How long can you hold your breath for?

1 min 52 seconds.
Now I have to make it to two min even if it kills me! :)

I don’t know, but not long.
During movies with floods, underwater fight scenes, and such, I hold my breath. It is unintentional, and I never last long.
Remember Shelley Winters in the Poseidon? That was all her, and no splicing!

When I was young mermaid in training, <7, I was constantly testing my self. I made it 3 minutes once. Now I doubt I could do 30 seconds, honestly. And I’m having a hard enough time breathing right now to participate. But I will, soon as I recover.
And it was quite a shock when I saw the Weekie Watchee Mermaids as an adult and realized they had air hoses, and they weren’t holding their breath for 15 or 20 minutes at a time!

As a kid, I could hold my breath the entire length of our public pool, which was an Olympic size pool.

I held mine in a jar indefinitely, the screw on lid helped enormously.

@Dutchess_III – Me too :)
I wonder how long I could’ve held my breath back when I smoked?
It has been 16 years since I’ve stopped and I have no breathing issues presently.

I’m coming up on 2 years quit! But the damage is done.
I quit another time, in the 80s, for 8 years. ;(

@Dutchess_III -Good for you!
The thing I noticed upon quitting was deeper breaths within a week of stopping.
Very nice feeling.:)

Thanks. :)
When I quit the first time, when I was in my 20s, I really noticed a difference in my breathing and my energy levels. This time around, not so much, really. I’m just glad to be presenting a better role model for my grand kids than I was before.

@Dutchess_III – Yep!

In high school over 3 minutes, currently almost 2 minutes (sitting and not moving).

One time, in the mid 90s, I got hit with some sort of breathing distress. I could NOT take deep breaths. I was NOT getting enough oxygen in my system and I could feel it. I took myself to the ER, moving so, so, so slowly. They’d ask questions and I’d gasp out one word at a time.
They finally got me back to a room and I just sat there, absolutely frozen and unmoving. Every time I moved I could feel my body just sucking up what little O2 I had, so I didn’t move. It was really hard to stay calm and not panic. It was like I was drowning.
Nurse was prepping a breathing treatment, when she glanced at me funny and said, “Are you OK?”
“I…. can’t…. breath.” WHAT THE HELL KIND OF A STUPID QUESTION WAS THAT???!!!

Anyway, breathing treatment took care of it right away and it’s never happened again.
Odd.

I used to swim a lap in a 25 yard pool (up and back) underwater on one breath. Don’t know how long it took in minutes.

That’s an Olympic sized pool @Tropical_Willie.

Yup it is @Dutchess_III in seventh grade third fastest swimmer too.

I hyperventilated to do it.

Please do something about that rogue preposition.
One minute 12 seconds comfortably. I’m not in the mood to try for more. The average person can hold his breathe 30 to 40 seconds. https://www.reference.com/science/long-can-average-person-hold-his-breath-9c1e0ed851a0f3a6

Note: I did decide to try again and this time it was 57 seconds.

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
I’ll be watching you…

41.7 seconds. done with a stop watch.

@Sagacious: I’ll handle the rogue preposition when you handle your extra “e” in “breath.”

It depends on what I’m doing. On average, 1.60 minutes. If I have to do something other than just swimming, it goes down..

I can dive, to about 18 feet. Then it affects my ears, and other parts of my body…Then the time, is different.

When you dive it has an effect on your body. Hmmmmm…

No thanks. I was diagnosed with a lung disease several years ago and all the testing I had to go through was uncomfortable. Not having 100% function of my lungs is not fun.

Patty. I assume you are joking.

But. Yes. Everything is more di

I can’t seem to edit my response.

I was trying to say, that everything is more difficult, as you get deeper.

Tried it. I took a breath and hit the stopwatch.
At 0:45 I felt like I was going to burst. I started letting it out slowly. That lasted until 1:02.

I lasted 1:22 but I still have a minor cough from my flu weeks ago and didn’t exercise for weeks, so maybe I could get up to 1:45 if I was in my usual state? Just a guess. Maybe not. Maybe 1:30 is more realistic. I did let my breath out a little to be comfortable. The initial inhale of a big breath becomes uncomfortable for me.

I always feel like I can hold my breath longer when I’m under water, but I don’t know if that’s really true.

Holding your breath, depends on exertion, and pressure.

I can hold my breath pretty long, sitting on my couch. But. When swimming/diving, that number is usually cut in half.

You can expand your ability to hold your breath, by certain breathing practices.

Pearl divers, do this. They inhale, until their lungs are full. Then, they keep inhaling. The practice stretches your lungs. Increasing capacity of your lungs, increases the amount of time you can hold your breath.

I practiced this method, and got better times. So. I feel that it has validation. But. It takes repeated efforts, and occasionally passing out.

What’s shocking is I can hold my breath longer than average, but I can’t jog more than 2 minutes. If I do a cardiac stress test they push me past the point that I’m comfortable with my breathing and heart, and I feel like I have heart damage from that type of exertion the next three days. I’ve always wanted to do a cardiac enzyme test after exerting myself so much, I’m sure a doctor would never do it for me. Anyway, my stamina is terrible it always has been. I’ve never been able to jog a mile ever in my life. My sister said maybe I have some sort of CO2 retention thing like COPD people. I should read up on that. Seems unlikely if I can hold my breath that long.

@JLeslie .Talk to your primary care physician. If you don’t have insurance or the money, go to the ER.
I read an article recently, that reported that females are often often wrongly diagnosed in regards to heart conditions. Something about females having different symptoms than males, when it comes to heart problems.
Often heart problems, can be managed well, with medication.

^^I have a cardiologist. Have had cardiologists. I have leaky valves, a heart arrhythmia, high cholesterol, and at times high blood pressure. I have insurance and money for that matter. I don’t feel like spending any more money than I already have for a doctor to find nothing. I’m always fascinated when people get diagnosed by doctors and the doctors give them treatment that works. It is so rare for me to have that scenario happen. Mostly, doctors don’t diagnose me in a helpful way, and don’t fix me, they don’t listen to me, it’s something a lot of chronic patients say, and we are just viewed as “chronics” and annoying or worse.

Like I said, I’ve done stress tests, administered by cardiologists, which I pass with flying colors. I get echos done on my heart. I don’t see any reason to believe I’d be diagnosed with anything. I don’t think any doctor would go along with my whims on wanting a cardiac enzyme test. It’s not an emergency, I’ve been like this for 50 years. My stamina is always dismissed as something I can build up. Maybe I’ll mention it more to doctors and one day one will find it interesting and do a test. I read recently people can have a high pulse-ox but not be very absorbing oxygen like normal, I should have saved that article. I probably should just buy some oxygen or put more plants in my house.

^Maybe, you need a second opinion. I’m just concerned.

No. Like I said, I have had cardiologists for years. Every time I move I see a new cardiologist in my new city eventually.

Ok.

@jca Got me! Thanks.