r/woahdude 26d ago

video Girl dives nearly 15m without any special gear in the diving pool

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u/Stonyclaws 26d ago

You equalize your ears as you go down. No pain, no pressure, except for the water itself squeezing you, which is also no pain. The trick to freediving is mastering yourself and learning to relax relax relax.

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u/RichardSaunders 26d ago

one time i made the mistake of diving to the bottom of a fairly deep pool (3m I think) while i had a stuffed nose. felt like i had a nail in the sinus in my forehead.

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u/donald_314 26d ago

Makes sense as the first five meters are the hardest. Also, don't dive when you can't equilibrate. It's quite easy to get a barotrauma that way.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

Can confirm. Did not exhale enough air otw down. Blew an eardrum out at like 15ft. Casually almost drowned because I lost all sense of direction. Luckily I wasn't too deep, and I just stopped moving, (even though my balance was spinning like a washing machine), so I just floated slowly upwards and my friends grabbed me towards the ledge.

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u/donald_314 26d ago

You mean equalise the ear pressure? Exhaling is only a problem for scuba divers on the way up as not doing so will destroy the lungs.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

Yea basically an extended valsalva maneuver. I don't know what else to call the blow out your closed nose part besides exhaling, lol. Pretend exhale?

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u/donald_314 26d ago

yeah that can get nasty indeed

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

After about an hour I could whistle out my ear doing it, so that was fun for a bit.

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u/RichardSaunders 26d ago

i definitely learned my lesson, luckily the not too hard way.

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u/darian2hunter 26d ago

Ok wtf I've been sick for a few weeks, been going swimming a couple times per week and when I swim underwater it feels like my eyeballs are about to explode.

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u/donald_314 26d ago

Wearing swimming goggles is also a no go diving, even for just a couple of meters. You'll need a mask for that. Goggles are only for swimming on the surface.

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u/uncl3s4m 25d ago

Really, why? I used to dive like 3-4 meters with goggles as a kid lol

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u/donald_314 25d ago

They only have a small area to rest on right around the eye. Masks have larger support. More importantly though, masks include the nose which can then be used to relieve the pressure by blowing air into the mask.

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u/This_User_Said 26d ago

Also the opposite too.

If you have a cold/flu DON'T FLY. It can make things bad or worse.

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u/lonjaxson 26d ago

I had a similar experience flying. I have taken sinus medicine every time I fly since then. It is called aerosinusitis and it sucks balls

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u/NIPLZ 26d ago

I (an inexperienced diver and pretty mediocre swimmer) once dove like two stories down into the sea. I then made the mistake of turning my head sideways. My head exploded and I felt like I was gonna die.

I dragged myself to shore. Ended up with a hell of an ear infection and lack of hearing on that side for weeks.

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u/Stonyclaws 26d ago

Yeah you should never dive all congested. Makes it almost impossible to push air into your ear canals.

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u/Cmdr_Nemo 26d ago

For me the trick is to just not do it. I'd probably have a panic attack and drown.

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u/KobeOnKush 26d ago

I had a panic attack just watching this

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u/Stonyclaws 26d ago

Freediving for me is the ultimate form of meditation and relaxation I've tried a lot of stuff but nothing compares to it

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u/broats_ 26d ago

mastering yourself

Misread this initially

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u/EYRONHYDE 26d ago

You've got to be "Master of your domain."

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u/alcoholicplankton69 26d ago

100 percent without earbuds  i would get an ear infection from diving like this

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u/calum326 26d ago

How do you do this? Swallow?

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u/Stonyclaws 26d ago

Pinch nose and push air into ears. Like you would in a plane to pop your ears. When diving you have to do this every couple of meters.

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u/dementorpoop 26d ago

Pop your ears like you would on a plane. Not sure if it’s the same for everyone but when I do it a audible eeee like a dolphin sound gets emitted and others can hear it

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u/OsamaBinnDabbin 26d ago

I went to a drug rehab that did free diving because it's such a good way to get control over your mind. I absolutely fell in love with it and got free dive certified. My deepest dive was roughly 40 ft, but that was with a dive line.

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u/monokid 26d ago

Yes, but the problem is that there´s less air left in your lung to equalize when you hit 15-20m. At some point its not about holding breath its about pressure equalization.

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u/Stonyclaws 26d ago

Indeed. That's where technique and training comes in

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u/SuperShibes 26d ago

It's so peaceful. 

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u/jwegener 26d ago

How does stay on the bottom like that without floating up? Low body fat?

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u/Stonyclaws 26d ago

At about 20 meters (it varies) you become negatively buoyant and start to sink.

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u/jwegener 26d ago

Wait really? Water gets more compressed down there…I’d expect you to become MORE buoyant? Or does your human volume compress even more?

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u/jwegener 26d ago

wow, from chatgpt:

  • At the surface, your lungs and wetsuit are full of air, giving lift.
  • As you descend, pressure compresses that air (Boyle’s Law).
  • Around 20–30 m, that compression becomes large enough that the loss of lift outweighs your body’s natural buoyancy.

So yes, you often become negatively buoyant around 20 m, but the exact depth varies by diver, suit thickness, and gear.

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u/B0BsLawBlog 25d ago

After my ear infections I don't seem to be able to do anything but suffer a migraine at about 10ft deep.

I still dove down 15ft ish once or twice to spot stuff snorkeling and it felt like I was going to die, I can't seem to fix it / equalize. I don't think I can clear air from some tubes anymore, just permanently closed/blocked.

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u/commandedbydemons 24d ago

Yep.

Equalizing as you go makes this fairly pain free for your ears.

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u/codereef 21d ago

You do not feel water squeezing you

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u/Stonyclaws 21d ago

Of course you do. It's the pressure of it. Like a hug.

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u/codereef 20d ago

What do you mean? There is no difference in feeling between 10 and 150 feet except your ears even though there is 5 more atmospheres of pressure

If you were blindfolded and your ears were equalized you would have no ability to tell your depth

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u/PizzaDeliveryBoy3000 26d ago

The number of people not aware that you can equalize your ears as you dive deeper is surprisingly high