Marc Verha
Thu, Jul-13-06, 06:23
http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/744/2 Author: I filled
my lungs, stuffed 35 packs into `em, and watched the doctors'
numb fascination as my right heart chambers were squeezed
flat, blood backwashing toward the lungs, and my blood
pressure dropped in seconds to undetectable. All this sitting
upright, fully conscious.Ralph is in the know, but his
colleagues were shocked by what they witnessed. One told me
that under normal circumstances, the images he saw and the
vital signs readouts accompanying them would have thrown the
hospital into a full-out emergency response. The medical
community has been surprised by previously unknown adaptive
responses in human apnea divers, homeostatic programming which
enables us to dive far deeper and longer than traditionally
thought possible. Dr. Potkin points out another thing that
surprises the academics - the common knowledge ( in the
freediving community) that the dive reflex is conditioned.
Learned, and teach-able, too. Kirk Krack, for example, has
shown ( over more than 1,000 clinic students) that `naïve'
(i.e., completely inexperienced) students can quickly be
trained to accomplish breath-holds that only a few years ago
were the province of the sport's elite. The possibility that
many, or most human beings have much more extensive apnea
capabilities than previously thought - much better, in a
sense, than are neccesary - goes back to the tantalizing
Aquatic Ape Hypothesis. The threads are woven together. .
Please take the time to visit the Potkin research website
here. http://www.wfdma.com/surveys/chest_squeeze/
my lungs, stuffed 35 packs into `em, and watched the doctors'
numb fascination as my right heart chambers were squeezed
flat, blood backwashing toward the lungs, and my blood
pressure dropped in seconds to undetectable. All this sitting
upright, fully conscious.Ralph is in the know, but his
colleagues were shocked by what they witnessed. One told me
that under normal circumstances, the images he saw and the
vital signs readouts accompanying them would have thrown the
hospital into a full-out emergency response. The medical
community has been surprised by previously unknown adaptive
responses in human apnea divers, homeostatic programming which
enables us to dive far deeper and longer than traditionally
thought possible. Dr. Potkin points out another thing that
surprises the academics - the common knowledge ( in the
freediving community) that the dive reflex is conditioned.
Learned, and teach-able, too. Kirk Krack, for example, has
shown ( over more than 1,000 clinic students) that `naïve'
(i.e., completely inexperienced) students can quickly be
trained to accomplish breath-holds that only a few years ago
were the province of the sport's elite. The possibility that
many, or most human beings have much more extensive apnea
capabilities than previously thought - much better, in a
sense, than are neccesary - goes back to the tantalizing
Aquatic Ape Hypothesis. The threads are woven together. .
Please take the time to visit the Potkin research website
here. http://www.wfdma.com/surveys/chest_squeeze/