Suunto ambassador William Trubridge knows a thing or two about deep breathing. In 2016, he set a new world record by diving to 102 m on one breath. In 2019, he became the first man to complete an 'underwater crossing' of one of the world’s major channels, swimming across the wild Cook Strait as a series of 934 breath hold dives. William has recently taken another deep dive, this time into the medical world and its treatment of COVID-19. Concerned about the impacts of the virus, he researched how it attacks the body and the medically accepted treatments that help people recover from it. In the process, he learned therapeutic breathing can play a valuable role. Read on for his in-depth report! Scroll down to see William demonstrate a deep breathing exercise!   Therapeutic breathing for COVID-19 By William Trubridge   SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that targets the respiratory system. It attacks our ability to breathe. Now it’s emerging that a strategy to combat this infection may be through breathing itself. First, I need to state clearly I am neither an epidemiologist nor pulmonologist. Everything I describe in this article has been recommended by experts (who I will reference) in one or both of these fields, and I will not speak or extrapolate beyond their recommendations. My career in freediving has meant that I have spent almost two decades harnessing the power of breathing, and I hope to use this experience to help describe and demonstrate how to achieve the recommendations of the experts.For example, the instruction to ‘breathe deeply’ is like telling someone to ‘swim smoothly’– there is a lot of technique inherent in the action. A ‘deep breath’ could have vastly different results depending on whether you start at the base of the lungs, sucking air into the belly, or if instead you simply lift the shoulders and ‘gasp’ the air in. These are the distinctions where I hope to add value. When JK Rowling contracted Covid-19 in April, she employed a technique described by physician Sarfaraz Munshi from Queen Hospital UK that is aimed at maintaining lung function and preventing secondary pneumonia during the illness.1 The Youtube video of his description is here, and the sequence he advises can be summarised as follows: 1. Sit with a straight spine and feet flat on the floor (I add this instruction, since deep breathing while standing risks fainting).2. Breathe in deeply, hold for 5 seconds and exhale – repeat 5 times.3. Breathe in and do a big cough from the base of the lungs (covering your mouth) 4. Repeat Steps 2 & 3.5. Lie flat on your front with a pillow in front of you, taking fairly deep breaths for 10 minutes. This sequence is taught by respiratory physiotherapists also, where it sometimes goes by the name of ‘Active Cycle of Breathing Technique.’
 It is important to remember it's a therapeutic treatment, not preventative: there is no reason to expect that it will help to protect against infection with the virus in the first place. The deep breaths help to ventilate alveoli and remove debris that has accumulated on the walls of the alveoli due to damage from the virus. This debris is what blocks oxygen from being absorbed into the blood, which can lead to a condition called ARDS. Lying on your stomach benefits aperture of the smaller airways: since these are distributed closer to your spine if you are lying on your back the weight of your torso will impede them from opening fully. Here is where I will add some extra directions/descriptions to ensure the exercise is as efficient and targeted as possible.   STEP 0 - Motivation   Many reports from Covid patients describe how it completely cripples energy levels. Even sitting up can be an ordeal, and the idea of committing to an exercise like this might require more motivation than what is in the tank. If that’s the case, then don’t commit to it to begin with. Just tell yourself you’re going to change position (which is recommended by pulmonologists to help prevent pneumonia) and come into a seated position. Once you’re there, the idea of one full breath might be feasible. Then see if you can complete just one round of steps 2 & 3. If that’s your limit go straight to Step 5, otherwise stick with it for another round. This way we only commit to doing something easy, that we know we can manage.   STEP 1 - SITTING   Support behind the spine is fine, as long as the spine is kept straight. What you want to avoid is being hunched, as you would be if you’re sitting up in bed leaning back against the headboard, or seated in a soft couch. Instead, try sitting in a chair or on the edge of the bed, with your feet on the ground in both cases. This allows you to access the full range of movement of your breathing muscles, and gives your torso space for your lungs to fully inflate.   