Kate Winslet selling 'Avatar: The Way of Water' in London in December 2022. Winslet held her breath for over seven minutes throughout filming of the film. (Shutterstock)
Kate Winslet reportedly held her breath for seven minutes and 15 seconds on set for Avatar: The Way of Water. Some of the film’s scenes had been filmed underwater.
It’s a outstanding feat; anybody (together with skilled freedivers) would acknowledge {that a} breath maintain over seven minutes is extraordinarily troublesome. Most skilled freedivers should practice for years earlier than reaching a quantity like that — many by no means obtain it. Winslet apparently skilled just for a number of weeks.
While Winslet now holds the report for a breath maintain on a film set, let’s put it in wider context. The present world report for breath holding, utilizing a way that’s probably the identical one the actor employed, is 24 minutes and 37 seconds. This is held by Budimir Šobat — knowledgeable breath maintain diver with whom I’ve labored intently.
Longest recorded breath holds
I and different researchers have carried out in depth physiologic measures on these skilled divers to determine how they’ll maintain their breath for therefore lengthy. One factor is definite: oxygen is essential. In respect to the breath maintain of virtually 25 minutes by Šobat, it was achieved by pre-breathing 100 per cent oxygen previous to holding the breath. Keep in thoughts the ratio of oxygen that we usually breathe within the environment is 21 per cent.
Actor Kate Winslet reacts after holding her breath for over seven minutes.
The world report for a non-oxygen-assisted breath maintain is 11:35 minutes* by Stéphane Mifsud. For girls it’s 9:02 minutes, held by Natalia Molchanova. These are individuals who have skilled for a few years, and are the highest skilled apneists (apnea means quickly stopped respiration).
How did Winslet do it then? And when you had been to do that, why is it that you just (most likely) couldn’t come near seven minutes, even after a number of weeks of coaching? You would wish to do what Winslet probably did, and that’s pre-breathe with 100 per cent oxygen earlier than holding your breath. Winslet additionally most probably hyperventilated (breathed quicker and deeper than regular) on the 100 per cent oxygen.
To perceive how this could improve the breath maintain time, a short overview of the management of respiration is required.
What occurs if you maintain your breath
The most essential sign to breathe comes from clusters of specialised cells in your mind and neck known as chemoreceptors. These chemoreceptors reply to the extent of carbon dioxide (CO2) and, to a lesser extent, the extent of oxygen (O2) in your blood (sure, CO2 is extra essential on this case).
There are additionally alerts from the mind stem itself (central controller) and lungs (pulmonary stretch receptors), however they’re usually much less essential in relation to the subject at hand. Accordingly, the speed and depth of respiration is primarily managed by these chemoreceptors that preserve the optimum degree of blood O2 and CO2.
Professional breath maintain diver Budimir Šobat’s world report of 24 minutes and 37 seconds holding his breath underwater.
During a breath maintain, the extent of blood CO2 rises, and the O2 declines. The preliminary improve within the urge to breathe — let’s say 30 seconds into the breath maintain — primarily comes from the rising CO2. At a selected threshold, the chemoreceptors additionally reply to the declining O2, at which level the drive to breathe will increase dramatically.
Eventually, the urge to breathe intensifies to the purpose that the diaphragm (the first respiratory muscle) contracts involuntarily — known as an involuntary respiration motion. This is the purpose at which the untrained breath holder will sometimes break and start to breathe once more (round three minutes if motivated and oxygen-unassisted).
Pre-breathing oxygen
However, with prior O2 inhalation, the onset of involuntary respiration actions is dramatically delayed. There is now not any sign from O2 sensing. With about quarter-hour of prior 100 per cent O2 inhalation, a breath maintain will be prolonged to just about 20 minutes and the blood oxygen will nonetheless be increased than regular.
Still, even with 100 per cent O2, CO2 (the first stimulus for respiration) rises through the breath maintain. However, thankfully for the oxygen-assisted breath holder, elevated blood O2 blunts the chemoreceptor response to CO2. The mixed impact of an absent O2 response, and a dampened CO2 response, permits somebody to carry their breath for for much longer.
A freediver coaching in shallow water.
(Shutterstock)
Another trick is hyperventilating previous to breath holding. This will decrease the preliminary blood CO2 ranges. This lengthens the time earlier than CO2 creeps above regular.
It’s essential to notice that hyperventilation earlier than breath holding with out prior 100 per cent O2 is harmful in freediving as a result of it will increase the danger for shallow water blackout.
It’s probably that Winslet’s trainers had a eager understanding of respiratory physiology and that she benefited from that data. Although Winslet’s spectacular breath maintain is a report on film units, it isn’t record-shattering off units — even for beforehand untrained individuals.
Even way back to 1959, researchers demonstrated in seven untrained volunteers that respiration 100 per cent O2 previous to a breath maintain resulted in most breath maintain durations of six to 14 minutes. So Winslet’s seven-minute breath maintain with only some weeks’ coaching is unquestionably potential.
*The International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA) is the acknowledged governing physique for the apnea disciplines, which doesn’t acknowledge apnea with 100 per cent oxygen-assisted respiration. Branko Petrovic holds an oxygen-unassisted breath maintain of 11:54 minutes by Guinness World Records, not accredited by AIDA.
Anthony Bain receives funding from the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.
