Doctor here! (Well, medical graduate, not practicing at the moment). The basis behind neural damage from lack of oxygen is based on the idea of cardiovascular collapse. In other words, your heart stops and your organs absorb the oxygen in the local vessels, and then it's out. It has been proven (obviously), that as long as circulation continues your body holds ample oxygen. It's why newer CPR schemes have given up on breathing.
You can test this with a pulse oximeter. Hook it up to yourself and it should be 98-100% saturation. Now hold your breath as long as you can! For most people, it'll never go below 95% before you have to breath. I don't know about these divers, I'd really like to see it. How long it goes before you really have damage is up to much debate. 0% is bad though. :)
parastie283 karma
Doctor here! (Well, medical graduate, not practicing at the moment). The basis behind neural damage from lack of oxygen is based on the idea of cardiovascular collapse. In other words, your heart stops and your organs absorb the oxygen in the local vessels, and then it's out. It has been proven (obviously), that as long as circulation continues your body holds ample oxygen. It's why newer CPR schemes have given up on breathing.
You can test this with a pulse oximeter. Hook it up to yourself and it should be 98-100% saturation. Now hold your breath as long as you can! For most people, it'll never go below 95% before you have to breath. I don't know about these divers, I'd really like to see it. How long it goes before you really have damage is up to much debate. 0% is bad though. :)
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