Pushing The Limits Of Extreme Breath-Holding
This is how people can hold their breath for tens of minutes. Check out our sponsor: betterhelp.com/veritasium to get matched with a professional therapist who will listen and help.
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A huge thanks to Brandon Birchak for all his help with this video. To learn how to hold your breath for 5 minutes, or see one of Brandon’s performances, visit eliteperformancedesign.com and Sixfootcreations.com
A special thanks to Juan Valdivia for his expert advice on the science of extreme breath holding.
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References:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). How your body controls breathing. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. - ve42.co/BodyBreathing
Anatomy, autonomic nervous system - statpearls - NCBI bookshelf. (n.d.-a). - ve42.co/ANS
Biochemistry, oxidative phosphorylation - statpearls - NCBI bookshelf. (n.d.-c). - ve42.co/ncbiATP
Acidosis. Acidosis - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). - ve42.co/Acidosis
Evaluation of respiratory alkalosis. Evaluation of respiratory alkalosis - Differential diagnosis of symptoms | BMJ Best Practice US. (n.d.). - ve42.co/Alkalosis
Wilmshurst, P. (1998, October 10). Diving and Oxygen. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). - ve42.co/DivingO
López-Barneo, J., Ortega-Sáenz, P., Pardal, R., Pascual, A., & Piruat, J. I. (2008). Carotid body oxygen sensing. European Respiratory Journal, 32(5), 1386-1398. - ve42.co/Barneo2008
Jeff, & Huffy. (2022, November 17). The Bolt score test: Measure your breathing volume capacity. Marathon Handbook. - ve42.co/BOLT
Lindholm, P., & Lundgren, C. E. (2009). The physiology and pathophysiology of human breath-hold diving. Journal of Applied Physiology, 106(1), 284-292. - ve42.co/Lindholm2009
Physiology, lung capacity - statpearls - NCBI bookshelf. (n.d.-c). - ve42.co/LungCapacity
Panneton, W. M., & Gan, Q. (2020). The mammalian diving response: inroads to its neural control. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 524. - ve42.co/Panneton2020
Baković, D., Eterović, D., Saratlija‐Novaković, X., Palada, I., Valic, Z., Bilopavlović, N., & Dujić, X. (2005). Effect of human splenic contraction on variation in circulating blood cell counts. Clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology, 32(11), 944-951. ve42.co/Bakovic2005
Gooden, B. (1971). The diving response in man, rat and echidna (Doctoral dissertation). - ve42.co/Gooden1971
Longest duration breath hold - freediving static apnea (male). Guinness World Records. (n.d.). - ve42.co/DivingRecord
What’s the longest a human can hold their breath underwater? BBC Science Focus Magazine. (n.d.). - ve42.co/Southwell2023
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Directed by Derek Muller
Written by Felicity Nelson and Derek Muller
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Animated by Ivy Tello
Filmed by Derek Muller
Produced by Derek Muller and Han Evans
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images and Pond5
Music from Epidemic Sound
Cannot believe that this man went through so much trouble just to remind me to manually breathe
Lmfao
I feel like that wasn’t even a message in this video. It is probably something you have unconsciously in your mind
@@davidzwitserever heard of a joke?
Bippity Boppity, your breathing is now a conscious activity!
@@davidzwitser woooooooosh
I enjoy the fact that the subtitles describe Brandon's laughter as maniacal.
thought i was the only one who noticed lol
It's not wrong tbh
Subtitles are automatic for the most part. KZhead can do them for you, or Adobe premiere pro can also do it. You just have to go through and check they're correct. Not had them transcribe laughter before, but in theory it could do it :/ @@KeksimusMaximus
@@KeksimusMaximus what do you suppose comment means? he's saying he enjoys it. tweaking on this guy for no reason.
Brandon here - This cracked me up too, don’t know what to tell you 😂
"Stretching can help expand what you've got" - Veritasium 2024 Thanks that will be noted for future endeavours
Jelquin explained
Me when I’m jorquin and jelquin it
that was back in 2023 im afraid
2023*
i been stretching my penis for years, i see no expansion.
The end of his breath was so intense. His neck and chest convulsing and he is losing track of time. Such a great edit with him explaining it as well.
I appreciate this vid a lot! So, for the haters, Re: 'He only held his breath for '@1:45 minutes'- try that while filming a vid underwater: no pressure, eh? (pun intended!). I tried it just now, and, though I'm a middle-age, outta-shape smoker, I found that I can easily hold twice as long (3:47- big deal :-\), BUT: I don't think I could've made the same level of improvement (NO way, I'd def fold first) that the poster did for this vid:. THAT is what I find impressive!
@@bholdr----0 Why did you reply to this comment and not the video?
@@SalesmanWave I found the comment interesting. Should I not respond to comments, but, rather, only respond to the video? Edit- oh, I get it now- Is that such a big deal, such that you'd be a nit about it, and, what, try to score some interweb points? OK, ya got me! Zing! Score one for the poster police! 🤔 (I looked for a 'rolling eyes' emoji, but didn't see one- you'll have to imagine that I ended my post with that.)
@@bholdr----0King
@@bholdr----0 what a personality, wowzers
"Breathing is so important, it happens without conscious thought" GREAT, THANKS A LOT DEREK
As someone with ADHD who forgets to breathe when doing anything requiring physical coordination, I contest this statement.
SAME GODDAMNIT
manual breathing activated
Also, you just lost The Game.
Same about blinking your eyes. If you don't think about it, it just happens naturally, like totally.
I've been consciously breathing the whole video, which is arguably more torture than what Brandon's doing.
