Does freediving give you brain damage?

People often mistake a breathhold and blackouts with drowning. 
Thanks to popular media a lot of people are now aware of the risks of blacking out during a freediving. But there is still a lot of confusion around the differences between a blackout, drowning and breathhold.

The first thing to know is a breathold if taken too far, can lead to a blackout, and blackout in the water, with no-one trained to help you, can lead to drowning. But these are all different things.

A breahthold

The big difference between a breathhold and drowning is on a breathhold your brain and body is still getting oxygen. Your lungs have air in them, and your blood stream is carry that to where it needs to go. The more oxygen is used, less oxygen is reach your body. And if oxygen saturation drops below 60%, youre at high risk of blacking out.

Downing

Drowning on the other hand happens when your lungs can’t function due to flooding, or your heart even stops. So 0 oxygen is reaching the brain and body. Which is why brain damage can happen so fast.

A minute of 0 oxygen is very bad news, but  several minutes of a breathhold can be perfectly fine.

A Blackout

A blackout can happen when you have 60% 50% oxygen saturation. What is important to note here is, you still have some oxygen.

One of the biggest risk of blacking out, is you can’t swim and if you’re in water will likely start to drown.

Hypoxia

Hypoxia is low oxygen saturation. In this video, Im getting less oxygen than I should and my body may start shutting down things to preserve & prioritise oxygen, or simply not have enough to operate my muscles. Meaning I can’t do things like giving an okay signal.