STEP 2 - DEEP BREATHS   This is the key part of the exercise. The aim is to maximally inflate the alveoli (air sacs in your lungs, similar to how a sponge has tiny air chambers). In order to do this, we need to ensure that we are ventilating the entire volume of the lungs. Most of that volume is in the base of the lungs (they’re shaped like pyramids), and we actually have to think about breathing ‘into our belly’ in order to inflate this part. This activates the diaphragm muscle: a plate-like muscle that sits flat in your torso and separates the lungs and heart above from the digestive organs below. It works like a plunger, so that when it contracts and moves downwards then it pulls air into the lungs above it. The effect is also to push the stomach down and out, so it looks like the belly itself is inflating. This ‘diaphragmatic’ breath is the most efficient way of breathing, and it is how you should start the deep breaths. Visualise the air being sucked deep into the base of your torso. If you have one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest then your lower hand should move outwards as the stomach ‘inflates’, while the upper hand stays still during this phase. During the second phase you will breathe into the chest. This uses the intercostal muscles to expand the ribcage, and is how we breathe when we ‘gasp’. You will feel outwards movement in your upper hand, and also expansion as the ribs separate away from each other. It is important in this, and all phases of deep breathing, to stop if you ever experience sharp pain. It’s also important to try and maintain relaxation in all muscles that aren’t involved in the breath - check that your head, neck, arms and hands are all completely relaxed. Contraction there can inhibit your ability to breathe deeply. In the final phase of the inhale you will breathe into the upper ‘clavicular’ zone of the chest. Raise the shoulders and chin slightly and continue inhaling until you reach your limit. This phase has a lot less airflow than the previous two phases, and can be removed from the sequence if you’re already experiencing any discomfort or pain.   So Step 2 is actually: 2.1 Breathe powerfully into the belly, using the diaphragm2.2 Breathe into the torso by expanding the ribcage2.3 Elevate the shoulders to allow your breath to fill the upper part of the torso Again, stop at any point if you experience sharp pain or dizziness.
Also, breathe through the nose to avoid irritating a dry cough, as the nose warms and moistens the air you take in.   Watch William demostrate here and try to follow along.    STEP 3 - INHALE AND COUGH   The deep inhale should be the same as those in step 2. When you cough, in order to activate the base of the lungs, focus on squeezing your abdominal wall as you cough - this will make it more powerful and explosive, which should help to expel debris accumulating inside the lungs.   STEP 4 - REPEAT   Again, only if you feel comfortable. Also, give yourself a break between the two cycles. During the break you can relax and breathe normally (shallow).   STEP 5 - LIE FLAT 10 MINS   While lying on your front, the breathing doesn’t need to be as deep as it is in Step 2. You might want to concentrate on just the first phase of the breath - the diaphragmatic inhale - in order to ensure the air arrives at the base of the lungs. If you’re breathing in this way you should feel your belly swell underneath you, pushing down against the floor. There is no recommendation on exactly how many times to repeat this exercise in a day, but there should not be any disadvantage to performing it several times or as much as you are comfortable with. Also, even if you are reading this and not sick, it may be a wise move to perform it once just in case, so that your body has a kind of ‘benchmark’ for how it should feel when you’re well. That way, if the worst comes to the worst and you do contract the virus then you won’t have to learn the technique while sick, and you will be able to get an idea of the condition of your lungs from how it compares to when you were well. As always with any infection, keep hydrated, monitor your symptoms and report them to a doctor – don’t try to self-manage with these breathing exercises alone.   Lead images: Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash © Alex St Jean   References https://www.huffpost.com/entry/deep-breathing-coronavirus-patients-symptoms_l_5ea1e2f0c5b6d13e4f73c856 2. lung pathologist Sanjay Mukhopadhyay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPtH42Lnt_Y3. Ema Swingwood, chair of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2241191-can-breathing-exercises-really-help-protect-you-from-covid-19/#ixzz6Linrrk4H

