Exact Answer: 3 To 6 Minutes
Air cannot be seen but we can feel the air through some of the things that occur around us like a paper bag flying away from your hand, trees moving, kite flying, and so on. Air is a mixture of gases of which one of the main elements is oxygen and it is the most essential and fundamental element for breathing.
All living beings need oxygen to survive. Every cell in our body needs oxygen. What if you are entirely out of the air? You can hold on for a few minutes but you will die for sure. So, everyone should learn about the importance of air and how breathing exercises can help you reduce stress and live a peaceful life.
How Long Can A Person Go Without Air?
| Time | What happens if you hold your breath for a particular time? |
| 0 to 30 seconds | Not dangerous you just feel relaxed |
| 30 seconds to 2 minutes | You feel uncomfortable and might feel a little pain in the chest |
| 2 to 3 minutes | Uncomfort in the stomach as it convulses and contracts rapidly |
| 3 to 5 minutes | Oxygen supply to your brain is reduced and you feel lightheaded |
| 5 to 6 minutes | Whole-body starts shaking continuously |
| Longer than 6 minutes | You lose consciousness |
Normally, a person can hold his/her breath for up to 3 minutes. Holding your breath longer than is not good for your health. Our brain needs oxygen to perform well. If you hold your breath for 30 seconds to 1 minute there is no problem whereas some might feel a little dizzy. This will not be the same for a person who might be suffering from wheezing or any other lung problems.
Try holding your breath for 1 to 2 minutes. What will happen? You will a little discomfort and you won’t be able to do any other work side by side as you can do while breathing. This is because your entire focus is on holding your breath. Have you ever noticed that your breathing or you have to do some heavy work for breathing? No. We don’t think about breathing. Of course, course a tedious process but that is not always on our minds.
There is a big process that takes place in our body for breathing. Now, what will happen if you hold your breath for 2 minutes to 3 minutes.? You will start feeling a slight pain in your chest or some might even faint. All the parts of our body need oxygen to keep on working. If the oxygen supply to our brain stops then your brain cells start dying which will eventually lead to death.
When you hold your breath for 3 minutes to 6 minutes there is extreme brain damage. There are some cases where a person can hold his/her breath for longer than 6 minutes but it is rare. Sea divers can hold their breath much longer than normal people as they have been practiced for holding their breath.
Why Can A Person Go Without Air For Only 3 To 6 Minutes?
As I said before, respiration is a tedious process. The air we inhale goes inside our lungs and the waste gases are exhaled out. Our body takes up the oxygen while we inhale the air. The oxygen should be delivered throughout our body from hard to toe.
How is this achieved? Have you heard of the Red Blood Cells? In short, the Red Blood Cells run throughout our blood vessels which are the oxygen carriers of our body. They are shaped like a disc so that they can easily pass through the blood vessels. The heart sends the oxygenated blood throughout the entire body and sends the deoxygenated blood back to the lungs.
Why the oxygen from the lungs cannot be delivered directly to the entire body? This is because the oxygen can only be delivered to the nearby cells whereas every cell in our body needs oxygen. Therefore the oxygenated blood while traveling through the blood vessels diffuses the oxygen to all the cells. This is the simpler way of understanding the process of breathing.
Persons holding their breath longer than 6 minutes will blackout. The oxygen supply to the brain stops but our brain needs a proper supply of oxygen. We all love sleeping inside big bedsheets especially during winter. Even this is not a good habit as the supply of oxygen to our brain is reduced a little. There are a lot of things that we need to take care of to lead a healthy, calm, and peaceful life.
Conclusion
Lungs are one of the vital organs in our body. Some people have lung problems that cannot be avoided but some people damage their lungs on their own, for example, smoking. The lung capacity of a smoker is much less compared to a non-smoker.
Even normal people do not use their lung capacity to full, mainly the lazy people. When you lot of physical work you breathe a lot. A lazy person who sits doing nothing all day does not use his/her lung capacity to full.
Deep breathing exercises are one of the ways to use your lung capacity to the full and it also helps you feel less stressed. Our body does a lot of things for us and we should take care of it by satisfying its needs to live a healthy life.
References
- https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1997-04591-001
- https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(15)32680-5/abstract
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of ExactlyHowLong.com website.
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