Wendell, it is like a little 10 minute nap, not real sleep, but for some
reason it holds you over for a while. I wake up if I move up or down and the
ears feel it or if the reg falls out. We do have a point where we can get
out of the water either fully or partially with the troughs, and there we
can get real sleep, but you have to leave your mask on so you do not breathe
through your nose.

-----Original Message-----
From: Wendell Grogan [mailto:wgrogan@dc*.ne*]
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2001 10:06 PM
To: Aldo P. Solari [APS]
Cc: techdiver@aquanaut.com
Subject: Re: sleep on long decos (?)


Since I run a sleep lab for a living, just a couple of quick comments.
I have no doubt (based on what others, like Trey, have written, and what
I have experienced personally) that you can get into a light sleep stage
on deco.  How deeply asleep one could get would be very individualized.
Some people could never relax enough to get more than slightly drowsy,
whereas if you have studied self hypnotism or other extreme relaxation
techniques, you could probably get into a fairly deep trance while still
retaining enough awareness to monitor things like timer beeps or
pressure changes.
It would be impossible to study brain physiology during actual dives due
to the salt water which would short out the electronic connections.
There have been EEG studies done during dry deco, but this is very
clearly not the same situation as being in the water.  There would be
nothing to keep a diver from napping during dry deco.  In the water you
have to be aware of your buoyancy, current, large toothy predators, etc.
Wendell G


"Aldo P. Solari [APS]" wrote:
>
> I  wonder  whether  there  is  any info (papers, grey literature,
> anecdotal data, etc.) on the following issue:
>
> (i)   Divers  getting  into  either:  (a)  hypnothic  state,  (b)
> pseudo-asleep or (c) asleep while doing long decos.
>
> The question is the following: do we (humans) have any capability
> (or   pseudo-not-fully-developed-capability)   to   switch   from
> sleeping  with  both  brain hemispheres to one at a time (such as
> dolphins and other marine mamals do) if we are in the water ?
>
> Are  there any studies of brain activity during long decos ? This
> could  well be answered by electroencephalograms while doing long
> decos when divers are very tired.
>
> What does the WKPP medical doctor say ?
>
> A very interesting topic, indeed.
>
> cheers,
>
> aldo.solari@ho*.se*
> www.ccbb.ulpgc.es/fish-ecology/solaris
> ___
>
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