The 24-minute breath-taking record challenges the scientific world

A freelance diver set a record of 24 minutes of underwater breathing beyond the researchers' expectations.

When Aleix Segura breathed, he often thought of the heart in his chest, according to Wired. On the ground, the concentration of restraining his breathing increased his heart rate, but in the water, the effect was the opposite. "As soon as my muscles relax and my heart beats slowly, I feel like interrupting all connections," shared the world champion. Sometimes, Segura relaxes to the point of oversleeping.

But that was before the shrinkage began. When you stop breathing, your breathing instincts are motivated not only by hypoxia but also by the accumulation of carbon dioxide . If you ever hold your breath to an unbearable level, you will understand the feeling. Your lungs are throbbing and your diaphragm contracts, forcing you to breathe quickly. Most of us quickly succumb to this urge. But Segura could hold out for a few minutes.

As an architect in Barcelona, ​​Spain, Segura is a famous name in free diving, the sport requires athletes to perform many underwater techniques with a single breath without use. Diving support tools. Some players specialize in deep diving. Others try to dive away. But Segura's goal is to stop breathing on the spot. He would lie face-down in the middle of the pool, holding his breath as long as he could.

Aleix Segura set a record for keeping underwater breathing in February last year.(Video: YouTube).

In 2016, Segura set a Guinness world record when he stopped breathing for 24 minutes 3 seconds, 54 seconds longer than the record he had previously achieved and two times longer than the record 11 minutes 34 seconds played by the Association. International Breathing Skills Development (IADA) announced.

IADA does not allow athletes to inhale pure oxygen before it stops breathing. For lovers of free diving like Segura, keeping breathing from breathing oxygen is like a technique because it allows divers to store twice as much oxygen in their lungs.

The record-making process often follows an S-shaped curve. "At first they improved their abilities slowly, then quickly, then slowed down as the players approached the physiological limit." , Alan Nevill, a mathematician at the University of Wolverhampton, who has built an achievement model for dozens of world records, said. In other words, the record of athletes has not improved in a straight line.

However, Nevill's statistical model is only approximate to the actual record set by Segura in February last year. Segura's record is 24 minutes 3 seconds, significantly longer than the predicted model limit of 23 minutes 44 seconds."I don't know what he did or how he did it, but the result was a very unusual performance. A statistician like me couldn't say much because he did one thing. relatively outstanding " , Nevill shared.

Freestyle divers always challenges the limits and challenges of scientific knowledge.

Upon hearing about Nevill's model, Segura laughed."He should see what I do when I practice, then he will know his statistics line is not a perfect prediction , " Segura said.

Segura said during training, he held his breath longer than the latest record set. In fact, freelance divers have better time to stop breathing at practice. The pressure of competition affects their ability to relax and negatively affects the performance.

Segura did not rule out the possibility that his record would be broken but he was not sure about the final limit."I don't know. Maybe half an hour or more," Segura said. According to him, free divers always challenge the limits and challenges of scientific knowledge. In the 1940s, researchers thought that pressure at depths greater than 9 meters below sea level would break the diver's lungs. Today, free divers often descend to depths of more than 90m without using support equipment. "We always assume we have reached the limit. But we are always wrong , " Segura said.