  They travel the world playing at festivals and parties that go until the sun rises. They return home to Ibiza and party some more at their own venues, including the famous Café Mambo Ibiza. But don’t be fooled, Mambo Brothers Christian and Alan Anadon prize health and fitness as much as an epic night out partying. They have been living and breathing electronic music since they were kids. EDM aristocrats, their parents were founders of the legendary Café Mambo Ibiza where some of the world’s biggest name DJs have come to play. Only boys, they watched and learned, fell in love with music and the ability of DJs to send a crowd wild. Now they run the cafe, play at events across the globe, and produce their own music. In a new partnership with Suunto, the Mambo Brothers put together three playlists for Suunto users to enjoy on their next workout. The first playlist is ideal for recovery and chilling. The second playlist offers more get up and go. And the third playlist consists of tracks suited to an intense workout. We caught up with two brothers and asked them about sports, fitness and the DJ lifestyle – read on below.          With a view like that we can see why Christian likes to work out at home. © Mambo Brothers   Play your own favorite tunes from your wrist With the Suunto 7 smartwatch you can connect your headphones to your phone and control music and other audio – adjust volume, pause and skip tracks – straight from your wrist without taking your phone out of your pocket.  You can also listen to music without your phone: Spotify has just released an update to their Wear OS app that enables offline use. Simply connect your bluetooth headphones with your watch and download the tracks that you want to take with you! With this new feature, Spotify Premium users will be able to download their favorite albums, playlists, and podcasts to listen offline. Free users will be able to stream their tunes in Shuffle Mode using a WiFi or cellular connection, as well as download any of their favorite podcasts directly to the watch.   LEARN HOW TO USE SPOTIFY WITH YOUR SUUNTO 7     Running, the gym, hiking, dancing all night – what’s your sport? As kids, we really enjoyed playing basketball on the weekends, but all that kind of thing got lost when we discovered the world’s best night clubs on Ibiza! Nowadays, we mostly go to the gym and work out there. We do 30 to 45 min runs on the treadmill and keep our heart rate over 140 to burn all that excess good life we have! Then we do compound exercises like deadlifts, squats with dumbbells, lumberjacks etc. Doing this helps us burn fat much faster. Any outdoor adventure sports? Sometimes we enjoy a good hike somewhere on the island, or while we are on tour we find a good track to walk. We also do a lot of deep sea diving. We love diving as it’s a gentle sport, and you have to be concentrated on your breathing and what you see in the water so it’s a very relaxing and a kind of therapy for us. It helps us to chill out. Being a DJ is a nocturnal life right? How do you stay balanced and in shape? For us it’s really difficult to find a routine because it’s so easily broken with all the travelling, playing at festivals, nightclubs, working at our venues in Ibiza. We have tried working with a personal trainer, which works very well during winter months, but when the night clubs in Ibiza open, and the summer tours start again, it’s a drastic change for us. We difficult to keep appointments because we never know what time we are going to call it a night. So this makes maintaining a routine difficult. It’s important for us to do some form of sport every day to get the positive vibes that exercise brings!   Alan overlooks Ibiza, an island famous for its electronic music. © Mambo Brothers   Has the DJ scene got healthier these days or is it still pretty wild? It has got healthier for sure, and DJs are more conscious about wellbeing and feeling good in general. We are all very happy about that, but we are still playing with fire every night and try not to cross the line and break routines and good habits. For us, it’s very important to maintain good habits like training most days, plus sometimes adding a hike, a swim in the ocean, and eating healthy food! Keeping a balance and feeling fit is essential to handle our busy schedule. What do you love about producing music and DJing at dance parties? We love being DJs because it’s very social and we love making friends around the world that eventually visit us at Cafe Mambo during the summer. It makes us very happy being able to return their hospitality and have a few shots of good tequila with them! We have an amazing job; you get to travel, meet people, eat at great restaurants and of course dance! Producing our music is great – we get a buzz when a studio session goes well and we get a good track that you can play at a gig and see the crowd’s reaction. You can see how the track works and whether we are getting it right or if it needs some changes next time we’re in the studio! We feel blessed to be able to travel the world doing what we love most! Tell me about your playlists and why you chose these tracks? All the music has been tested on the treadmill and it works! We have never ran so much and enjoyed it so much! We have made a selection of classics, music that we love, and records that really motivate us! We hope you like it and enjoy as much as we do!   Lead image: Photo by Sebastian Coman Travel on Unsplash   Read more articles The benefits of training to music and making your best playlist 4 indoor training tips for endurance athletes How to adapt your training when the unexpected strikes 7 indoor training exercises to stay in shape  

