How I Held My Breath for 17 Minutes TED Talk | David Blaine

David Blaine, renowned magician and endurance artist, recounts his journey of pushing human limits through extreme stunts. He shares experiences of being buried alive, encased in ice, and surviving in a glass box for 44 days, emphasizing the role of skepticism and validation from scientific communities. Blaine details his obsession with breath-holding, inspired by free divers and a miraculous survival story, leading to rigorous training and a world record attempt on live television. Despite challenges, including maintaining composure under pressure, he achieved a 17-minute breath-hold, highlighting magic as a blend of practice, training, and resilience.

• The speaker, a magician, uses his craft to create thought-provoking images and challenge perceived impossibilities.
• He has attempted numerous extreme feats that defy conventional limits and medical advice.

"As a magician, I try to create images that make people stop and think. I also try to challenge myself to do things that doctors say are not possible."

• The magician's primary goal is to push boundaries and provoke thought through his performances.

• The magician has undertaken several extreme challenges, including being buried alive, freezing himself in ice, standing on a pillar, and living in a glass box.
• Each stunt presented unique physical and mental challenges, with varying degrees of difficulty and personal insights gained.

"I was buried alive in New York City in a coffin... for a week I lived there with nothing but water."

• The magician's early stunt of being buried alive was a pivotal experience that spurred further exploration of extreme challenges.

"I froze myself in a block of ice for 3 days and three nights in New York City... way more difficult than I had expected."

• Freezing in ice was notably challenging, highlighting the physical limits and unexpected difficulties of extreme stunts.

"In London, I lived in a glass box for 44 days with nothing but water... it was also the most beautiful."

• Living in a glass box was both a physically taxing and spiritually enlightening experience, despite public skepticism.

• Inspired by Houdini and stories of survival, the magician sought to test human limits, particularly in breath-holding.
• His interest in breath-holding was sparked by a story of a boy surviving underwater without breathing for an extended period.

"As a young magician, I was obsessed with Houdini and his underwater challenges."

• Houdini's legacy inspired the magician to pursue underwater challenges and seek personal records.

"I heard of a story about a boy that fell through ice and was trapped under a river... there was no brain damage."

• The story of a boy surviving underwater without brain damage motivated the magician to explore the possibilities of breath-holding.

• The magician consulted with medical professionals to understand the limits of breath-holding and the risks involved.
• Initial experiments with cold water immersion and rebreather devices were unsuccessful, prompting further exploration.

"I met with a top neurosurgeon and I asked him how long is it possible to go without breathing... anything over 6 minutes you have a serious risk of hypoxic brain damage."

• Medical advice highlighted the risks of extended breath-holding, setting a benchmark for the magician's experiments.

"I created a water tank and I filled it with ice... my first attempt to hold my breath I couldn't even last a minute."

• Cold water immersion was initially ineffective, demonstrating the challenges of using temperature to extend breath-holding.

"He came up with this idea of creating a rebreather with a CO2 scrubber... that attempt."

• The rebreather experiment was a creative, yet impractical, approach to simulating breath-holding.

• The magician explored the concept of liquid breathing using a chemical called perflubron, which theoretically allows for breathing in liquid.
• This experiment was ultimately unsuccessful, revealing the complexities and limitations of liquid breathing.

"I actually started thinking about liquid breathing... it's so high in oxygen levels that in theory you could breathe it."

• Liquid breathing was investigated as a potential method for extended breath-holding, showcasing the magician's innovative approach to challenges.

"I got my hands on that chemical... tried to breathe that in which is really impossible."

• The practical challenges of liquid breathing were significant, underscoring the difficulty of translating theory into practice.

• Initial ideas for breath-holding included using a heart-lung bypass machine, which was deemed impractical.
• Research into pearl divers and free diving introduced different aspects of breath-holding, such as depth records and static apnea.
• Static apnea involves holding one’s breath without movement to conserve energy and reduce oxygen consumption.

"I started researching into Pearl divers, you know, because they go down for four minutes on one breath. And when I was researching Pearl divers, I found the world of free diving."

• The discovery of free diving opened up new possibilities for understanding breath-holding techniques.

• Remaining perfectly still and relaxed is crucial to conserving oxygen and reducing CO2 buildup.
• Purging involves hyperventilating to rid the body of CO2, making it easier to hold one’s breath.
• A large breath should be taken and held without releasing any air, maintaining relaxation despite discomfort.

"When you're holding your breath, you should never move at all. That wastes energy and that depletes oxygen and it builds up CO2 in your blood."

• Movement during breath-holding depletes oxygen and increases CO2, making it essential to remain still.

• Daily routine involved purging and holding breath for extended periods, totaling 44 minutes of breath-holding in a 52-minute session.
• The process resulted in mental fatigue and headaches, indicating the extreme nature of the training.

"Every morning, this is for months, I would wake up and the first thing that I would do is I would hold my breath for out of 52 minutes."

• The rigorous training routine was a daily commitment to improve breath-holding capacity.

• Losing weight and controlling diet were crucial to enhancing breath-holding ability.
• Smaller, nutritionally-focused meals helped adapt the body for optimal performance.
• Training led to a decrease in resting heart rate, comparable to Olympic athletes.

"I had to drop 50 lbs in 3 months so everything that I put into my body I considered as medicine."

• Weight loss and dietary control were essential for improving physical capacity for breath-holding.

• Aimed to break the world record for breath-holding live on television, previously set at 8 minutes and 58 seconds.
• Planned to use a water tank at Lincoln Center, believing that fasting and acclimatization would aid in breaking the record.
• The assumptions about metabolism and comfort in the water were ultimately incorrect.

