After a lovely, 75-minute multilevel dive, my client walked straight off the dive boat and straight into the beach bar where he ordered one ice cold beer after another. While a frosty beer might taste delicious after a hot boat ride, cracking open a cold one immediately after a dive is not the best thing a diver can do.
Even after surfacing, a diver's body is still working hard to eliminate nitrogen. The rules about not flying immediately after diving stem directly from this fact. Just as flying after diving is inadvisable, drinking immediately after diving is a bad idea because alcohol may impede a diver's body from readjusting and eliminating nitrogen efficiently.
The risk of decompression sickness or DCS (an excess of nitrogen in extreme layman's terms) increases with dehydration. Alcohol dehydrates a diver's body, lowering the volume of blood in circulation. The amount of nitrogen in a diver's system increases relative to the amount of blood. Elevating the concentration of nitrogen through dehydration can exacerbate, or in a very extreme case, cause a DCS hit.
After a dive, a diver should let his body work out the excess nitrogen as efficiently as possible. Dehydrating his body is the last thing a diver should do. This is especially important during multiple days of diving, where drinking everyday after diving could lead to a chronic state of dehydration and a greater amount of retained nitrogen that could predispose a diver to DCS.
If drinking alcohol even lightly after diving can lead to dehydration, drinking heavily after diving is much worse. Drinking can even mask the symptoms of DCS, leading to delayed treatment with worse outcomes. Unfortunately, heavy drinking is common in resort areas where divers head straight to the hotel bar for the first of many piņa coladas to celebrate a fantastic dive.
Partying and dive vacations simply should not mix. Hung over divers on the boat in the mornings tend to look a bit green from the motion of the boat. They are unfocused, and skip over important pre-dive gear checks in a rush to get into the water and cool their aching heads. Hangovers impair judgement and coordination as well as predisposing a diver to DCS due to dehydration.
While most divers appreciate a cold beer or a nice glass of wine, try to drink as responsibly as possible. Give yourself a few hours (at least) after a dive before starting on the booze, and don't overdo it! If you go a bit overboard and stay up to 2 am drinking, be responsible enough to cancel the 8 am dive the next morning and give your body a chance to recover!
In fact, drinking any dehydrating beverage immediately before or after diving is inadvisable. That Venti Extra Shot Latte or Big Gulp of Diet Coke contain dehydrating caffeine and aren't going to do a diver much good either.
What is the perfect post-dive beverage? Water! Stick to the Gatorade or lemonade for the first few hours after your dives. Maybe it won't taste as great as a strawberry daiquiri, but your body (and your insurance company) will thank you.
Speak Up! How long do you wait before drinking alcohol after diving?
Image copyright istockphoto.com, lvinst
Comments
Personally I like to wait a few hours before getting my first beer but it really depends on the diving I am doing and how many dives I am making.
I am admitting that have had a beer with in an hour of making a dive but this is normally only if making one dive shallow dive.
I know of a dive operator that had 6 customer that DCS hits one year. Something that was a surprise is that 4 of these people where advid Diet Coke drinker.
I like my beer but the first thing out of water I want
water at lest one bottle. Then water the first thing in the morning ,coffie and more water before diving.
As for those who over do it the night before most will not make it to the boat
I talked with a friend and came up with a idea. Drinking beer after diving makes you belch now how much
nitrogen do you release. And how many beers do you have to drink before you are nitrogen free. I will have to do more resurch and get back latter on it