Chapter 4- Diving Physiology Diving Physiology 137 your feet, even inject it, each time you wear the infected shoes. Fungus can live on bar soaps that sit around in goopy soap rests. Use your own liquid soap to avoid reinfecting yourself with soap. Wash between your toes. Dry between your toes. Fungal infections are contagious. Don’t share towels, soap, socks, or sandals. Wash your hands after contact with infected areas before touching anywhere or anyone else. You rarely need to stay out of the water. Just dry yourself afterward. GENDER Gender does not typically determine diving health or success in diving. Differences among individual men or individual women are far greater than stereotypic differences between men and women. This section addresses some of the common myths about gender in diving, discusses almost universally neglected information specific to men divers, and provides scientific information to take the place of common myths. Physical Suitability and History In Diving. Women have been working divers since antiquity. The world’s largest fleet of commercial divers has traditionally been the all female pearl divers of the Orient. In warmer waters, smaller groups of men work as sponge and lobster divers. For hundreds of years it was accepted that women were better suited for the physical and mental demands of diving than men. Women tolerate cold better and have better buoyancy and streamline. Women need fewer calories to stay warm and have greater vasoconstriction of skin circulation in the cold, better preserving body heat. These qualities confer advantage in activities like open water distance swimming, where women dominate in record swims. Modern research from the University of Buffalo demonstrates that women have lower oxygen demand than men during fin swimming due to better “trim” and kicking efficiency. Since the popularization of open circuit scuba in the 1950s, women have participated in diving for work and pleasure. Size, Strength, and Endurance. Given women’s several physical advantages in the water, will they necessarily excel at scuba? What about statements that women have less aerobic capacity and strength than men, and are usually smaller than men, therefore will not fare as well in swimming or diving activities? Many different physical abilities and qualities determine level of success in any specific physical event. For example, Arnold Schwarzenneger would not beat Janet Evans in Olympic swimming, even if he took swimming lessons. Any larger, stronger man would not necessarily beat any smaller man. Even SEAL team members are all sizes and strengths. SEAL team commanders cannot tell ahead of time by testing physical qualities which recruits will complete the difficult training or distinguish themselves physically. What about statements that women will become tired sooner than men, risking exhaustion in the water? People who exercise regularly, male or female, will not tire as soon as people less in shape. Moreover, while men’s testosterone adds a strength advantage, women’s estrogen confers an endurance advantage. In the early 1900s, it was accepted among Western authorities that women were not physically capable of running farther than 200 m (600 ft). Sporting events barred women on that “fact.” The first women who entered a race did not fare well, burdened both by their long, heavy skirts, and the fact that they had never exercised. Modern statements that women will tire sooner than men are similar to those historical statements that amuse us today. No particular physical attributes, by themselves, necessarily determine advantage or disadvantage (which is why betting on boxing, horse racing, and other sporting events is so popular - there are so many possibilities). Combinations of skills, practice, training, attitude, leverage, conditioning, experience, temperament, fitness, flexibility, endurance, and health status combine to create a wide variety of scuba abilities among men and women. Air Consumption. Males usually have a higher air consumption, leaving them more susceptible to out of air emergencies than women. Overheating. Large males have a higher incidence of overheating than females and smaller males. Men sweat earlier and more than women, even though males and females have the same number of sweat glands. That does not indicate that men cool themselves better than women, or that women are at higher risk of over
20047TC
To see the actual publication please follow the link above