Kind: captions
Language: en
[Music]
inside the tank is Brandon burchak and
he is going to attempt to hold his
breath for this entire video
Brandon is one of the world's foremost
experts in breath work so please don't
try this at home I'll put his info in
the description if you want to learn
more I'm going to keep this shot going
continuously on the right side of the
video and while he's holding his breath
we will figure out how he does it and
I'm even going to learn how to hold my
breath way longer than I ever have
before I failed the very first level of
swimming because I refused to put my
head under water
this is somewhat terrifying
[Music]
all the cells of the human body need
oxygen in order to survive
oxygen to react with glucose and produce
ATP the molecule that delivers energy
wherever it's needed in a Cell breathing
is so important it happens without
conscious thought it's under the control
of the autonomic nervous system
when resting we breathe about 12 times
per minute but that rate automatically
increases when exercising the brain
knows how often we need to breathe using
chemical sensors called chemoreceptors
there are chemoreceptors for CO2 in the
carotid arteries and in the brain stem
increasing CO2 in the blood makes it
more acidic and it's thought that this
CO2 acidity is the main feedback
mechanism that regulates breathing
CO2 is created at the same rate oxygen
is used up so acidic blood tells the
body we're building up too much CO2 and
therefore running out of oxygen so we
better breathe the only known
chemoreceptors for low blood oxygen are
in the carotid arteries but these are
thought to play a smaller role in
regulating breathing
and this is why hyperventilating before
going underwater is a really bad idea
because hyperventilating expels a lot of
CO2 making the blood more alkaline but
it doesn't actually increase the amount
of oxygen in the blood which is limited
by the concentration of oxygen in the
air and the number of red blood cells so
with the blood starting out alkaline
more CO2 must be produced before the CO2
chemoreceptors give you the urge to
breathe which means more oxygen will be
used up
sometimes to the point where the brain
runs out of oxygen to stay conscious so
you can black out underwater before even
getting the urge to breathe
if you want to maximize the time you can
hold your breath for we have to optimize
two sides of an equation first you need
to maximize the amount of oxygen in your
body before you start and minimize CO2
and second you have to reduce the rate
at which oxygen is used up during the
breath hold so when we work with an
athlete one of the first things we do is
we check their bolt score just tell them
all right hold your breath and then they
hold their breath 30 40 seconds or
something they breathe that's your new
bull score where bolt stands for body
oxygen level test if you want you can
try to hold your breath along with me
whenever you're ready give a really nice
exhale and then a really big inhale
the bolt score just measures the number
of seconds you can hold your breath
before you feel the first urge to
breathe
your first inkling to breathe is when
most people choose to breathe yeah yeah
it's like that is exactly what I'm going
to want to breathe
some people are naturally better at
holding their breath the bigger your
lungs for example the more air and hence
oxygen you can hold
most people have a lung capacity between
four and six liters but some people have
a 10 liter capacity
I don't know
how's that
foreign
stretching can help expand what you've
got so do like 90 degrees this way 90 90
and then also on my chest and then I'll
do it again at about half volume of a
lung pack so I and then I'll do it again
the ideal physique for breath holding is
someone tall and skinny with plenty of
lung capacity but not too much tissue to
use up oxygen Alex Segura excellent
breath holder he's also built for it too
you know
he's like six feet tall weighs less than
me I mean he's like a lung with a brain
another technique that can increase the
amount of air stored in the lungs is
called lung packing
after taking a full deep breath you
continue to take little sips of air
packing it in on top so I'll hold my
breath and then I'll do about 20 packs
[Music]
things
the other side of the equation involves
reducing the rate oxygen is used
and since muscles use oxygen to contract
it's very important to be relaxed
go through the whole body and we're
going to do like a muscle check we're
going to go all the way down and then
all the way up so once I hold my breath
now I'm just going to check to make sure
that nothing is engaged
[Music]
Brandon sometimes does performances
where he's active during the breath hold
but since he's moving around he uses up
oxygen faster and so doesn't hold his
breath for as long
people actually have a secret weapon