Spring into action slowly but surely after a longer break between dives.  Photo by Alex Kydd.   Partial as I am to pies, chips, peas and as many garishly colored fatty sauces as I can cram in, there comes a time when the wetsuit constricts the internal organs so much that radical action is called for. With the new diving season nearly upon us, it’s an opportune moment to review the best ways to trim down and ease those rusty diving muscles back into action.   Ease those rusty diving muscles back into action. Photo by Alex Kydd. Improve fitness Get in shape with some cardiovascular exercise, eg. running, swimming or cycling (as well as getting the ticker pumping, this will help develop flexibility, tone and strength in the core muscles of the back, abdomen and legs).    Stay hydrated Keep those fluids up, particularly if you’ve had alcohol in the 24 hours before diving.  It takes a few days to really get hydrated so stay on top of your water intake.   Easy start Short, shallow, and in calm conditions are the only way to get back into the water after a pause.  Diving is more fun when it is safer, and careful preparation, visualizations and warm up dives are good practice.   Stop smoking No other action will have a more positive effect on your gas consumption, bottom times and overall health.   Lose weight A lighter, more hydrodynamic physique will benefit you before, during and after dives.    Service kit Regulators and demand valves in particular.  Ensure your BCD/dry suit is working properly, your computer has sufficient battery power and the rest of your kit is in good condition – preferably before you get to the dive site!   Test dives Try out any new equipment in a pool/sheltered area to get used to it.  This goes for recently serviced kit too, have a few dives and be sure you are ready togo diving.   |mportant O2 Ensure you have access to oxygen in case of emergency, and make sure you have enough to last.   Everyone should know where the oxygen is stowed whilst you are diving, if you aren’t sure then make it your business to find out.   Be prepared Keep the details of your nearest chamber/helpline to hand, and if in any doubt, call them earlier rather than later, Photo by Alex Kydd. And remember, some basic but often overlooked ways of minimizing your inert gas burden and decompression stress:   Plan the Dive, Dive the Plan Stay well within your planned dive parameters – your computer has an algorithm but has no idea of how tired/unfit/hungover you are, so don’t push its limits   Slowly does it Keep your ascent rate controlled – watch your buoyancy, particularly in the shallow part of the water column.   Safety chill Incorporate safety stops and pad them out if you have spare gas to do so, especially when you’ve been diving deep, strenuously, or in cold water.  Imagine all the wonderful encounters you may experience if you hangout out a little bit longer underwater.   Post dive chill Avoid doing any hard exercise for several hours after the dive (this includes lugging all your kit up hill) – bubbles are liberated from off-gassing tissues for some time after you’ve surfaced, and the less they are agitated the better.   Multi day chill If you’re diving on multiple occasions over several consecutive days, try to insert a dive-free day every 2-3 days to allow your tissues to desaturate completely.   Stay down Don’t go to altitude sooner than is recommended – generally 24 hours from completing your last dive.   Photo by Alex Kydd.  It’s worth emphasizing that in spite of doing everything correctly, and following all the established preventative strategies outlined above, divers still get bent for no apparent reason. There’s no justice in this world, and life is inherently unfair. So make the call, ask for advice, alert someone, even if you feel you can’t possibly have DCI - any symptom that wasn’t present before the dive should be assumed to be DCI until proven otherwise.   About Dr Oli Dr Oli, Hyperdive.co.uk, much like the surface of our blue dot planet Earth, is approximately 60-70% water. He constantly strives to put much of the other 30-40% to good use in the field of diving medicine. Serving as the Medical Director and Senior Hyperbaric Physician at London Diving Chamber, UK for 13 years, this post at one of the busiest hyperbaric chambers in the UK has given him extensive experience in the assessment and management of all types of diving accidents and emergencies. In addition he  has gained a thorough knowledge of the practice of hyperbaric medicine, for non-diving conditions.    