"I decided that I was going to break the world record live on Prime Time television. The world record was 8 minutes and 58 seconds held by Tom zetus."

• The attempt to break the world record was a high-profile endeavor with detailed planning based on previous training insights.

• The first attempt to break the breath-holding record involved adding handcuffs, which was a critical mistake as it increased oxygen consumption.
• Convulsions began at 7 minutes, leading to a blackout at 7:08, and a rescue at 7:30, marking a failure on multiple levels.

"Two days before my big breath hold attempt for the record, the producers of my television special thought that just watching somebody holding their breath and almost drowning is too boring for television, so I had to add handcuffs while holding my breath to escape from."

• The addition of handcuffs was a critical error, increasing movement and oxygen use, which led to the attempt's failure.

• Decided to pursue a different record: the pure oxygen static apnea record, set at 13 minutes by Guinness.
• Training included sleeping in a hypoxic tent simulating high-altitude conditions to increase red blood cell count and oxygen-carrying capacity.

"In January of 08, Oprah gave me 4 months to prepare and train, so I would sleep in a hypoxic tent every night. A hypoxic tent is a tent that simulates altitude at 15,000 ft, so it's like base camp Everest."

• The hypoxic tent was crucial for acclimatizing the body to low oxygen, thereby improving performance in breath-holding.

• First attempt on pure oxygen reached 15 minutes, deemed a success despite the neurosurgeon's concerns about brain damage.
• Personal distractions included an ex-girlfriend uninterested in the record, focusing instead on checking messages.

"My first attempt on Pure O2, I was able to go up to 15 minutes, so it was a pretty big success. The neurosurgeon pulled me out of the water because, in his mind, at 15 minutes, your brain is done."

• Despite the achievement, personal life and skepticism from others posed additional challenges.

• Announcing the intention to break the record led to increased competition, with the record being pushed to 16 minutes and 32 seconds.
• To gain scientific credibility, performed card tricks at the New York Times to secure coverage.

"I then announced that I was going to go for Cis's record publicly, and what he did in response is he went on Regis and Kelly and broke his old record."

• The public announcement escalated the competitive environment, leading to a higher target for the record.

• Full focus on training to increase breath-hold time while preparing for the unique challenges of live television.
• Adaptations for TV included being upright and managing buoyancy issues, which increased anxiety and heart rate.

"In practice, I would do it face down floating on the pool, but for TV, they wanted me to be upright so they could see my face."

• The TV setup introduced additional physical and psychological stressors, complicating the attempt.

• The speaker describes the intense physical and mental challenges faced during a prolonged breath-holding attempt.
• Heart rate management is crucial, as the speaker's heart rate started unusually high and continued to rise, leading to increased anxiety.
• The speaker experienced physiological changes such as blood shunting, tingling sensations, and erratic heartbeats.
• Despite severe discomfort and fear of a heart attack, the speaker decided to continue until the point of blackout rather than give up early.

"Normally I would start at 38 beats per minute and while holding my breath it would drop to 12 beats per minute which is pretty unusual. This time it started at 120 beats and it never went down."

• The speaker highlights the unusual starting heart rate, indicating a deviation from the norm that contributed to increased difficulty.

"I was 100% certain that I was not going to be able to make this. There was no way for me to do it."

• A moment of doubt and certainty of failure is expressed, underscoring the mental challenge of the task.

"At 10 minutes you start getting all these really strong tingling sensations in your fingers and toes and I knew that that was blood shunting when the blood rushes away from your extremities to provide oxygen to your vital organs."

• The speaker explains the physiological response of blood shunting, a critical survival mechanism during oxygen deprivation.

"At 15 minutes I was suffering major O2 deprivation to the heart and I started having es schea to the heart."

• The speaker describes experiencing severe oxygen deprivation, highlighting the physical limits being pushed.

• Despite the physical and mental challenges, the speaker persevered and achieved a world record in breath-holding.
• The decision to continue was driven by the desire to avoid the disappointment of an early failure and the motivation from the audience's energy.
• The speaker's success was confirmed by reaching 17 minutes and 4 seconds underwater.

"I decided to keep pushing and I went to 17 minutes and 4 seconds."

• The speaker's determination and decision to push beyond perceived limits resulted in achieving a record-breaking time.

• After achieving the record, the speaker took steps to verify the legitimacy of the accomplishment by undergoing extensive medical testing.
• Public perception and skepticism were encountered, as illustrated by a questioning encounter with a stranger.

"What I did immediately after is I went to Quest labs and had them take every blood sample that they could to test for everything and to see where my levels were."

• The speaker sought to ensure the record's legitimacy by undergoing comprehensive medical testing.

"This kid walks up to me... he's like yo D... if you really held your breath that long why'd you come out of the water dry."

• The speaker recounts a moment of skepticism from the public, illustrating the challenges of perception and belief in extraordinary feats.

• The speaker ties the experience to the broader theme of magic, emphasizing that mastery in magic involves practice, training, and experimentation.
• Magic is portrayed as a blend of skill and perseverance, whether in breath-holding or performing card tricks.

"As a magician I try to show things to people that seem impossible and I think magic whether I'm holding my breath or shuffling a deck of cards is pretty simple. It's practice, it's training, and it's experimenting while pushing through the pain to be the best that I can be."

• The speaker equates the discipline of magic with the dedication required to achieve seemingly impossible feats, emphasizing the role of practice and perseverance.