You are now thinking of your breath again. You are now manually breathing.
That's funny. As a free diver I always find myself holding my breath when I see people under the water. It's a strange to realize that you haven't been breathing for some time just because you are watching other people not breathing.. Cheers, Chris
@@no3ironman11100 that doesnt work on me anymore, but when youre having a panic attack its like youre manually breathing while never catching your breath, even though physically youre fine and do have enough oxygen your heart start beating out of control which increases your need for oxygen. is terrifying. i dont think anyone has ever died from a panic attack, unless they had a heart condition i guess, but it feels like you are going to which just feeds into the self reinforcing cycle
i hate when i concentrate on breathing and then i can't stop and have that weird paranoia that i need to keep focussing on it or i'll accidenatally stop...but it takes the littlest distraction and it's gone. but it's so weird sometimes. glad i never learned how to control my hearts muscle. xD
Haha yeah ive been eating for this video i feel like im suffocating
I love the explanation of how hyperventilating before holding breath is actually bad in very concise way as well as teaching us how to do it properly through other techniques. Thanks for the awesome video Veritasium!
I used to do that while swimming. Didn't notice a difference. However I do remember a news story of a girl who unexpectedly blacked out during swim class while they were doing breathing exercises. Going back realizing I could've died because the adults weren't strong enough to pull me out, how terrifying. God's grace is real!
I like to see how far I can swim underwater and I always swim further after hyperventilating, so this really confuses me
It's so concise that it's not so clear. How would the amount of oxygen in your blood not being increasable because it's limited by the concentration of oxygen in the air while at the same time the amount of CO2 its controllable because it's expellable?
@@mmark300 Hyperventilating reduces the urge to breathe, but doesn't give more oxygen. Makes it much easier to lose consciousness.
@@mmark300All you’re doing by hyperventilating is suppressing the natural urge to breathe. That can be very dangerous as that can lead to you becoming unconscious and breathing in water. As the video explains holding your breath is to a large extent depending on psychological aspects. As a lifeguard I increased my diving time significantly with similar techniques to what Brandon mentions.
*The human instinct to hold your breath when you see someone submerged*
This is breath taking
YOURE breath taking
Just…. Just dont
Badum tsss....
*This...... is Elon Musk*
Sadly, the professional isn't breath taking enough
Learning how to hold your breath that long in that short of a period of time is honestly very impressive.
Very impressive yes but I promise you could do it too! I freedive and you could hit a 3 min breath hold just after a couple of days of training. It feels really surreal when you reach a point of total relaxation wherein not breathing feels just as comfortable as breathing.
I went an extra minute on top of his time. I don't exercise at all, which doesn't help. Also I was in bed but in a state of intense anxiety which probably cancels out. But also slightly drunk. IDK if v that helps
@@KNR90something I noticed is that your entire body breathes through the skin, so immersing is important in this case
@@KNR90 So you passed out. Does it count if you use chemicals (alcohol)? LOL
and not honestly what do you think?
As a free diver and spearfisherman, this was a lovely watch. Breath training and holding is a meditation. It's as much a physical practice as it is a psychological one.
Agreed. I was self taught and its really fascinating to see the methods I "devolped" are actually used by everyone else as well. Stay safe down there!
@@alexanderharris539 Yeah. Especially when I was a kid/teen: my brother and I and our friends were competitive swimmers, and we would compete to see who could stay underwater the longest, and who could swim the farthest distance underwater without a breath. (And we'd hold our breath whenever we went through a tunnel, of course! I think all kids do that, eh?) One coach once did a lap underwater in a 50 meter Olympic size pool, so 100 meters, in about two minutes or a bit more (I think) I couldn't ever do that, but I can still hold for 3-1/2 minutes pretty easily (after prepping/packing and while staying still (no exertion)... I doubt I could do four, without my life depending it (or maybe with straight O2 before... or if I wasn't a former smoker). Cheers!
Really interesting video, and very well explained. As someone with a background as rescue swimmer, I had the "fortune" to experience a pool blackout under controlled and supervised conditions. The really dangerous thing is, as mentioned in the video, when hyperventilating, is the feeling of sensation and happiness while actually passing out. You are (without help from others) dying without noticing.
I remember learning lung packing from Bear Grylls. I'd sit at the bottom of the pool as a kid for 3 or 4 minutes at a time. It was one of the most euphoric, meditative things to just be floating in silent weightlessness. There was a point halfway through where you just felt like you could stay down there for another hour as long as you didn't move.
Sounds not entirely safe
@fredriksvard2603 after watching this video I now think I was playing with death lmao.
Can relate. Sitting down by the ladder, watching the pool or just closing my eyes, enjoying the cool water and the calmness... Probably one of the only things I did as a kid that even came close to meditation and deliberate relaxation.
Same here. I'd sometimes compete against others and would enjoy watching them breath in and dive again several times while I remained underwater unmoving.
that's partly why i can't swim. when my school would take us for swimming lessons i'd spend the time chilling underwater as long as i could because it was the most peace i ever got. the quiet was nice but i worry my brain might have been shutting down as well because of lack of oxygen
Brandon seems like such a nice and kind person, so much endearing and motivation from him. Incredible teacher.
Seriously. It's rare to see somebody so accomplished, with such a keen ability, that's also able to describe the mechanics of what they're doing, as well as the mental process, in a really useful, detailed way.
He is very passionate about science
Very gay too!
@@user-os7ec4dm8x I don't think he's gay unless you're joking 15:15
@@user-os7ec4dm8x Are... you being serious?
