Photo of panicked diver with words "scuba tips stress and panic"
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Scuba Diving and stress and panic (According to a scuba instructor)

ByJason Botticelli Hours

Have you been diving and something does not go according to plan? Maybe you lost your dive buddy, forgot to closely monitor your air or your mask flooded. These, and many other things, can cause us divers stress. Some stress and nervousness is to be expected with any dive. But, if that stress goes unchecked, it can lead to a diver panicking and that can be a real bad situation.

Photo of scuba diver without mask sharing air on other diver's octopus regulator.
A stressful situation can quickly turn to panic if unchecked.

Below we will explore what stress is, what can cause it, the different types of stress, how to avoid stress from leading to panic and ways to limit stress on our dives.

What is Stress

Before we can discuss stress, we need to know exactly what it is. Stress is a physical and emotional state that evokes effort on the part of the individual to maintain or restore equilibrium. Basically, it is a sate of worry or mentally produced tension caused from the arising of a situation.

Photo of woman stressing out with the words "stress" written out multiple times.
Stress is your body’s response to a demand or challenge that can make you feel overwhelmed.

Causes of stress

Causes of stress are usually called stressors. As most of us know, there are many stressors that can be found in life. These may include, work, school, bills, health, child care, or learning a new skill, like scuba diving.

Photo of man with hand on face stressing with such words around him like "job" "business" "family" "no sleep" and "work."
Many things, like learning a new skill such as scuba diving, can cause stress.

Kinds of stress

There are two main kinds of stress, mental, on your mind, and physical, on your body. Mental stressors before you dive can be such things as worrying that you have all your equipment, getting to the dive site on time and what’s it going to be like doing a particular dive for the first time, especially if going deeper than you’ve been before.

photo of scuba diver at night with flashlight.
Doing a new kind of dive, like a night dive, can cause stress.

Physical stressors can be such things as diving in cold water and needing more gear like a thicker wetsuit, gloves and hood, which all will require the addition of more weight to offset the buoyance created by that gear. With more equipment and weights there can be more exertion and constriction that can cause you to be more susceptible to becoming tired or getting cramps. There may also be loss of range of motion and dexterity, especially if wearing thick neoprene gloves.

Photo of scuba diver putting on gloves on boat prior to diving.
More gear, like thick hood and gloves, can cause physical stressors diving.

Is all Stress bad?

The short answer here is no, not all stress is bad. a little bit of stress can be a good thing in helping to protect ourselves, achieve goals and meet deadlines. For example, a little stress of failing may make us study harder for a test, like your open water exam. A little stress of crashing our car and getting hurt or hurting others, will make us slow down and drive more carefully in bad conditions. And the stress of being in the foreign environment of the underwater world, will help us to take our time to plan and execute a safe dive.

Photo of lifesaver safety ring in the water with words "safety first."
Stress is not always a bad thing and can help us to be safe divers.

Panic

As divers, where we really become concerned with stress is if it goes unchecked and compounds and leads to panic. This can be deadly and we always strive to avoid panic occurring with every dive.

photo of words "don't panic."
We divers need to stay calm, cool and collective and avoid panicking.

What is panic

Panic is sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety in the presence of real or imagined danger that often causes wildly unthinking behavior.

drawing of cartoon figure panicking.
Panic can cause wild and unthinking behavior.

When we humans go into panic mode it usually lead us into one of two modes, fight or flight.

Diagram of fight or flight response.
Panic can lead us into fight or flight mode. (Photo courtesy of verywellmind.com)

Unless your a military diver – or maybe James Bond – us recreational divers don’t have to deal with the fight aspect of panic. However, the flight aspect is of great concern. When a diver panics, the flight usually causes them to bolt to the surface. As panic causes unthinking behavior, some panicked divers even pull their regulators out of their mouth on ascent.

Photo of a Scuba diver panicking.
When divers panic the usually rapidly ascend to the surface and can even remove their regulators.

How to Prevent Stress from becoming panic

Practice, practice and practice to be more and more comfortable underwater and with your gear is the answer. For example, let’s take a scenario where your dive buddy accidentally knocks of your mask. This can be a stressful situation that, if not dealt with, can lead to a panicked diver.

Photo of Scuba diver without mask.
Losing a mask underwater can sure be a stressful situation that can lead to panic.

Now in this situation, hopefully you have practiced and are fully comfortable with mask clearing. So when your mask is bumped off you can stop, rest, continue to breath slow and deep, retrieve your mask, put it back on and clear it. This is how you recover form an event and cut off the stress from becoming panic.

Photo of scuba diver clearing mask of water.
Due to training and practice, the diver recovers from the event and does not go into panic mode.

Ways to limit stress

While some stress is normal and ok, we do want to limit it as best as we can so it remains at a manageable level. Below are some tips on how to limit stress on your dives.

Photo of person drawing a circle with line through the word "stress."
Before a dive we can limit our stressors.

Always plan your dive and dive your plan. Before any dive, you and your dive buddy should come up with your plan…and then stick to it. It’s when you deviate from that plan that you are opening the door for a stressful situation to arise, like a low or out of air emergency, that can lead to panic.

Photo of divers planning a dive.
To limit your stress on a dive, plan your dive and dive your plan. (Photo courtesy of dan.org)

Another good way to limit your stress is to dive within your limits. “limits” here means both recreational depth limits (130ft) and your training level. So if you are a newly certified diver, that does not mean you are ready to do a 100ft dive on a wreck in the Atlantic ocean. Or, stay away from entering caves, if not trained on cave diving.

Photo of NAUI dive tables.
To limit stress dive within both recreational depth limits and your training limits.

Assess the dive sites prior to getting in the water. If the water is choppy or there looks to be low visibility and you have not had experience in those types of conditions, call the dive off and come back on a better day.

Photo of choppy water.
Always assess your dive site prior to entering the water.

Always remember you know you the best. No one should be talking you into making a dive you are not ready for or do not want to do. You should be 100% comfortable calling off a dive you are not feeling like making. If a dive buddy ever tries to pressure you into a dive, time to get a new dive buddy.

Photo of man resting head on dive boat.
You can call of any dive if you are not feeling like it.

Owning your own equipment also helps limiting stress as you are familiar with your gear, how it functions, fits and how it’s been maintained. This familiarity makes your life a whole lot easier and less to worry about come dive time.

picture of scuba gear.
Having your own equipment helps to lower stress as you know how it fits. functions and how well it’s been maintained. (Photo courtesy of scuba.com)

Finally, remember that not everything on the internet is true…shocking I know! If you have questions, your local dive shop is a good place to start. This point leads right into our next point that divers are mostly a fun and friendly crowd. But this means that many divers are always happy to give their advice, whether it was asked for or not. If you are wondering about some advice given, don’t be shy to run it by the professionals leading the dive you.re on or someone at your local shop.

Photo of button that says "take my advice, I'm not using it."
Be wary from fellow “helpful” divers with advice.

Wrapping things up

So there you have it. Stress is a very normal thing while exploring the underwater world, especially if it’s a dive or dive site you have not done before. Do your best to limit as much stress as you can before your dive and stick to your dive plan. It’s also a good idea to practice your scuba skills, like regulator and mask clearing and octo-breathing with your dive buddy. This will help to ensure that if something happens you wont go into panic mode – on the streets of London or under the sea!

If You’re Looking For other Scuba Diving Tips, Check Out The Below.

“How boring would the world be if everywhere and everyone were the same. Safe travels and good adventures.” Scuba Jay

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