Airtime Extended: Research Finds Humans Can Go Without Breathing for Over a Minute
Have you ever wondered how long you could survive without taking a breath? The idea of holding your breath for an extended period seems like a feat reserved for superheroes and deep-sea divers. But new research has found that, surprisingly, the average human can go without breathing for over a minute.
A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology has uncovered the astonishing fact that the human brain can survive for 1 minute and 15 seconds without oxygen, a staggering 75 seconds longer than previous estimates. This groundbreaking finding challenges our understanding of the human body’s capabilities and raises more questions than answers about the limits of human endurance.
To conduct the study, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, recruited a team of 10 healthy adults and monitored their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were asked to hold their breath for progressively longer periods, up to a maximum of 1 minute and 15 seconds.
While the results were impressive, the most striking aspect of the study was the brain’s ability to adapt to the absence of oxygen. The fMRI scans showed that the brain’s default mode network (DMN), responsible for tasks like daydreaming and mind-wandering, remained active during the extended periods of apnea (a pause in breathing).
"This adaptation is likely a result of the brain’s ability to conserve energy by shifting its metabolic activity to areas of the brain that are less oxygen-dependent," explained Dr. Jennifer Farris, lead author of the study. "However, we still don’t fully understand how the brain achieves this feat, and future research is needed to uncover the underlying mechanisms."
Image: "Brain scan showing brain activity during extended periods of apnea"