I've been freediving since about the age of 7. Whenever I dive, music will start to play in my head, as I go longer and longer the more it becomes noticeable. It's kinda like the mantra that Brandon talked about, after a while, my mind would be completely clear and the only thing left was a wordless song. It's actually extremely therapeutic, I reckon everyone should make a habit of holding their breath underwater.
as opposed to breathing underwater?
Im a Professional scuba diver, occasionally doing free dives and I can 100% relate to your description (ok maybe 95%). It’s just, when your alone and hear nothing but some tides, it feels indescribably calming and relaxing .
@@BeatisMcScoots Although I do enjoy SCUBA diving, I find the silence of free diving more calming and enjoyable.
@@Eierkrauler420_ Even more so when you dive in a lake. I live in Fiordland New Zealand and almost exclusively dive in fresh water. There is very little to see, and even less to hear. Literally just your own heartbeat
JESUS AND GOD LOVES EVERYONE SO MUCH TURN TO THEM BEFORE ITS TO LATE
This is fascinating. I live at high altitude (around 6500 ft) so i was waiting for him to bring it up. Genuinely, the increase of how long i can hold my breath at Sea level is amazing
Yeah! I'm a former ski bum, and have lived in the mountains at 6k-ish feet, and when I would go down to sea level, it felt like breathing soup... I'd bet a person could train at altitude and then be able to hold a lot longer... Though it's the CO2 buildup that makes one feel like they need to breathe. There is a lot more O2 in a breath than people think (like how rebreathers don't take more air than normal scuba, but, rather chemically purge the CO2 to massively increase diving times... Still, it couldn't hurt. (Imagine what high altitude mountaieers or Nepalese Sherpas, acclimated to 12-16k feet could do? (I also recall reading that pearl/sponge/oyster divers can routinely hold for four, five, plus minutes while diving for their living, and like Sherpas, I wonder how much is training, and how much is genitic... Anyway, cheers!
I agree. I'd love to research how much altitude adjustment plays into breath holding
@@meepmonstare Yup... I don't live in the mountains anymore, but it would be informative to, say, run a half marathon (or other simaler hard- for me- endurance exercise) while living at sea level, and then live at 6k ft. for a few months (as a ski bum again?) and then do another half-marathon at se level, and note the changes. (Same goes for breath holding.) Very interesting. Cheees!
This is fascinating.
👍
Good brockcast
Nice❤
👍👍
👍
I'm a freediver, so this video is right up my alley! I have a dry static breath hold of 9:15 and I'm working myself up towards the 10-minute mark. Breathing exercises were mentioned in the video, but I wanted to repeat just how important it is to be in the right state of mind. Things like meditation and yoga are huge, and pranayama (a meditation/yoga focused on breathing) is a great mix of all three.
It's logical that right state of mind helps when you sit and do nothing, but does it help when you move during freediving?
Lots of overlap with meditation. I teach mindfulness meditation and suggest some of the same relaxation techniques-making lists to the alphabet, for one. My personal preference for anchoring (to keep my thoughts from rambling) is to do a “body scan.” This must be why my BOLT was longer than I expected considering my torso is short, I’m not skinny and I’m not particularly athletic lol.
Wait what, 9+ mins of dry, on air? That's wild! How is your wet goes? Never been freediver but had a 3:15 dry in my youth. Never taken personal records in water.
Have you tried the wimhoff method? As a full-time smoker, non yogi and non freediver I got 4 and a half minutes laying on my bed first and only time I tried it. (I definitely didn't bother with the dammed ice bath neither) I've always wondered since then if any freedivers had tried to add it to their workouts?
@@scarlettardis2018 Wimhoff method is hyperventilating to some extent. Don't add it to freediving.
david blaine taught me this same trick. i've learned a lot from you guys too. well done. my longest was a little over 3:30, i thought i was something special, this dude just completely blew my little elementry school training into a full blown career. i knew it was possible. extremely inspiring. ANYONE can learn to hold their breath longer. just like anything else practice makes us progress. great video man!
Same I got 2:30 and then realized how long it had been and lost it 😂
I learned in yoga to take the sensation of closing my eyes, and do that over and over again (with my eyes closed) and that is the deep relaxation method I used. I was a breath holder as a kid, and would lie in the tub practicing holding my breath. I remember getting a stopwatch for my 12th birthday and using that to time my breath holds. I got up to 120 seconds and was super excited. Hadn't tried again recently, but got to 100 seconds when trying to keep up with Derek's longest hold.
I do Qi Gong, and we are taught that holding your breath is very bad. In fact there is one unscrupulous cult (which I won't mention) that uses a modified corruption of Qi Gong to make their victims more susceptible to brainwashing. Holding your breath is really not a good thing to do.
I hope you had some adult supervision while you held your breath in the bathtub :/
You should do much better as an adult with bigger lungs. I am out of shape and have no practice and on first attempt I got a minute and a half.
I'll have to say, his ability was breathtaking
And, tanks to his method, it holds water.
.. except that he wasn't taking breaths.
Actually so proud of Derek to last 2 and a half minutes! But, my God, 17 minutes is just WILD
And it's still nowhere near the record.
Thats what she said
That's with pure oxygen, though
I do not want to diminish anyone's personal achievements. But I believe almost everyone can do 2.5 min. It's very likely you can too with a little training and practice in a pool. Give it a try with some friends. Enjoy and be proud of your personal achievements pushing your self beyond what you thought you could do.