It is with great sadness that we announce the news that our beloved Dr Bruce Wienke, a true pioneer in his field of dive specific algorithm design, has passed away leaving behind a great legacy. A keen diver, and downhill skier, Dr Wienke’s interest in diving was reflected in his achievements, and great success as seen in his accolades. His astonishing CV included Instructor Trainer and Technical Instructor with NAUI, a Master Instructor with PADI, Institute Director for YMCA, and an Instructor Trainer/Technical Instructor for SDI/TDI. “Most of the diving I have done has always been interesting and exciting.  To my Australian friends, diving the Great Barrier Reef was incredible.  Another favourite place is diving underneath the Arctic ice.  It is just amazing; the water is cold of course, but it is just amazing.  It is so clear, and perhaps because of the overhead ice and the associated underwater activity it’s like diving in a three dimensional surrealistic world. It is fantastic, and contrary to what you might think there is a variety of life down there.  Very cool.” Dr Bruce Wienke.  Dr Wienke joined Suunto in the late 90’s, where he hit the ground running and didn’t stop. The collaboration arose after some of his diving work published on core screen modelling in the open literature and was noticed by Ari Nikkola who was at the time presiding over the inhouse the algorithm development at Suunto. Employing his great expertise in the diving specific algorithm field, he joined Ari Nikkola in the development of the revolutionary Reduced Gradient Bubble Model (RGBM). The RGBM, a name first coined by Dr Wienke, is a dual phase approach to staging diver ascents over an extended range of diving applications (altitude, nonstop, decompression, multiday, repetitive, multilevel, mixed gas, and saturation) and a giant stride forward from previous modified Haldanean decompression models. Prior to joining the Suunto family, Dr Wienke was a Program Manager in the Nuclear Weapons Technology Simulation and Computing Office at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) where he completed research up until his death.  As head of the LANL Nuclear Counter Measures Dive Team involving Special Warfare Units both above and below the water, he trained alongside the special forces well into his 70s. His interests were in computational decompression models, gas transport, and phase mechanics.   He was the author of five monographs on his field, as well as more than 200 technical journal articles and was an active contributor to underwater symposia, educational publications, technical periodicals and decompression workshops. Alongside his high achieving work life, he served actively as a consultant for decompression algorithms within the dive industry and he worked with Divers Alert Network, DAN, on applications of high performance computing and communications for diving. Wienke’s first Suunto dive computer releases were the Vyper and Cobra in 1999, which is still accompanying divers all over the world on their underwater adventures, shortly followed by the iconic, best-selling Suunto Stinger dive computer.  With his continued support, Suunto together with Dr Wienke, using his own source code, created the Technical RGBM.  Now including helium gas, and rated to a depth of 120m, the Suunto HelO2 and D9tx opened the door to the technical dive market.   A major new release in 2012 from Dr Wienke saw the Suunto Fused RGBM which combined the Full RGBM and the Technical model.  Greatly benefiting both the recreational and technical diver, the algorithm now supported rebreathers, and new depths were conquered with a 150m rating.  The Suunto Fused™ RGBM 2 can be found in the latest releases, the Suunto Eon Series and the D5.  The algorithm manages dissolved gas and free-gas in both the tissues and blood of a diver making it significantly smarter than any previous models.  Dr Wienke described this algorithm as a supermodel. Dr Bruce Wienke was a widely regarded and respected figure of the dive industry, and he will be by missed all his Suunto family.  He died on Saturday 15th February 2020, and is survived by his wife, Annie.

