Hi,
How can people hold their breath for a super long time? The longest for me was a 1 min and 50 seconds . The world record underwater is 24 mins ? please
In: Biology
Breathing is a reflex caused by CO2 in our bodies. When we inhale, the oxygen converts into CO2. When there is certain amount of CO2 in the body, it starts to irritate the lungs. This is a signal to the lungs to exhale and then take another breath. However, even though the CO2 level increases, that does not mean that our lungs no longer have oxygen in them. In fact, we consume very little of the oxygen we inhale before the CO2 triggers us to exhale.
People who learn how to hold their breaths learn how to overcome that CO2 reflex. It is similar to physical training. Some activity make us feel like absolute garbage, and we feel like we are about to die. In truth, we are nowhere near dying, but only *feel* bad. It is the same with holding your breath. The CO2 will make you feel like absolute shit, but in reality, you still have plenty of air oxygen left. You need to learn to take the pain and ignore that reflex.
That is perhaps the main obstacle. With an average breath, you could probably hold your breath for several minutes just by ignoring the reflex. However, to get up the 24 minutes, there are other tricks such as lowering your heart rate to expend less oxygen, an using breathing techniques which draw in more oxygen.
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