when it comes to reducing oxygen
consumption by virtue of our Evolution
it's called the mammalian dive reflex
all mammals have this physiological
adaptation that helps us survive when
we're submerged in water
the trigeminal nerve in our face detects
the coolness of the water and triggers a
series of responses the heart beats
slower decreasing the rate at which
blood and hence oxygen are circulated
around the body
our blood vessels and our extremities
constrict confining blood to our vital
organs and brain ensuring we have enough
oxygen to stay conscious if you take a
free diving class you can see your your
fingers your hand very sort of like a
pale
collar if I do like a 10 minute breath
hold this will read it like
50 or 60 and then it'll just turn off
because I'll have no blood in my hands
by the end of that long breath hold it's
all from like here to here and the
spleen releases extra pre-oxygenated red
blood cells into the bloodstream
increasing the available supply of
oxygen
the brain also uses a disproportionate
amount of oxygen mental activity neural
activity also uses oxygen so you're
trying to preserve as much as you can
when your body's not moving your brain
is using eighty percent of the oxygen
that your body is is utilizing eighty
percent it's like a Biblical amount so
you kind of want to turn that off a
little bit
[Music]
you want to give yourself some sort of
Mantra that you can just keep cycling
back and forth you kind of want to stop
thinking but you do need to pass the
time somehow and you have to fight
against this urge to breathe so give
yourself something short something that
you can remember and then you you get
through the Mantra enough times that
you'll pass another maybe 20 30 seconds
toward the end of the breath hold
particularly when it's really hard when
the CO2 is high and you're dealing with
a really bad bout of acidotic response
[Music]
once you do your body check I want you
to go through the alphabet and I want
you to have a gratitude for each letter
the more you practice this the better
you'll get at just the sensation of
compassion or gratitude and then that in
itself will be very very relaxing
[Music]
when I do a really big breath hold I'm
not thinking about anything I'm on like
Cloud9 I'm just like between 5 and 15
minutes I feel like I'm just like on a
rocket ship at like a thousand miles an
hour I'm just like I'm not thinking or
feeling anything I just have like a
sensation and like a color but that's
because the whole experience is a little
bit psychedelic
after a half hour of practicing with
Brandon in the pool this is the longest
breath hold I was able to achieve nice
nice and relaxed
immediately I'll leave it running in the
bottom of frame here
no that that urge to breathe is just
your body lying to you you do not need
to breathe you you have plenty more time
so when you get that urge to breathe
relax just appreciate it for what it is
it's just your body taking a real-time
pH readout setting a signal telling you
to expel CO2 but you're totally fine
you've got maybe like four or five
minutes until you drown so you're
totally totally good so when you get
that urge to breathe around a minute
relax appreciate it for what it is and
then I want you to try to count to ten
like as slowly as you can just give
yourself 10 extra seconds after the urge
to breathe
all right
I practice breathing at a set Rhythm and
I Want You to Breathe about five seconds
in five seconds out just through your
stomach and through your nose and again
as much as you can but without engaging
any muscle so one two three four five in
and then one two three four five out
followed by holding my breath for
increasing durations
I feel like like psychologically yeah I
was like I'm not comfortable not
breathing for this long well you made it
about a minute
nice so you made 1 30. oh wow yeah
crushed it wow easy and we're just
starting
amazing amazing amazing for real what
was that we made about 145 I think close
to 150. I modified the strategies
Brandon suggested to keep my mind calm I
think what I was doing that time was
going through the alphabet and just uh I
couldn't do gratitude
they were too hard but I was just like
doing Animals yeah great and I was like
good way to gently distract the mind
I was singing like uh nursery rhymes
that's what I do for my kids I love it
I'm just gonna sing some some of the
songs I sing for them
I was skeptical that my heart rate would
drop significantly but my watch showed
that the mammalian dive reflex really
did kick in my average heart rate was
72. 48 you got that nice look at that
that's wild I don't even get down to 48
when I sleep like you know that that is
that's low that's low for me that's
awesome
yes I think of like when have I not
breathed right for a minute
maybe never my whole life
how'd you go 2 36.