@@kreynolds1123 No, do not practice in a pool, that's how people die. Practice on your couch instead.
as a doctor, i was pretty darn impressed with the explanation of the physiology of breathing. expertly done, as per usual
I remember trying to do this in my dad's pool when I was younger. I got up to three and a half minutes before I started getting headaches, so I stopped doing it. I thought it was very impressive that I could learn to do that. It was one of the most serene activities that I could do. I loved it.
That was actually crazy how effective going through the alphabet and pausing between each letter was. I watched once through, and my first breath hold with you on the bed was about 40 seconds. My second one while you were in the pool was just over 2 minutes.
Same here
So glad you like this strategy!!! - Brandon
I tried once while sitting up and kind of tense, and went a bit over a minute before I started feeling weird. I didn't try a second time, but I think I might try tonight in bed.
Going against the body's natural mechanisms isn't healthy. They're there for a reason.
Same here, impressive.
I used to do this as a kid in the bathtub... I would totally relax and stay as still as possible. I was pretty impressed with myself when I made it to over 2 minutes.. I can't imagine holding my breath for this long. Insane!
Bro i'm just imagining your mom walking in on you and freaking out thinking you've drowned
I used to do this at the bottom of our backyard pool. I'd swim down there and just lay on the bottom. How my Mom didn't freak out is beyond me... GenX stuff I guess!
@@fprintf I did the same at the city pool as a kid (before the internet, heh). Freaked lifeguards out a few times, but my parents were always telling them "No, he's just a good swimmer."
Brilliant, I loved this. Thanks for the video and how it can impact our lives. The ad was pretty well placed as well lol. The connection to breath and practices of mindfulness that I found by reading up on Buddhism seemed really appropriate. Kudos to finding your happy place in lullabies. They are in us so deeply if they have been sung to us from a young age that finding them again is relatively easy.
I like that you got into the scary drowning stuff right towards the end when you can see him getting uncomfortable. really nice tension
As a teacher, I really hope people can appreciate how brilliantly Brandon creates a positive learning environment WHILE also pushing someone to exceed their limits - both physically and psychologically
Thank you for noticing this, I think it's really important in any sport but rarely noticed or discussed
"Be brave, do it afraid", I liked this
While I have only used one flight instructor so far, but this is my experience so far in learning how to flight. Very relaxing and positive. The guy even knows that I'm prior military, and an athlete, and is still super calm with me.
Please be careful with the breath holding. During my teen years, I was a lifeguard. While interviewing for a second lifeguarding position at an indoor pool that also taught scuba diving, there was an emergency. While my future boss was giving me a tour of the pool, we heard yelling at the diving well. We ran over, we dove in and pulled a boy out of the 16’ diving well. A group of kids were doing a breath holding competition. The boy hyperventilated before holding his breath. He passed out while holding his breath. We had to do chest compressions, and we got a regular pulse, but he died on the way to the hospital. 😢😢😢. It’s amazing what the human body can do and the things we’ve learned, but I see this as a pointless activity/competition. Whether in or out of the water, I don’t allow people (especially kids) to partake in breath holding competitions. That was the first time I ever had to put my cpr training into practice…and the kid died. Thank goodness we had a lot of highly trained people show up and they were appreciative that I acted quickly, but that experience messed me up for a while. 30 years later, I’m still haunted by that event. Please, be cautious of this and do NOT have children attempt this!
I normally call it quits after the urge to breath dies down, because at that point it's just scary.
Thanks for drawing attention to this It’s called ‘shallow water blackout’ and almost no one knows about it unless they’ve experienced it first hand like you
Dont tell this dude the % of people surviving cpr in hospital is ≈ 15 %
Very good points. I hope people take them seriously.
@@Flashv28 I realize that, but not doing anything the survival rate is basically 0%. Yet an AED survival rate is nearly 75%, but their chances drop nearly 10% every minute…unless CPR can be administered. CPR helps to maintain their time and success of revival when an AED is enroute.
I have the body type they describe as the best for this stuff… I’ve always been able to do about 3 minutes as a breath hold. This has encouraged me to try and practice to see if I can do one of those ridiculous like 7-8 minute holds
I fast forwarded through the ad to help Brandon out
These people have the will power to reduce their breathing addiction, it's amazing
Everyone that has ever breathed will die, ergo breathing causes death. Thus, not breathing is how these people are able to not die. They’re cheating death and that is why I am calling the police.
life gives us beathing and lemons.....we need to throw both of those away🤣
I used to be able to go about 4 minutes. I can't imagine how he's able to manage this long. Pretty amazing.
He takes heroin before performing this act.
with breathing 100 percent oksijen tank before static apnea and it is like doping so it is against the sport spirit
@@onurarabac7111 10+ mins with normal sir isn't bad.
@@physco4641 what do you mean with normal
@@onurarabac7111maybe the performer in the video did 10min with normal air. At least, that's what his comment imply
We've watched our vid, done whatever we want, done all the ads we wanted, but this guy on the right is still holding hus breath
He has taken my breath away,wow well done 👍🏼
I can’t just hold for 2 minutes. This guy is a superhuman
It probably isn't very healthy for you anyway
@@ocoolwow imma caution you hold your opinion on things you dont know anything about, cause no. its not unhealthy
Try Whim Hoff. You’ll be able to do 4 mins in a few weeks no problem. Plus you feel great after.
I held for just over 4 minutes my first try
@@ocoolwow It isn't unhealthy either; it literally does no damage to you
Brandon was genuinely so encouraging and charismatic
I’m glad you enjoyed, we had so much fun shooting this video and we’re so grateful to Dr. Muller for having us on to share our fun!
