enough to make any significant difference in your air consumption.  How the regulator is "tuned" by the service technician is the key to ease of breathing.

Remy, I hope the information I've provided will assist you in overcoming your air consumption problems.  Try not to worry about it too much.  It will get better with time and experience.

Happy Diving!!

Mike Giles
Mike's Dive Center
mikescuba.com