The next time you go for a swim or visit the beach, try holding your breath underwater and time yourself. What’s your limit?
Click start to play today’s Word Search where words like “dive” and “snorkel” have us testing our lung capacities underwater.
If you answered between 30 to 90 seconds, that’s the amount of time the average person can hold their breath underwater, according to US-based National Institutes of Health (NIH). If you said you could do it for up to six minutes, you probably have had specialised training or preparation. And if you cannot just hold your breath, but swim, fish and forage underwater for a whopping 13 minutes – you’re probably part of a select group of sea nomads!
Specifically from the Philippines, Malaysia, or Indonesia, these sea nomads (also called sea gypsies) are a group of people called the Bajau – expert free divers who use their incredible lung capacity to hunt for fish or to look for natural elements in the sea that can be used in crafts.
Some scientists think the reason they are able to hold their breath for so long is because of their spleen – the organ that recycles red blood cells and supports the immune system.
According to a study published in the US-based scientific journal Cell, researchers from the Denmark-based Centre for Geogenetics at the University of Copenhagen took spleen data from the Bajau and compared it to the spleen data of a group of people called Saluan – Indonesian mainlanders.
They found that the median size of a Bajau person’s spleen was 50 per cent bigger than a Saluan individual’s spleen. Marine mammals that spend a great deal of time underwater, such as seals, also have disproportionately large spleens. According to a 2018 report in the National Geographic, scientists theorise that the Bajau people developed this genetic advantage over centuries of diving and swimming, and it allows them to spend more time underwater and to become veteran divers.
Get inspired by the Bajau to find the word “dive” in today’s Word Search. Let us know if you enjoyed the puzzle at games@gulfnews.com.
