Alcohol and scuba diving.! Experts have different opinions!
Don't drink before , in between and immediately after diving!
No booze,No Strenous activity after diving!
Following is a response to the article above after posting the discussion in forums!
What the experts say!
On drinking alcohol and scuba diving.
Mainly it is a bad idea but there is another school of thought!
You would have thought that this subject will have a general consensus among the experts in Dive medicines as a Bad Idea. But interestingly and contradictorily, there are detractors among the specialist, citing strong evidence to support their contentions.
Experts on diving medicine don't agree totally , and have different opinions on the effects of alcohol and diving.
DAN's (divers alert network)
Simply put, alcohol and diving are not compatible. Alcohol causes depression of the central nervous system, which impairs judgment and reduces reaction time and coordination. Often the individual is not even aware of the degree of impairment. A review of more than 15 studies on the effects of alcohol on performance found that alcohol was involved in roughly 50 percent of all accidents in people of drinking age. In Diving and Subaquatic Medicine (Edmonds C, et al., 2002), the authors report that alcohol is associated with up to 80 percent of all drownings in adult males. It takes time for alcohol to be metabolized and its effects to wear off. M.W. Perrine and colleagues studied a group of experienced divers and the impact of alcohol consumption on their performance.. The study went on to state that situational awareness and protective inhibitions may be reduced. Recent alcohol intake (along with seasickness, traveler's diarrhea, excessive sweating, diuretic medications and air travel) is a potential cause of dehydration in divers. Alcohol ingestion may also enhance the effects of nitrogen narcosis. Elevated BAC, dehydration and nitrogen narcosis together may result in otherwise preventable accidents due to decreased problem-solving ability. Many divers appreciate a cold beer, but drinking and diving can turn a safe activity into a unwanted bad experience for both the diver and all those impacted by a rescue or fatality. Think twice before combining alcohol and diving
Scuba docs has this to say :
Beer While Diving?
Some divers insist that drinking beer before, during and after their dives has no risk if consumption is not excessive. Is there any danger in drinking alcoholic beverages and diving? The short answer is that by drinking alcohol before and during diving trips increases the risks not only to themselves but their dive buddies!
Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Research has shown that there is a definite reduction in the ability of the individual to process information, particularly in tasks that require undivided attention for many hours after the blood alcohol level has reached 0.0%. This means that the risk for injury of a hungover diver is increased significantly, particularly if high BAC levels were reached during the drinking episode. The AMA upper limit of the BAC for driving a vehicle in the US is 0.05%. Surely diving with any alcohol on board would be foolish, considering the alien environment (water) and the complex skills required to follow no deco procedures.
Alcohol Impairment
All of the following behavioral components required for safe diving are diminished when alcohol is on board or has been on board in the prior 24 hours: Reaction time Visual tracking performance Concentrated attention Ability to process information in divided attention tasks Perception (Judgment) The execution of psychomotor tasks. The individual who has alcohol onboard may not feel impaired or even appear impaired to the observer but definitely is impaired and this is persistent for extended periods of time. The use of alcohol, even in moderate doses, clearly carries a self-destructive aspect of behavior and leads to higher probabilities for serious accidents. Alcohol causes dehydration (a diuretic) In addition to these dangers is the definite danger of alcohol-produced dehydration. Dehydration is considered to be one of the prime causes of decompression illness. Alcohol in any form has a direct effect on the kidneys, causing an obligatory loss of body fluids. If your drinking buddy is an intelligent diver, surely he will understand that this is not preaching- a cool beer is appreciated by the author-but by drinking and diving he can turn a safe sport into a nightmare for himself and his family. I'm sure that when he considers that he is also endangering his buddy that he will think twice before drinking alcohol before and while diving. There have been recent discussions in scuba magazines, chat rooms and scuba forums that it's OK to drink beer between dives during a surface interval. Some divers insist that drinking beer before, during and after their dives is acceptable citing personal experiences and maintaning that nothing untoward has ever happened.
So, Is there any danger in drinking alcoholic beverages before , in between and immedaitely after diving? General consensus among the experts seem to indicate that it is a bad idea and the risks of DCS is increased by doing so! Dr. Glen Egstrom, PhD has stated the problem succinctly: He made personal review of over 150 studies on the effects of alcohol on performance has resulted in the following observations:
1. Ingestion of even small amounts of alcohol does not improve performance: to the contrary it degrades performance
2. While there are variables that can speed up or delay the onset of the effects of alcohol, they are minor issues which do not overcome the decrements to the central and peripheral nervous system.
