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Meili_Ahlgren OP t1_iyxhqmi wrote

Reply to comment by tobi437u in Do whales experience holding their breath the same as us? by Meili_Ahlgren

Oh wow, that's cool! Is the urge to breathe in humans instinctual or is there a chemical signal that pushes us to after a certain amount of CO2 builds up in our bodies? If we had the physiological adaptations of a whale (the blood and muscle oxygen storage) would we still experience a push to breathe before we reached an unsafe blood CO2 level or would we be able to go longer because of that increased oxygen retention?

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Fidgetable t1_iz0rfmu wrote

You'd probably be interested to learn about Freediving! it's a human sport where we override the urge to breathe while swimming underwater for up to several minutes.

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