An average free diver can hold his breath for about two minutes before having to surface. While you can hold your breath while reading this article, it is interesting that it’s actually easier to hold your breath while due to the dive reflex in mammals. The mammalian dive reflex (mainly active when the cold water is splashed on the face) causes the body to reduce the rate of movement and thus reduce oxygen consumption, allowing the person to hold their breath for longer.
So what makes the momentum of breath? A whole lot of things really. When deprived of a source of fresh air, a lot of alarm bells ringing in your body. Interestingly, however, is not the lack of oxygen (O2), but the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) that causes the drive to breathe. Free professional divers sometimes hyper-ventilate before immersion, as was trying to dump carbon dioxide from your lungs as possible. This method is recommended against those who are not professional divers under the supervision of bulk, increasing the potential for disrupting the supply of shallow water, usually quickly followed by drowning.