3. Alcohol can be cleared from the blood at a predictable rate. Generally on the order of .015% BAC per hour. This does not necessarily mean that the decrements in performance have been completely eliminated in that time.
4. Alcohol is a depressant drug that slows certain body functions by depressing the entire central nervous system. Effects are noticeable after one drink.
5. The effects are mood elevation, mild euphoria, a sense of well being, slight dizziness and some impairment of judgment, self control, inhibitions and memory.
6. Increases in reaction time and decreases in coordination follow the dose/response curve quite well.
7. Alcohol is involved in 50% +/- of all accidents involving persons of drinking age.
8. The deleterious effects of alcohol on performance are consistently underestimated by persons who have been drinking alcohol.
9. Divided attention tasks are found to be affected by alcohol to a greater degree than those tasks with single focus of concentration, i.e. a task such as a head-first dive into shallow water, with many interrelated decisions necessary to a successful dive, will be impacted to a greater degree than lifting a heavy weight.
( click the titles to link to the full articles)
Detractors opinions below:
Diving research"Alcohol and DCI"
But interestingly, there are many experts in the field of dive medicine who actually disagrees with the general consensus that alcohol and diving is just bad news.
Quote from an article " in a study of 440 divers, incidence of DCS in those who frequently drank wine was lower than in those who did not. Recent research on mortality from heart disease has suggested that drinking red wine may protect against heart disease by way of vasodilation. It may be, then, that such vasodilation may improve the movement of nitrogen bubbles through the circulatory system, leading to faster elimination of small bubbles. " unquote. (brief extract from the article suggesting among the experts that not enough data to definitively suggest alcohol and diving is dangerous.)
1. there are no data showing an association between alcohol use and DCS risk;
2. everybody thinks there are; 3. there are theoretical reasons to suspect a link, but these remain unstudied and unproven.. Although conventional wisdom holds that alcohol use, either before or after diving, contributes to the development of DCS, there are no data supporting this contention.
Current policy Alcohol use is described as a risk factor for DCS in the dive training manuals of all the major diving certification agencies as well as numerous books and articles on diving and DCS. DAN cautions against drinking before or after diving, citing alcohol's effect on judgment and the dehydrating effects of alcohol, which may inhibit nitrogen off-gassing The training manual of the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) instructs divers to avoid alcohol before, between, and at least two hours after diving, stating emphatically that alcohol "causes dilation (enlarging) of the blood capillaries, increasing circulation. Drinking alcohol prior to a dive will cause increased nitrogen absorption during a dive. Drinking alcohol after a dive will release nitrogen much too quickly, possibly contributing to bubble formation" Books on deep diving similarly caution against drinking, often giving no particular reason (Gilliam & Von Maier, 1992; Lippmann, 1992). Yet,in a later article [Gilliam, 1994], criticized some of the conventional wisdom of diving, including the rule "you can't dive if you have a beer with lunch." Gilliam noted that alcohol has the same dehydrating effect as caffeinated beverages, and that the effect of moderate consumption of these beverages is of little consequence. He concluded that "a few sacred cows continue to moo long after their milk ran dry"
Link to the full article at Diving research"Alcohol and DCI"
No booze,No Strenous activity after diving!
Following is a response to the article above after posting the discussion in forums!
What the experts say!
On drinking alcohol and scuba diving.
Mainly it is a bad idea but there is another school of thought!
You would have thought that this subject will have a general consensus among the experts in Dive medicines as a Bad Idea. But interestingly and contradictorily, there are detractors among the specialist, citing strong evidence to support their contentions.
Experts on diving medicine don't agree totally , and have different opinions on the effects of alcohol and diving.
DAN's (divers alert network)
Simply put, alcohol and diving are not compatible. Alcohol causes depression of the central nervous system, which impairs judgment and reduces reaction time and coordination. Often the individual is not even aware of the degree of impairment. A review of more than 15 studies on the effects of alcohol on performance found that alcohol was involved in roughly 50 percent of all accidents in people of drinking age. In Diving and Subaquatic Medicine (Edmonds C, et al., 2002), the authors report that alcohol is associated with up to 80 percent of all drownings in adult males. It takes time for alcohol to be metabolized and its effects to wear off. M.W. Perrine and colleagues studied a group of experienced divers and the impact of alcohol consumption on their performance.. The study went on to state that situational awareness and protective inhibitions may be reduced. Recent alcohol intake (along with seasickness, traveler's diarrhea, excessive sweating, diuretic medications and air travel) is a potential cause of dehydration in divers. Alcohol ingestion may also enhance the effects of nitrogen narcosis. Elevated BAC, dehydration and nitrogen narcosis together may result in otherwise preventable accidents due to decreased problem-solving ability. Many divers appreciate a cold beer, but drinking and diving can turn a safe activity into a unwanted bad experience for both the diver and all those impacted by a rescue or fatality. Think twice before combining alcohol and diving
Scuba docs has this to say :
Beer While Diving?
