DIVELOG JUNE 406

25 minutes. Test results showed that the sauna exposure produced a significantly lower number of circulating

Recently, some Belgian scientists studied the effects of dark chocolate on bubble production and the endothelial impairment associated with diving and found that consumption of dark chocolate had a positive effect on the endothelium. Further studies concluded that eating a small amount (30 grams) of dark chocolate two hours before a free dive can prevent endothelial dysfunction. The flavonoids in the dark chocolate seem to be the key ingredients. The effects they generate seem to make it more difficult for bubbles to form. Conclusions Further research is required into all the effects described here, but a few things are clear: - 1 . Divers should aim to be aerobically fit and stay in good physical shape. 2 . Certain pre-dive procedures can help reduce decompression stress: some by helping maintain good endothelial function: others by reducing bubble production. 3 . Pre-dive hydration, post-dive hydration, pre-dive exposure to heat, whole body vibration and oxygen breathing seem to be relatively easy strategies that

bubbles after a dive. 5. Pre-dive vibration

In the old days, combat divers and commercial divers would drive their boats fast out to the dive site but return to shore slowly after the dive in the belief that this strategy would reduce the risk of DCS. The PHYPODE researchers decided to see if science could back up the theory and found that 30 minutes of whole-body vibration (such as you would receive in a speedboat driven fast) before a dive would indeed reduce the number of bubbles formed in a diver’s body during a subsequent dive. 6. Biochemical preconditioning (with dark chocolate) The vascular endothelium is an organ you probably do not know you have. It is a single layer of cells that completely covers the inner surface of all the blood vessels in your body. Several studies on both animal and human subjects have shown that hyperbaric exposure results in dysfunction of the vascular endothelium, but recent experiments have shown that taking antioxidants before diving can reduce the negative effects that diving has on endothelial function and good endothelial function can reduce the adverse effects of any bubbles that have formed during a dive.

divers can deploy to reduce DCS risk. 4 . Divers should eat dark chocolate!

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DIVE LOG Australasia #406 - June ‘24