This should be expected by everyone
Yes, 100% this. You recognize people with a positive attitude to live and people right away, that's the way to go!
1:53 Hyperventilation was a common trick amongst freedivers to extend the time spent underwater but as explained in the video, it is very dangerous as it only delays the urge to breathe, but doesn't provide more oxygen at all. It is so risky that the many incidents coined the term "shallow water blackout" for losing consciousness as a consequence of voluntary hyperventilation before the dive, differentiating it from ascent blackout, which is due to lowered oxygen partial pressure caused by a reduction in ambient pressure. The most fun way to push your limits is to throw a ball into a diving pool and start playing rugby with your friends. The average length of a dive in UWR is somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds, but these are very intense seconds, you'll be trying to take air in through your body's every hole :) It's a different way of taming the urge to breathe and making your body work more efficiently, but it does allow UWR players longer static apneas.
tried this at home. worked like a charm, now i can hear colors and see sounds
Brandon is a legend! loved seeing him holding his breath the whole video
That was insane.
Thanks Dave, we love you too!!!
Only downside is that I garantee this video is gonna make a bunch of idiots hurt themselves lmfao
Why is he dead sill in the tank but the water is making waves at the top?
@@blah204 doubt it. I'm sure plenty of us tested how long we could hold our breath, and that's all people will do.
I remember finding a random article about this when I was like 15, giving some exercises to do. Got me from 60s to around 3.30, then about 4 after learning the urge to breath can be ignored more or less safely. Still not recommended to do this without someone nearby just in case, but it's super interesting stuff. I'm willing to bet the people who do this are at least a little bit addicted to the feeling of relaxation/euphoria associated with it, it's very meditative especially when submerged. I totally get it.
i agree. my favorite thing to do any time my family goes out to swimming resorts (assuming water slides are out of the question) is just finding a nice spot and holding my breath for as long as possible and imagine I'm in one of those sensory deprivation chambers. I nearly drowned once as a kid when I accidentally found myself stuck under a floaty filled with people once and couldn't swim away from them, so perhaps fhere's some adrenaline rush in it for me whenever I do it. Challenging and overcoming that trauma or something.
Ive heard people just die , since the breathe reflex is ignored if they go too far they just blackout and die
I remember getting to about 2 minutes within days after reading Ganesh for school (In the book, they use meditative techniques to hold their breath) . It was surprising how quickly my breath holding improved at that age (13 years old). Eventually I got to about 3:30 if I remember correctly. I just got 1:30 which surprised me as I smoked for 30 years and only quit 3 years ago. I reckon I can get back to 2 minutes by tomorrow 😁
@@influentialnobody8960 I think it's pretty rare, though, because the moment you black out your body _typically_ goes autobreath mode, even after breath holding training. Still, probably best to not do this in a pool with no one else around.
I would never be interested in doing it but I absolutely love that this type of performance art exists within the magic and illusion space because it means that it does really blur the line between is this an illusion or is it real? It’s very cool
There is a weird mental state you get into while doing long breath holds underwater that can't really be explained but its very tranquil and I found having my eyes open helped a lot.
I remember teaching myself how to extend my breath hold in a swimming pool as a kid. Figured out breath packing, and counting time really slow so that by the time I reached a count of 100 I'd been down about 2.5 minutes, eventually breaking 3-3.5 minutes by counting even slower. Developed the capacity to swim from one end of the pool to the other, back, and over again on one breath. The water has to be at a comfortable temperature to get a better time. I live in a colder climate now and pools are chillier, so my body consumes more oxygen to stay warm and I have trouble holding my breath so long.
same story here. my slowed thought was always running a sports play in extreme slow motion. a batter running to first base. Now can do that 0.25× on youtube. ⚾😎🙏
Same here on every count! I think my record was just over 3 minutes, and I was also able to cross my parents' pool multiple times on a single breath. I did use hyperventilating as well because, at the time, I believed that it oxygenated my blood. This video is the first time that I heard it only removes carbon dioxide! I was happy to find I was pretty easily able to hold my breath for about a minute forty during this video, just sitting here at my desk, and that's without breath packing or really getting my heart rate down.
@SSJ3Tim I like to see how far I can swim underwater and always swim further after hyperventilating, so this part of the video confuses me. Maybe it becomes more detrimental after a longer period of time than I am able to hold my breath and swim.
Have you tried peeing? That's how I stay warm in my friends pool.
@@mmark300how far, or how long? If you're measuring distance then your variables are all over the place. How could you possibly control speed while hyperventilating? You have to measure time under while in motion.
I have nothing to say but "WOW". I am just amazed by the thing you manage to do
Great video idea with the split screen thing. Something new finally
There's a TED talk from David Blaine where he talks about his personal record (17 min iirc), starting all the way from him wanting to do it as a magic trick to him realizing that doing it for real is easier and performing it, I highly recommend it.
I have sleep apnea so I basically sleep in a hyperbaric chamber every night. I suspect its one of the reasons that despite being a bit on the heavier side 170 lbs at 5'8" I have decent breath holding ability. I also used to swim and play French horn in middle school into high school and practiced breathing technique and breath holding.
I was also a French horn player!
