The longest breath hold by Vitomir Maričić
Staying underwater for 29 minutes seems impossible. Learn how this freediver pushed his body to a physiological breaking point to set a world record.
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That desperate, burning urge to gasp for air? That’s not your brain saying 'we’re out of O2.' It’s actually triggered by the buildup of carbon dioxide, and elite freedivers train their brains to stay calm while the fire alarm is going off at full volume.
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The history of the longest breath hold by Croatian freediver Vitomir Maričić
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Vitomir Maričić achieved this record using a specific technique called an oxygen-assisted breath-hold. Before submerging, he spent ten minutes inhaling pure oxygen, a process known as denitrogenation. This flushed the nitrogen out of his system and saturated his blood plasma and tissues with five times the normal amount of oxygen, creating an internal reservoir that his body could slowly consume while underwater.
The "panic" or burning urge to gasp for air is not actually triggered by a lack of oxygen, but by the buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the bloodstream. As cells burn oxygen, they produce CO2 as a waste product. When CO2 levels hit a certain threshold, sensors in the brain and throat signal the body to exhale and inhale. Elite freedivers must train their nervous systems to remain calm and ignore these "fire alarms" even as their diaphragms begin to contract involuntarily.
Pushing the body to a physiological breaking point can cause significant trauma. Maričić reported a "massive headache" and brain fog that lasted for two days following his 29-minute feat. More seriously, he experienced intestinal bleeding caused by the physical stress of hundreds of involuntary diaphragmatic contractions, where his body was essentially bruising itself from the inside while trying to force an inhalation.
When performing feats like his 300-kilogram underwater squat, Maričić utilizes the laws of physics to manage the load. Due to buoyancy, a steel barbell loses approximately 15 percent of its weight—about 40 kilograms—because of the volume of water it displaces. However, the diver must still contend with water resistance (drag) and the difficulty of maintaining balance in a low-gravity environment while deprived of oxygen.
Chunking is a psychological strategy Maričić uses to manage intense suffering by breaking time into tiny, manageable segments. Instead of focusing on the many minutes remaining in a dive, he asks himself if he can survive just ten more seconds or three more physical contractions. This mental technique shrinks the horizon of the challenge, making an overwhelming ordeal feel doable by focusing only on the immediate future.
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