Advances in Breathhold Diving Performance

Freediving is an important growing segment of U.S. diving activities. A recent UC San Diego interdisciplinary review of recreational and technical freediving experience highlights findings and status from clinical medical evidence, incident case studies, extreme freediving exposures, freediving safety training programs, experimental oxygen pre-breathing, and comparative marine mammal physiology to put human performances into perspective. This experience-based examination of practical/operational parameters of freediving athletes and evidence-based evaluation of scientific and medical issues provided the basis for experimental research designs of future breathhold diving studies. The challenges of duration and depth lead to a re-examination of the proposed 60-second breathhold limit.