Nitrogen Narcosis Project
How are you feeling down there?
While down there one lives terribly,
Let man never tempt the Godly might,
Never longing, and never hoping to see
What Gods veil with fright and terror graciously.
(Schiller: The Diver)
“I am personally quite receptive to nitrogen rapture. I like it and fear it like doom . . . . L’ivresse des grandes profondeurs has one salient advantage over alcohol: no hangover. If one is able to escape from its zone, the brain clears instantly and there are no horrors in the morning.”
(Jacques Cousteau: The silent world)
Depth is a strange thing: it feels different every time, it is attractive and frightening at the same time, it makes the view clearer or conceals darkness…
Depth is different in every water: Sixty meters with air in warm, bright seas feels very different from 60 meters in a dark lake.
Depth feels different for each person: Some love the feeling of dnitrogen narcosis, others hate it.
Nitrogen narcosis, is an extremely difficult subject to research: A “real” nitrogen narcosis only sets in at a depth where tests with humans are prohibited for ethical reasons. Nonetheless, the experience of divers experiencing a narcosis exists, in very different ways, and somehow dealing with it.
The subjective experience here does not always conform to what is scientifically recorded. In the next few chapters, we will show what has been researched about nitrogen narcosis – and consider what remains a great unknown.
Nitrogen Narcosis: What is known
What do you think you know for sure? How is nitrogen narcosis likely to develop? In what different forms does it occur? What could the symptoms be?
Study situation on the topic of nitrogen narcosis
In what ways is there an attempt to make nitrogen narosis measurable? Which methods are used? What do the studies on the subject reveal?
Discussions and experiences
Is Nitrox less narcotic than air? Can you get used to the narcosis? Is it different in different conditions? And what is a sensible way to talk about nitrogen narcosis?
Want to talk about narcosis?
Lets talk about narcosis
Have you ever experienced a nitrogen narcosis? Where were you, with whom, how deep? How did it feel?
Why don’t you tell us what it’s like when you feel the narcosis? Quite informally. We’ll be happy to come back to you and ask – we collect stories in order to evaluate them and pass them on here (anonymously, of course!). Perhaps we can learn something from this that all studies cannot offer….