An explorer alone in a frozen landscape breaks into the ice and descends into a vast, alien underwater world with no light besides what she carries. The eerie atmosphere, the unknown behind the curtain of darkness, the presence of another, all create tension in this film praised as a cinematic masterpiece.  Initially released in 2018, Dive Odyssey, by Finnish filmmaker Janne Kasperi Suhonen, is the story of an explorer and an aquanaut meeting in a mystical underwater labyrinth, hidden from the world by deep snow and frozen ground.   “I often make the analogy between technical diving and space,” says underwater explorer Andy Torbet, who plays the enigmatic aquanaut in the film. “The cold, the darkness, the psychology and the total reliance on your equipment to survive. But more than that you are entering the most alien, other-worldly place in our planet. And if you needed any convincing the aquatic world is one of alien wonder this film does just that.”    Photo by Dive Odyssey.   The film was shot in the old and long abandoned Ojamo limestone mine near the city of Lohja, 60 km from Helsinki. It’s now a modern day diver’s paradise with many kilometers of tunnels to explore, all starting at a depth of 28 m, and descending to 250 m.  The main character in the film, the mysterious orange clad explorer, is played by technical and cave dive Gemma Smith. Shooting the film was no glamourous Hollywood acting gig.  “As we all know roses grow out of the dirt and in this case, the dirt was the hardest diving I have ever done,” she says. “I am so proud of this project that when I am 90 years old, I will still look back on these dives and be impressed.”   Photo by Dive Odyssey.    Enduring four to five hour long dives in 2° C water was a challenge for the dive team.  Add to that the need for a large amount of equipment, self dug entrance holes in the ice, and the requirement to film at night to ensure the popular dive spot was empty.   “Imagine this: rebreathers, scooters, overhead environments, large decompression obligations with a reverse thermocline at the surface as we hit the lake to decompress once we were out of the mine – and all at night time,” Gemma says.  After the dive team’s first dive in Ojamo, a short two hour jaunt, they returned to the surface only to discover that the exit hole had frozen over.  The surface team quickly broke the ice to set the divers free.  After that, strict surface protocols were followed to continually break the ice and prevent the exit from freezing over again.  “With water temperatures hitting 0° C diving conditions were tough,” Andy says. "Mix in dives to almost 100 m with kilometres of underground scootering carrying torches and cameras and you begin to realise this was a team effort where every individual is top of their game. It’s an environment most people would never choose to go, let alone make a film in. But the people made it possible.”     In order to dive the Ojamo mines, or any overhead dive environment, special training and equipment are required.  The tunnels are perfect for cave and mine divers to explore. They are horizontal, and in layers with constant depths.  The longest straight stretch is 1.7 km.  Ojamo has become one of the most popular dive sites not only in Finland, but all of Scandinavia.  Suunto dive engineers regularly dive in the mine. The team of dedicated divers have amassed thousands of hours inside the tunnels while testing Suunto technology. This is an important part of the development process, and to constantly improve to ensure all Suunto devices meet strict performance targets. It wasn’t always a labyrinthine diving paradise.  Back in the 18th century it was limestone mine, and was then converted into a prison camp during the Second World War, when Finland was fighting the Soviet Union. The prisoners worked around the clock in hellish conditions until the end of the war.   Mining operations recommenced after the cessation of hostilities, but not for long, however.  The value of limestone plummeted in the 1960s; the mine was abandoned, leaving it to slowly fill with water and ultimately preserving its magic and history.  Diving inside the eerie tunnels through the crystal clear water you can see what was left behind, including extensive tunnel systems, miners tools scattered on the floor, lightbulbs that look ready to switch on, even boxes of dynamite lay frozen in time in the cold water.   Divers have spent many years exploring and mapping the system, keen to discover unexplored routes.  Why not explore this underwater adventure park yourself?    Learn more about the film here: https://diversofthedark.com/ https://www.diveodyssey.net/ Lead image: Photo by Divers of the Dark    

Suunto Ambassador, pioneering cave diver, explorer and author Jill Heinerth talks about diving physiology in episode one of this four part series. Can’t wait to watch the episodes?  Click the links to dive right in! Watch Episiode 1 now Watch Epsiode 2 now Watch Episode 3 now Watch Episode 4 now In this episode, Jill Heinerth discusses the basics of dive physics and physiology and how to better use your dive computers as an effective tool when planning, and executing dives.   Talking biological tissue and dive computers, Jill explains how the body reacts to the inert gas you breathe during a dive.  When the body is subject to pressure from depth during a dive, it ‘on gasses’ as the inert gas dissolves into your tissues.    Our body tissues include the blood, the brain, ligaments, skin, bone, fat and all your organs and each tissue is delievered different amounts of blood, therefore absorbing different amounts of gas.   The rate in which tissues uptake and release the gas occurs differently for each group of tissues.  The groups are sorted into different compartments alongside tissues that have similar gas saturation properties and behave in the same manner.     