Some divers insist that drinking beer before, during and after their dives has no risk if consumption is not excessive. Is there any danger in drinking alcoholic beverages and diving? The short answer is that by drinking alcohol before and during diving trips increases the risks not only to themselves but their dive buddies!
Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) Research has shown that there is a definite reduction in the ability of the individual to process information, particularly in tasks that require undivided attention for many hours after the blood alcohol level has reached 0.0%. This means that the risk for injury of a hungover diver is increased significantly, particularly if high BAC levels were reached during the drinking episode. The AMA upper limit of the BAC for driving a vehicle in the US is 0.05%. Surely diving with any alcohol on board would be foolish, considering the alien environment (water) and the complex skills required to follow no deco procedures.
Alcohol Impairment
All of the following behavioral components required for safe diving are diminished when alcohol is on board or has been on board in the prior 24 hours: Reaction time Visual tracking performance Concentrated attention Ability to process information in divided attention tasks Perception (Judgment) The execution of psychomotor tasks. The individual who has alcohol onboard may not feel impaired or even appear impaired to the observer but definitely is impaired and this is persistent for extended periods of time. The use of alcohol, even in moderate doses, clearly carries a self-destructive aspect of behavior and leads to higher probabilities for serious accidents. Alcohol causes dehydration (a diuretic) In addition to these dangers is the definite danger of alcohol-produced dehydration. Dehydration is considered to be one of the prime causes of decompression illness. Alcohol in any form has a direct effect on the kidneys, causing an obligatory loss of body fluids. If your drinking buddy is an intelligent diver, surely he will understand that this is not preaching- a cool beer is appreciated by the author-but by drinking and diving he can turn a safe sport into a nightmare for himself and his family. I'm sure that when he considers that he is also endangering his buddy that he will think twice before drinking alcohol before and while diving. There have been recent discussions in scuba magazines, chat rooms and scuba forums that it's OK to drink beer between dives during a surface interval. Some divers insist that drinking beer before, during and after their dives is acceptable citing personal experiences and maintaning that nothing untoward has ever happened.
So, Is there any danger in drinking alcoholic beverages before , in between and immedaitely after diving? General consensus among the experts seem to indicate that it is a bad idea and the risks of DCS is increased by doing so! Dr. Glen Egstrom, PhD has stated the problem succinctly: He made personal review of over 150 studies on the effects of alcohol on performance has resulted in the following observations:
1. Ingestion of even small amounts of alcohol does not improve performance: to the contrary it degrades performance
2. While there are variables that can speed up or delay the onset of the effects of alcohol, they are minor issues which do not overcome the decrements to the central and peripheral nervous system.
3. Alcohol can be cleared from the blood at a predictable rate. Generally on the order of .015% BAC per hour. This does not necessarily mean that the decrements in performance have been completely eliminated in that time.
4. Alcohol is a depressant drug that slows certain body functions by depressing the entire central nervous system. Effects are noticeable after one drink.
5. The effects are mood elevation, mild euphoria, a sense of well being, slight dizziness and some impairment of judgment, self control, inhibitions and memory.
6. Increases in reaction time and decreases in coordination follow the dose/response curve quite well.
7. Alcohol is involved in 50% +/- of all accidents involving persons of drinking age.
8. The deleterious effects of alcohol on performance are consistently underestimated by persons who have been drinking alcohol.
9. Divided attention tasks are found to be affected by alcohol to a greater degree than those tasks with single focus of concentration, i.e. a task such as a head-first dive into shallow water, with many interrelated decisions necessary to a successful dive, will be impacted to a greater degree than lifting a heavy weight.
( click the titles to link to the full articles)
Detractors opinions below:
Diving research"Alcohol and DCI"
But interestingly, there are many experts in the field of dive medicine who actually disagrees with the general consensus that alcohol and diving is just bad news.
Quote from an article " in a study of 440 divers, incidence of DCS in those who frequently drank wine was lower than in those who did not. Recent research on mortality from heart disease has suggested that drinking red wine may protect against heart disease by way of vasodilation. It may be, then, that such vasodilation may improve the movement of nitrogen bubbles through the circulatory system, leading to faster elimination of small bubbles. " unquote. (brief extract from the article suggesting among the experts that not enough data to definitively suggest alcohol and diving is dangerous.)