[Music]
I think I can guarantee that I've never
held my breath for two and a half
minutes yep the psychological side is
the hardest how do you distract your
mind for a few minutes you know like how
do you how do you stay calm when you
feel like yeah this is not something I'm
used to
calming my mind while holding my breath
was honestly the most challenging part
but it really helped to have a
knowledgeable experienced guide there in
Brandon to help me through it and I
think that sort of assistance can be
helpful in everyday life too which is
why this part of the video was sponsored
by betterhelp the idea of better help is
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for you it's easy to sign up there's a
link in the description it is
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now back to breath holding
so I managed to hold my breath for 2
minutes and 36 seconds but that is
nowhere near the record in 2014 Branco
Petrovic held his breath for an
astonishing 11 minutes and 54 seconds he
did this after breathing just regular
air
but there are additional ways to extend
breath hold duration
one way is to spend time at high
altitude or in low oxygen Chambers so
right now it's set to like 5000 meters
in the chamber yeah there's not a lot of
o2 in there right very little this
triggers your body to create more red
blood cells increasing your oxygen
carrying capacity
but if you really want to extend your
time you could breathe pure oxygen
beforehand
Brandon's record for a non-oxygenated
breath hold is 10 minutes but with
oxygen he has held his breath for 23
minutes
breathing pure oxygen is dangerous if
you don't know what you're doing
especially dangerous for free divers
Theory says if you do that and you pass
six meters or five or six meters your
risk of oxygen toxicity is much higher
but if done correctly breathing pure
oxygen before a hold can extend it
dramatically the current record is held
by budamir sobot who held his breath for
24 minutes and 37 seconds after
breathing pure oxygen
for this video Brandon went through a
lengthy breathe up process and the last
part involved breathing pure oxygen
here he is packing in the last few gulps
but even with oxygen remaining submerged
for all this time isn't easy
with his wife Brandon has pioneered the
first active underwater performance that
lasts 10 minutes
it's one thing to choreograph a piece
and direct it and put it together when
you are able to communicate normally
when you're not dealing with uh
different elements but when you have a
man underwater and you're trying to set
something to music and you're trying to
give direction and you're trying to
piece this together with an aerial dance
we've done some really big projects in
our careers but this was unlike any any
other challenging piece of theater that
we've had to put together that's for
sure
has never been done before so we're
literally writing the book as we go and
we're trying to make sure that you know
we have to take risks to make something
that's this crazy but you know it's it's
that limit right how far do you go how
far do you push but I think we're we're
dancing on that line
you have the urge to breathe and it
starts kind of like maybe a little bit
in the chest or like the lower diaphragm
but then eventually you'll start to
really have these like convulsions
CO2 has a slight narcotic effect as well
you get it high enough you lose sense of
time that's one of the ways that you
know that your your breath hold is over
what do you mean you lose a sense of
time time is slow or time is fast or you
have no no idea how fast time is passing
or no idea you're you're totally you're
screwed your urge to breathe increases
increases increases increases increases
then the urge to breathe just plummets
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your body's like
not fine
[Laughter]
[Music]
17 minutes so that's when you gotta pull
the plug
yeah
and if you want to learn how to hold
your breath for up to five minutes check
out Brandon's information in the
description
what was going on in your head in the
first few minutes I'm just focused on
retaining that really heavy pack and not
letting my epiglottis come open or
losing any air making sure that while
I'm engaging that I'm not also engaging
other muscles like my traps or my back
or my intercostals so like just focusing
on that one tiny muscle group that I
need to engage making sure that
everything else is calm and then after
about five minutes my lung volume goes
down enough that I can really relax so
then typically between 5 and 15 minutes
I'm super relaxed I have this sense of
falling I feel super euphoric and then
typically after 15 then the CO2 starts
to encroach on me and as it goes up I
have to focus more and more on fighting
the mechanisms of the urge to breathe
like my diaphragm like my intercostals
like my epiglottis fluttering stuff like
that can you feel a difference in your
blood when you're really acidic yeah
yeah absolutely what does that feel like
acidic
feels like they're just to breathe if
you do it enough times you get you used
to it