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Scuba diving and the stress response: considerations and recommendations for professional and recreational divers
Affiliations- Department of Kinesiology, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL, United States
open access
Abstract
Scuba diving is an activity that people engage in both for recreational purposes as well as having professional,
commercial, and military applications. Scuba diving has often been considered a high-risk activity
but, overall, scuba diving has been shown to be a safe activity when divers participate within their experiential,
physical, and psychological limits. However, increased physical and psychological stress can quickly
arise during diving activities due to unexpected events and situations and may lead to the onset of panic
in an unprepared diver. Dive safety is dependent on the ability of a diver to understand the primary signs
of stress and panic and attempt to minimise their potential impacts on the immediate situation. The purpose
of this review is to examine the stress response in divers, illustrate the role that panic plays in potential
diving accidents and fatalities, and provide recommendations to both help understand and manage stress
and panic in the diving community in an effort to further increase the overall safety of scuba diving across
all applications.
Abstract
Scuba diving is an activity that people engage in both for recreational purposes as well as having professional,
commercial, and military applications. Scuba diving has often been considered a high-risk activity
but, overall, scuba diving has been shown to be a safe activity when divers participate within their experiential,
physical, and psychological limits. However, increased physical and psychological stress can quickly
arise during diving activities due to unexpected events and situations and may lead to the onset of panic
in an unprepared diver. Dive safety is dependent on the ability of a diver to understand the primary signs
of stress and panic and attempt to minimise their potential impacts on the immediate situation. The purpose
of this review is to examine the stress response in divers, illustrate the role that panic plays in potential
diving accidents and fatalities, and provide recommendations to both help understand and manage stress
and panic in the diving community in an effort to further increase the overall safety of scuba diving across
all applications.
Keywords
scuba, diving, stress, panic, behaviour
About this articleTitle
Scuba diving and the stress response: considerations and recommendations for professional and recreational divers
Journal
Issue
Article type
Review article
Pages
186-191
Published online
2023-09-26
Page views
385
Article views/downloads
696
DOI
Pubmed
Bibliographic record
IMH 2023;74(3):186-191.
Keywords
scuba
diving
stress
panic
behaviour
Authors
Christopher R. Kovacs
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