And what about people like David Blaine or Tom Sietas? Sietas held his breath underwater for over 22 minutes (world record). I know they train for it like months and even years, but doesn’t holding your breath = no oxygen to brain?
Permanent brain damage apparently occurs just after 4 minutes of lack of oxygen to the brain, so why are freedivers left generally unscathed after 8 or 10 minutes without air?
In: Biology
Adding to what other people said, only a minuscule amount of the oxygen in the air we breathe is used in the body. That’s why CPR works, there is still a significant amount of oxygen in exhaled breath that can be breathed into another person for oxygen.
So it takes a while until the body actually needs “fresh” oxygen/until it runs out.
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