1. there are no data showing an association between alcohol use and DCS risk;
2. everybody thinks there are; 3. there are theoretical reasons to suspect a link, but these remain unstudied and unproven.. Although conventional wisdom holds that alcohol use, either before or after diving, contributes to the development of DCS, there are no data supporting this contention.
Current policy Alcohol use is described as a risk factor for DCS in the dive training manuals of all the major diving certification agencies as well as numerous books and articles on diving and DCS. DAN cautions against drinking before or after diving, citing alcohol's effect on judgment and the dehydrating effects of alcohol, which may inhibit nitrogen off-gassing The training manual of the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) instructs divers to avoid alcohol before, between, and at least two hours after diving, stating emphatically that alcohol "causes dilation (enlarging) of the blood capillaries, increasing circulation. Drinking alcohol prior to a dive will cause increased nitrogen absorption during a dive. Drinking alcohol after a dive will release nitrogen much too quickly, possibly contributing to bubble formation" Books on deep diving similarly caution against drinking, often giving no particular reason (Gilliam & Von Maier, 1992; Lippmann, 1992). Yet,in a later article [Gilliam, 1994], criticized some of the conventional wisdom of diving, including the rule "you can't dive if you have a beer with lunch." Gilliam noted that alcohol has the same dehydrating effect as caffeinated beverages, and that the effect of moderate consumption of these beverages is of little consequence. He concluded that "a few sacred cows continue to moo long after their milk ran dry"
Link to the full article at Diving research"Alcohol and DCI"
spanish dancer nudibranch/violent sex of slugs
Sensuous dance of a spanish dancer nudibranch in front of a mirror
Violent sex of the underwater hermaphrodite aka the flatworm
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There are many dimensions to being a writer,it is not just about being creative ,there is article rewriting , writing reviews or opinions , reports etc. Many avenues that enables earning income as a online writer working from home, Practice makes perfect, There are possibilities even for those who have never contributed a single word to anywhere. It is jut knowing how to start. Click this link to get the advice you need to start as a writer about whatever and see how far you can go .
Get started as a online freelance writer ,Just click this text link
Or if you think you aren't ready yet to be a writer online, then sign up with the real freelancer site meaning you can have a pick of whatever job you think you are able to do. Many of the jobs posted at freelancer do not require language skills , and just need a good head on your shoulders and a desire and willingness to work with effort. Then you will definitely be able to earn money from this freelancer site below, Thousands of jobs available in every category imaginable or if you are looking for help with any job or project,you can also post it at freelancer and wait for the applications for you to screen and select. This site is ideal for job seekers wishing to work from home or employers outsourcing jobs to the online workforce. Or if you happen to know of people who would like to work from home , refer them to the site and you can generate a passive commission for that as well . To get started just Sign up for an account and just browse through the features. Its totally free.! Even when you start earning , it is still free till you get paid by your employer, then you just give freelancer their commission...deducted .. Get your friends to sign up after you have an account and start earning from doing nothing
Start earning online choosing the job you think you can do.
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Signs of swimmer in distress/near drowning
This is a very important video to watch - for ANYONE who is going near water. Particularly important for scuba divers as this contradicts what we are taught in the PADI Rescue course. Panicking people splash at the surface, but drowning people are often silent ..
A person may drown and nobody may notice the signs of trouble until it is to late .
Usually most people expect a swimmer may be in some sort of trouble and struggling in the water accompanied by yelling or crying out for help. But as the video shows ,that is not always the case, swimmers in difficulty may be struggling in silence just next to any person who doesn't even realise that the person needs help till it is too late and without a whimper just slipped under water. This type of situations happens more frequently than we would like but if we can learn to recognize the signs of distress,it may mean the difference between life and death. Deep water whether in a swimming pool or ocean is an environment not to be taken for granted. Many things can happen....
The Instinctive Drowning Response -- so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) -- of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not look like drowning -- Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard's On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:
1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people's mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people's mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water's surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people's bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
This doesn't mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn't in real trouble -- they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn't last long -- but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.
Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:
- Head low in the water, mouth at water level
- Head tilted back with mouth open
- Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
- Eyes closed
- Hair over forehead or eyes
- Not using legs -- Vertical
- Hyperventilating or gasping
- Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
- Trying to roll over on the back
- Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.
So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK -- don't be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don't look like they're drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, "Are you alright?" If they can answer at all -- they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents -- children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.
Share this information above with your friends ,you never know , it may help prevent an unwanted incident
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