@@veritasium The few but the proud
That's... not how it works. CPAP/APAP isn't anything like a hyperbaric chamber, and neither a hyperbaric chamber nor CPAP/APAP is going to increase your capacity to hold your breath. It's literally just some air at reasonably low pressure for most people (usually not more than about the pressure it takes to blow bubbles through a straw into a tall glass of water) stenting open your airway so it doesn't get blocked (think of one of those wacky inflatable wavy arm things, or a bouncy castle - the constant flow of air blows it out and keeps the tubes expanded, but when the flow of air drops, they collapse in on themselves). That's assuming that you have OSA, of course, and not central sleep apnea like I have - where my brain literally just forgets to breathe, and I have to be ventilated and on oxygen at night because otherwise I spend 90% of the night with precipitously low oxygen levels and stop breathing over 100 times an hour, for up to 90 seconds at a time. Unfortunately, because the pressure and type of ventilation I need are more complex, the ventilation causes my alveoli to collapse if I come off the ventilator too fast when I wake up, and let me tell you, THAT is not fun at all.
@@JustAnotherBuckyLover I don't use a CPAP. I meant to say my dad has sleep apnea and he tells me my snoring sounds just like his sleep apnea snoring. Like I stop breathing multiple times during the night. I am not medically sure that I have it. But from the accounts of friends and family, I probably will take a sleep study soon. The hyperbaric chamber was referring to my snoring reducing my air intake.
He meant hypobaric, but it's still not the same.
Before I even start I realise how much I trust this guy... After, I REALLY enjoy breathing!
Thanks for this video, Derek. Funny that I'm "diving" in this matter a lot is the past week. Last wednesday I held my breath for 3m15s in the pool. My record is still 5m02s but that one was on dry land 😁. If you have some time, please make a video over the mammalian divers, especially sperm whales! Their biology is fascinating as well. There are some birds too.
WHAT I can't even hold my breath for 1 minute!
It’s alright same
5 minutes is great!
Isn't holding the breath on dry land much harder? You should easily do more than 5 minutes under water
@@OEclecticismO For most people yes, they usually get relaxed in water and can perform better. But not for me, holding my breath in water makes me a bit nervous lol
@Veritasium one of my favorites of your videos! AMAZING that you're still going strong after all these years!
I loved this video, it feels very therapeutic to hold the breath. My personal record by just breathing a lot before holding is approximately 5 minutes now I just want to see how much more I can achieve with these advices.
Try and watch an engaging KZhead video on your next attempt. I honestly feel like distracting your mind without expending calories to engage it by trying to distract it with your own imagination is super beneficial.
This was such a cool idea for a video! Veritasium--such a great channel.
Tried to see how long I could watch this video with 1 breath. Made it to 6:41. This guy on the side is a champ for sure!
I love his laughter. So energetic. So prositive.
Thank you! We had so much filming this, when I watched it with CC on it said maniacal laughter when I was laughing and I nearly spit my drink. Glad you enjoyed, we are so grateful for Derek having us on this episode!
😂 I absolutely love Brandon's laugh, it's fantastically crazy sounding and catchy lol if I would've seen maniacal laughter in CCs I'd have died omg 😆
Yes I agree, I get a sense he has reached some euphoric state through this work. A very powerful mind. The ability to turn off thoughts is just amazing
1:00 dang now I am breathing manually darn Veritasium
I was looking for someone to say this. I'm in the same boat to.
i had been training my breath hold with wim hoff method. makes sense that hyperventilating (lowering your ability to hold your breath - putting your body in a tougher position) would contribute to increasing your overall ability to hold your breath
This was so cool. I'd love to check blood samples for lactate and pH. Did you look at the whole oxygen delivery equasion (Delivery equals cardiac output multiplied by oxygen content (dissolved plus bound to hemoglobin)? We break it down and use it in critical care to manage shock. You might also be interested in kids with congenital heart disease who live with oxygen saturations in the 70s/80s (instead of 100%) due to shunting effects or having a single ventricle.
I really enjoy breathing. This really does give me a new appreciation for breathing. When praticed effectively, just deep breathing exercises is better then any anti-anxiety meds available.
I paused the video and came back 30 minutes later, and he was still holding his breath! Incredible!
I got into this. Couple of weeks ago and trained at night whilst listening to music on my desk. Got to 4:15 within a week. I haven't tried underwater and stopped practicing it because it wasnt as much fun as it used to be when i first began.
As a national level swimmer,this video taught me quite a few ways to understand my breaths. while swimming even 1 wasted movement could decide if u are going take extra breaths while swimming or not which would heavily affect the position u are going to be at those wasted movement and extra breaths can take your rank from 1st to 3rd or even below.Every movement has to be precise.Thank you for this video😭💖
Thank you very much Derek and everyone in the veritasium team for all your amazing videos!
As a swimmer an addition i would add is when the body starts to suggest that you need a breath start to breahe out. Only do the smallest "bubbles" possible and only one "bubble" per second. This helps me get past the wall for the last 30 or more.
Wow, I actually held my breath for almost two minutes when he asked us too. I had no idea I could do this.
So happy seeing you stay positive. I believe that you'll get this eventually. Love ya man!
Get what?
@@culwin I have no idea, but a comment I put on a friend's video wound up on this one too. Pretty funny out of context though now
This is fascinating. Do we know if there are long term impacts doing this on a regular basis, benefits as well as negative health issues? The obvious benefits that stand out would probably be ability to control breathing, endurance. But are there other subtle benefits. And what about the negative health issues like damage to brain cells? What do the health studies suggest? As always, another outstanding topic and video.
I was wondering about damaging brain cells, also. On the other hand, 4 oz of alcohol kills about a million brain cells, so it's probably less of an issue holding your breath than knocking back a few drinks after work.
Given that he isn't passing out, he's not teaching the threshold for brain damage.
@@karlrovey With all due respect, passing out seems to me like short term impact. I was wondering about studies that track people who do this over a long period of time. I can imagine that changes to body chemistry and biology would be subtle and not noticeable in the short term. But over a long period of time, years for example, the effects could accumulate.
