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[Warthog]

I spent 4 hours and 22 minutes underwater this past weekend...woo hoo!! However, it got me thinking (a rare occurance).

Has anyone seen any studies about the long term effects of a high-pressure (as in pressure on the outside of the body) and/or higher partial pressure(s) (as in Nitrogen or Oxygen loads in the internal tissues).

I'm a diabetic (Type 2, well controlled), and dive somewhat frequently. Everything I've seen about diving with diabetes relates to blood sugar and short term issues (hypoglycemia), but nobody seems to consider the acceleration or deceleration of diabetic complications due to the aforementioned considerations.

I suppose in such a relatively new sport, long term studies haven't really been much of a consideration. Just curious what people have seen/heard/think.

-Warthog

[drbill]

Let's see... I've been diving for 44 years, am nearly 60 years old (and proud of it) and my age has been guessed at 35 a number of times. I guess diving has improved my health!

Seriously, it is an issue I wonder about myself. I do know that my lung capacity is 4X that for others my body type and age, my blood pressure is low and my stress level practically non-existent. I do attribute much of this to my diving. However, I do wonder about the long-term effects.

Since diving really began in the 50's (referring to a larger population of varying characteristics) , that is long enough to get a reasonable study IF it began back then (or in the 60's or maybe even the 70's).

However, many divers begin enthusiastically and then fade away into landlubbers. The divers who have been doing so for a long time probably don't have enough pertinent baseline data to create a meaningful study. We can test and know conditions now, but can't judge them against that baseline or periodic assessments through their career.