Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, usually while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that results in directional motion. Humans can hold their breath underwater and undertake rudimentary locomotive swimming within weeks of birth, as a survival response. Swimming requires stamina, skills, and proper technique.
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below 35.0 °C (95.0 °F) in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe hypothermia, there may be hallucinations and paradoxical undressing, in which a person removes their clothing, as well as an increased risk of the heart stopping.
Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incident. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer assistance. After successful resuscitation, drowning victims may experience breathing problems, confusion, or unconsciousness. Occasionally, victims may not begin experiencing these symptoms until several hours after they are rescued. An incident of drowning can also cause further complications for victims due to low body temperature, aspiration, or acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Diuresis is the excretion of urine, especially when excessive (polyuria). The term collectively denotes the physiologic processes underpinning increased urine production by the kidneys during maintenance of fluid balance.
The diving reflex, also known as the diving response and mammalian diving reflex, is a set of physiological responses to immersion that overrides the basic homeostatic reflexes, and is found in all air-breathing vertebrates studied to date. It optimizes respiration by preferentially distributing oxygen stores to the heart and brain, enabling submersion for an extended time.
Coasteering is movement along the intertidal zone of a rocky coastline on foot or by swimming, without the aid of boats, surf boards or other craft.
Diving disorders, or diving related medical conditions, are conditions associated with underwater diving, and include both conditions unique to underwater diving, and those that also occur during other activities. This second group further divides conditions caused by exposure to ambient pressures significantly different from surface atmospheric pressure, and a range of conditions caused by general environment and equipment associated with diving activities.
The La Quebrada Cliff Divers are a group of professional high divers, based in Acapulco, Mexico. They perform daily shows for the public, which involve diving 30 or 41 meters from the cliffs of La Quebrada into the sea below. The depth of water in the "Gulch" can vary from 4.8 to 5.8 meters depending on the waves. The width of the channel varies from 12.8 to 14.6 meters. Timing is crucial for the divers. During the night, they often hold torches while diving. Acapulco cliff diving was regularly featured on weekend sports television programming in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s when the USA High Diving Team competed with the La Quebrada Cliff Divers annually during the Acapulco Christmas Festival. The 2002 Guinness Book of World Records lists this as "the highest regularly performed headfirst dives" in the world.
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
High diving is the act of diving into water from relatively great heights. High diving can be performed as an adventure sport, as a performance stunt, or competitively during sporting events.
Cold shock response is a series of neurogenic cardio-respiratory responses caused by sudden immersion in cold water.
Swimming induced pulmonary edema (SIPE), also known as immersion pulmonary edema, is a life threatening condition that occurs when fluids from the blood leak abnormally from the small vessels of the lung (pulmonary capillaries) into the airspaces (alveoli).
In sports therapy, an ice bath, or sometimes cold-water immersion, Cold plunge or cold therapy, is a training regimen usually following a period of intense exercise in which a substantial part of a human body is immersed in a bath of ice or ice-water for a limited duration.
A quarry lake, also known as a pit lake, is a lake that is formed after a quarry has been dug through a mining operation.
Human physiology of underwater diving is the physiological influences of the underwater environment on the human diver, and adaptations to operating underwater, both during breath-hold dives and while breathing at ambient pressure from a suitable breathing gas supply. It, therefore, includes the range of physiological effects generally limited to human ambient pressure divers either freediving or using underwater breathing apparatus. Several factors influence the diver, including immersion, exposure to the water, the limitations of breath-hold endurance, variations in ambient pressure, the effects of breathing gases at raised ambient pressure, effects caused by the use of breathing apparatus, and sensory impairment. All of these may affect diver performance and safety.
Seatrekking is a sport that consists in exploring the shorelines of oceans, seas, bays, lakes or rivers both above and below the water over the course of several days, without the aid of a boat or a watercraft. Seatrekking involves swimming, snorkeling, freediving and hiking, and combines all these disciplines into a distinctive form of sport and outdoor experience. Unlike coasteering, seatrekking includes overnight camping and involves trips of longer distances.
The science of underwater diving includes those concepts which are useful for understanding the underwater environment in which diving takes place, and its influence on the diver. It includes aspects of physics, physiology and oceanography. The practice of scientific work while diving is known as Scientific diving. These topics are covered to a greater or lesser extent in diver training programs, on the principle that understanding the concepts may allow the diver to avoid problems and deal with them more effectively when they cannot be avoided.
Non-freezing cold injuries (NFCI) is a class of tissue damage caused by sustained exposure to low temperature without actual freezing. There are several forms of NFCI, and the common names may refer to the circumstances in which they commonly occur or were first described, such as trench foot, which was named after its association with trench warfare. NFCI is caused by microvascular endothelial damage, stasis and vascular occlusion and is characterised by peripheral neuropathy. NFCI generally affects the hands or feet during exposure to temperatures just above freezing, often wet, and is typically found in soldiers.
The Institute of Naval Medicine is the main research centre and training facility of the Royal Navy Medical Service. The Institute was established in Alverstoke, Gosport, in 1969.