I was far more curious about this than the method behind building the skill. We know there are long term affects associated with a lot of endurance pursuits that I would think this would mimic.
There have been studies that indicate breath holding can cause brain damage. Search for: breath holding brain damage, That said in some cases involving actual diving the brain injuries might be due to "decompression sickness" (the dissolved air in the the blood "fizzing" out) or similar. But for other cases, it's already a fact that a human brain requires quite a lot of oxygen. If the brain didn't need that much oxygen there would be fewer stroke victims in the world... So. don't over do it - go look up the number of minutes human brains can go without oxygen and stick to below the lower number.
Brandon is just a guy that loves what he can do, smiling all the time
Thank you I’m so glad you enjoyed the video, I really do love what I do and I hope others can feel the same joy and excitement!
AMAZING VIDEO. Very informative. Thank you. Just held 1:30 after using the advice that was given in the video.
In my early teens, before I stopped swimming competitively, I could hold my breath for around 4-5 minutes. I was around 5'10" at this point and weighed around 40kg (88 lbs). There were a few tricks I had but staying calm and relaxed was definitely the most important.
88lbs?? I'm 5'10 and at one time i was 112 lbs and i was severely underweight
@@colehewitt9827I was skin and bones as a kid. It took another year or two after this for me to start putting on weight.
5’10 and 88 pounds is practically fatal there is no way
@@diamond_hcr2 yeah unless he has a medical condition I don't believe it
@@diamond_hcr2 It's not... There were a couple other kids I went to school with almost identical builds.
As a diver all my life I understand all of this and the relaxation techniques as mentioned to increase breath hold self taught as I am now 63. I don’t really count times or depths for that matter anymore basically because I hunt so it more about achieving the hunt than thinking about it! But I really liked this episode 😊
My best over the summer in the pool after trial-and-error was 2:13 so that's impressive how quickly you got to 2:30+! I learned right away that hyperventilating was counter-productive. I learned to relax the muscles and get into a trance state. I didn't consider lung-packing, but I tell you what worked for me to extend my time: I would slowly trickle out the air in my lungs after the first minute or so after. I would sink to the bottom of the pool. Then, when the CO2 sensors are screaming at me to surface to breathe, I try to fool myself by acting like I'm slowly coming up and then hold a little while longer before finally surfacing.
Oh man this is so scary, I can't even try it! I just do some ice bucket
I can get 2 min laying in bed and start breathing after that, I'm scared of damaging my brain if I push it any harder. Haven't tried in water and frankly think that's a bit more scary seeing how you can drown if you black out
@@Zuignap Yeah understandable! Definitely not the safest thing lol. Just to note, the body has sufficient oxygen for the brain generally for about 4-5 minutes. As the video notes, what you're feeling is the buildup of CO2.
Yeah-practice, conditioning, etc, like everything. I used to swim competively, and climb (at mid altitude) recreationally, and when I just now tried to hold, economic attempt, I got to @3:30+ (am 45, a smoker, 5'8, 175, in barely 1/2 decent shape...). Probably could have done more if it was consequential, maybe. Thoughts?
@@Zuignaphavent watched the video, but isnt it easier to hold your breath for longer underwater?
I do not know which is cooler: that there is such a popularizer of natural science, or what I learned from this video! It's so cool when people do what they sort out in detail and explain on visual models what you once scored to understand for some reason. Plus ultra! ^_^
I experienced the CO2 convusions go away while doing a shallow underwater distance swim in a pool (supervised of course). And when I came up my vision was going and what not. So I can attest to the convusions disappearing being a very good time to pack it in from a breath hold. Don't even get near that if you don't have competent people to rescue you.
I wish you kept the timer going when you invited us to breathe together! I retimed and hit 1 minutes 58 seconds, but I'm in that tall/skinny camp and also played trumpet in competitive marching band for years which is basically exhaling consistently while running for 15 minutes straight (granted, that was over a decade and a half ago). I have a naturally high resting heart rate - I'd be curious if that comes into play.
I hit a 5 min ad lol
and you didn't think of checking the seconds in the video and subtracting o.o I also held it for straight 2 minutes easily until it was like, yeah I would need to breathe in soon 189cm 76kg I am surprised, I don't do any sports for past 15 years. I sit at my PC daily for more than 10h and I don't eat healthy. And I think I do very shallow breathing (maybe that even helped it)
Whose worrying every time you see Brandon and can't focus on the video 💀💀 . . . . . . . Yeah I am also the one🤣
This is super fascinating. I'm a smoker so I'm not going for anything like 2.5 minutes, but I love hand standing in our pool in summer. And I'd like to be able to do that for a longer time. After practicing a bit, I did notice that I overcame the first urge to breathe and stayed for a bit longer, maybe double the time. But in all fairness that's like 10 and 20 seconds, respectively, with me 😂
Overcoming that urge to breathe and fighting it is the biggest part to reaching longer times. I could hold my breath for 1 min and was interested if I could train it to extend it, so I taught myself to hold it longer once a night in my bed for like 1-2 weeks. I can now hold my breath for 2 minutes if I try, but I'm scared of going any longer because I'm depriving my brain of oxygen
Interesting video, extreme people, very strong and it feels like they are not from our world. Well done!!!
