David Blaine - 17 min breath hold

Alfi

Is it physically possible to hold a breath that long?

and live?

David Blaine sets new record on Oprah. 17 min 4 secs.

I'm skeptical.

Greg Bernhardt

Here is some of the youtube video. Apparently the GB of world records was near that time too, so I guess it's possible.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=A_BjAijqag8

Alfi

If he wasn't known for his magic and his illusions, I would have less doubt.

17 min is a long time.
I've read up and it sure as hell seems legit, but I , ... damn that's a long time.

humanino

I was very doubtful at first, also because he is a magician. But it seems that this is not his first attempt at all. Besides, you must realize that he took pure oxigen for about half an hour before. So this does not compare to other records without such pure oxygen taking, which are limited to less than 8 minutes (different world record).

Greg Bernhardt

This audio clip is really interesting, it's Penn and Chris Angel discussing Blaine.
http://www.pennfans.net/radio_show_a...2006.05.08.mp3

Alfi

sadly the link leads to nothing connected to Blaine or I missed it.

Greg Bernhardt

http://www.pennfans.net/view/Audio_A...ow.2006.05.08/

then click download mp3 at the bottom

Alfi

got it
Thank you. long listen. I tried to hold my breath. :)

Stupid retard! hehehe said with respect. LOL
Slightly off the topic, but nice background to the person.
I like his street stuff but

can a human do this? Is it real or illusion? 17 min is a very long time.

f95toli

Well, several people have mananged more than 16 minutes in the past (mostly free divers, they tend to be very good at holding their breath), so 17 minutes is presumably also possible.
My guess is that someone will break this record within the next few months.

Greg Bernhardt

Chris Angel says it's fake. Claims he did the trick several years ago and "held" his breath for 24hrs.

russ_watters

It is difficult to fake something if there are observers with you on the stage. Anyway, Blaine is known for doing real stunts. I believe he did this. Here's a link that discusses it: http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...736834,00.html

turbo

People, if you have a thin tube threaded up your anus and and up your digestive tract and pushed down into your lungs, you can probably stay underwater for a very long time, as long as you're getting a steady supply of oxygen. I suspect trickery, not physical capability.

Moonbear

Considering that 5 min without breathing is the generally accepted cut off for high risk of brain death, 17 min without some trick seems highly implausible. David Blaine is a well-known illusionist, so there probably is some sort of trick to this (though I'm giving a big "ICK" to turbo's suggestion ). I tried watching for any signs of movement in the video clip, but it was rather short to determine (how many times did he raise his arms? I'm wondering if that was a cover for taking a breath).

Can those claiming that others have reached 16 min before support that with any sort of credible reference?

amz8601

i once held my breath for 30 seconds in our local swimming pool....so maybe he did do it....YEH GO DAVID GO DAVID!!

f95toli

I am not sure how credible it is, but one example:
http://www.apneamania.com/code/world...pr&specID=amap

The discipline is known as "static apnea with pure oxygen". I saw a documentary about the former world record holder, Peter Colat, on Discovery a while back (at least I think it was him). Note that most of these guys are not "normal", their ability to hold their breath being a combination of genetics and a lot of training; meaning it is hard to say what is really plausible.
The record is without oxygen is over 9 minutes which for normal people would probably cause permanent brain damage.

For the record: In my view these guys are all crazy.

Edit: Using Google Scholar I found this paper (free access)
http://archive.rubicon-foundation.or...1/16602257.pdf

Alfi

Crazy ! hehehe - sure, for a given value of crazy.

So, some say fake, some say plausible.

Can a definitive answer be determined?
Does illusion fake out physiology? And the World record people?

I didn't watch. I figured cameras would be nothing more than adding to the illusion.
Or stunt.
but what was it?

rizzy

This is amazing.