A dive computer allows the diver to view information that assists them on a dive, and the diver has the opportunity to decide to follow the device.     A dive computer will not, for the most, consider the individual differences of each diver using it. The "type" of diver that is considered is an average person, and there is an added safety margin to take into account to accommodate variations.   Your Suunto dive computer is based on mathematical models.  This model, or algorithm, calculates the on gassing and off gassing of your compartments.  The algorithm implemented at the core of a computer is a simulation of what happens to gases in a diver's body in an environment where pressure changes.      The research and development team at Suunto test, test and test again to ensure they meet the strictest performance targets.  The dive team at Suunto are constantly improving and fine tuning the devices by diving with them over and over again, because we know you will too.   Check out episode one now and explore these topics further. Episode 2 In episode two of Dive In, Jill Heinerth discusses how your dive commuter calculates ascents or decompression stops as we delve deeper into the basics of diving physics and physiology for both recreational divers, and those who dive beyond.    Having discussed how the human body stores and releases inert gas in the last episode, this week Jill examines how your dive computer calculates the maths that work out how the body gets rid of gas during off gassing, and how an ascent is just the beginning of the off-gassing process. Off gassing ends when the body has reached and found equilibrium with the surface.   When the body cannot take on any more gas into solution, it is termed- critical super saturation.  This critical moment of reaching maximum pressure is known as the M value.    Different compartments mean lots of M values to consider in order to calculate how the body off gases when ascending during a dive.   Recreational divers will only consider the fast tissues.  The time and depth parameters that recreational divers adhere to, keeps them away from nearing critical super saturation point.  This is so they may directly ascend to the surface without a decompression stop.   Tech divers load both their fast and slower tissues, and this adds another layer of considerations.  Sunnto has a team of dedicated researchers, engineers and testers who are constantly improving algorithms and have much real world dive data to use for their improvements.   Jill dives with Suunto, and says, “I have been diving with Suunto dive computers for over 20 years.  Part of this is because I have seen the rigorous testing regiments, I’ve seen the manufacturing standards, as well as their active algorithm research and development.  I’ve been to the factory, seen their testing and I know I can rely on their commitment to excellence.”   Find out why decompression models use up to 16 different theoretical tissue compartments and many more hot topics as Jill explains how your computer works in the second episode of Dive In.   Tune in next time for episode 3 to watch Jill get deep with personal factors and gradient factors. Episode 3 Do you know what your Personal Factors are?      In a world where we are able to choose a product based on what is best suited for our individual needs, why would such a crucial piece of dive equipment, your dive computer, be any different?   Personal factors should not be over looked, yet many divers never read in to the dive computer manual deep enough to understand that their device can be tailored to suit an individual’s need.  External influences can be taken into account and the dive computer conservatism setting can factor in risks for each dive.  This is a very important part of safer dive planning.   During this episode of Dive In, we look at what the personal factors on a Suunto computer are, and how they need to be applied.    Jill also talks gradient factors, algorithms and dive teams.  Few users, or even instructors actually understand how gradient factors work, or what they are.  She shines a light on how different decompression models behave, and how dive buddies can work together even if they are diving following different decompression models.   Jill delves into what each number of the gradient factor represent, which one is more important and how to use them in your dive planning.   Jill also looks into the deep stop mystery.  As divers we still have a lot of research to do into them, and over the years there has been much conflicting anecdotal advice.  There is much misinformation buzzing around social media and dive forums leading to a vast amount of confusion.    Watch now as Jill Heinerth sets us straight on the key issues in this episode of Dive in.  Make sure you tune in next week for the fourth, the final and bonus episode where Jill shares her story of getting hit.   Episode 4 In the final instalment of Dive In, Suunto Ambassador Jill Heinerth discusses her experience of getting ’hit’ with Decompression Sickness (DCS) twenty years ago, what she has since learnt, and how she has adapted her dives to suit her.   Jill was thousands of dives into her career and thought it would never happen to her.  DCS, or the bends, is a sports injury and there is a spectrum of how the bubbles can affect your body from a skin rash to paralysis.  In many cases the resulting tissue damage will remain, perhaps increasing the risk of another hit. Making a few minor changes to her dive since her experience, watch to see how Jill optimises her off gassing phase on a dive and what surprises she has found by doing that little bit extra.     No mathematical algorithm can guarantee your absolute safety, and it is unfair to blame a device if you do get bent.  Use your computer to the full and be armed with the knowledge of exactly how it works.  Dive computers open up a whole wealth of new underwater adventures, so for one last time, let’s Dive In with Jill.