11:13 That "When have I not breathed for a minute? Maybe never in my whole life" kicked something in me and now, I want to try it too
Absolutely loved seeing Brandon pop up on my feed. Awesome dude, and incredible artist, perfectly presented here. Thanks Veritasium.
i think u got a valid point on breath holder that are tall and skinny are better at holding breaths. met many short swimmers, all are bad holding breathers. And your breath holding score was impressive!!! Anyone above 1 minute and 30 seconds are above average fit!
Hey, can you do a video on the double slit experiment and explain what instrument is used to observe the photons. I have seen a bunch of videos which says that the interference pattern disappears as soon as we observe the particles but noone explains how we observe them. I would really love some insight into that because it's a really intriguing and interesting experiment. I really hope you read this. ❤
That was a neat trick, breathing the pure oxygen while already sitting at the bottom of the tank. Not only do you get the benefit of the pure O2, but the increased pressure (1.2 atmospheres if tank is about 2m deep) you get an extra 20% more molecules into your lungs than you would at normal pressure.
Someone who knows his stuff ;)
I did the test with Derek and got 1 min 40 seconds. Another great video! Thanks so much for sharing with us.
i guess i am a natural as well. i can hold at least 95 seconds without much effort and without any prior training.
I tried again today with some of the simple techniques mentioned in this video and got 2 min 30 seconds! I’m not sure if there’s any real reason to try getting better if I’m not regularly swimming/diving, but it’s fun being able to hold my breath longer I guess.
The gimmick of keeping Brandon on the right side of the screen the whole time just to drive in that yes, he actually is holding his breath for this long, is such a fun choice.
There is a channel I watch that ends their videos 'peace in every breath'. The one phase has increased my length of breath holds from the 1 min 30 to somewhere 2-3 mins. Focusing on the light and peace, nothing else matters
Hard not to be amazed. It probably has some benefits in learning body control and strengthening your willpower because that translates to so many other situations in life. Sort of like learning to tolerate cold showers. Relatively safe ways to practice not panicking when things get uncomfortable, which is a useful skill to have. When taken to these extremes though I would be seriously worried about damage to the brain - even if only minor.
This video has VERY strong “The Tenet” vibes. The way Brandon describes the technique and walks us through the mental journey with such preciseness is like a master training a new person, both physically and mentally, for an epic fight.
Also the prestige vibes
fck your vibes
The secret to this magic trick is... IT'S REAL
I held my breath like twice as long as that veritassium channel guy... That's good... Keep in mind the first thought of breathing is your mind, not you body. If you keep your eyes open you see it when you need to breath. Literally in your eyes
Practice is a big part of it. Not my brightest idea in life but I taught myself how to free dive over a few months during a temporary work opportunity. I was determined to get good at holding my breath and avoid being jealous of scuba divers. My best was about 2:30 while going to about 50’ down where I stopped floating. It made it easy to relax and just watch the fishies. But, none of my coworkers could dive down to get me if something went wrong…
These are the mantras at 7:39 Come what may Seek a direction not a location Think free, live wild Fear is a waste of imagination Rest before productivity does Worthless shapes of self pity, go! We are all museums of fear Don't learn to sail boats upside down all concepts begin on trial Pretend. Enjoy Rest before progress does [rest]. Focus on the process Disarm yourself first Complete what is next Be brave: do it afraid Scuttle the lead Do not hide what you seek
I’m glad you enjoyed these! I have them up in my lab/work space to keep me mindful of my intentions and they’re so helpful when I do these long breath holds!
When I was a kid my brother and I would do holding breath competitions all the time. I definitely remember getting past 2 min. Trying the initial test with Derek I got 2:03 and then doing the alphabet thing (thanks Edward Lear) brought me up to 3 min. I am not really the body type mentioned but it was very interesting to hear about packing. I have never heard the term but my mom once described a similar breathing exercise to get to sleep that has kind of stuck with me and I have done a lot since childhood. You breathe in as much as you possibly can, making sure you do it over 10 seconds. Hold for 5 second, and then take in even more in 5 one second breaths. Hold for 5, then breath out for 25 seconds continuously, literally emptying out as much as you possibly can. I guess it was probably doing that all the time that helped me hold my breath longer.
Anecdotally it seems to help me get to sleep when I am tired but just cannot turn my brain off. Who knows if it really helps though; maybe it is just the counting that helps turn off the brain, like counting sheep.
Blissfulness, clarity, and focus come as a direct result of learning to calm and control the mind and body. Imagine if schools taught this before reading, writing, and arithmetic!
Love the sweatshirt "Be Brave, Do It Afraid." Very similar to a family motto of "Feel the fear, do it anyway."
"please dont try this at home" instructions unclear, I've already suffocated to death
Can I come to your funeral?
Shoo shoo go away chat bot Do not like this comment guys
Damn
Hey Derek, if you're reading this, thank you so much for inspiring me each and every time I watch your videos. I am 17 year old boy with seemingly impossible dreams, but you change my perspective every single time. For example here, til this date, I thought largest breath holding record was max 4 or 5 minutes, never Googled it, but 24+ minutes?!! That's crazy! That was new example for me that nothing is impossible if done with determination, thank you so much again for doing what you are, I hope to meet you in future.
Mantapp
Its amazing what you can achieve with a little practice. My PR is about 4 minutes but i havent been able to achieve it a second time. 3 minutes is my normal max above water.
While you were in the pool, I held my breath with you and was able to last 2 minutes and 6 seconds without training. I'm pretty happy with that. My nostrils weren't held by anything, so maybe some air got in like that, I don't know if that's how it works, I didn't breathe in though. I'm really happy with my time.
I didn't realize he was talking to the same guy doing the breath holding until 16:00 lol🤣🤣🤦♂
Me too, I've realized few seconds earlier