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BoogieBob

Does skydiving make you tired?

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I did a couple of searches for this topic and did not see anything that answered my question.

My dad and I were eating lunch at Zorba's after he watched me skydive for the first time (I had the Souvlaki).

He noticed that I seemed exhausted. He mentioned that riding in a non-pressurized aircraft to 13500 feet and then descending again is fairly taxing on the body (he's a retired C-130 pilot and told me about flight-training and the hypobaric testing they went through).

I never notice this tiredness while I'm jumping at the DZ (adrenaline I guess). But I sure do feel worn out when I get home.

I'm a fairly healthy individual (I often run multiple times per week).

Anybody else get tired after skydiving?

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I'm burnt out at the end of the day.

I think there have been a thread or two about this, and one thing that comes up is adrenaline burnout or whatever you want to call it. You get the adrenaline rush, and that burns out a lot of the energy for the day.

One of the other things that I find personally is that when at the DZ I don't eat as much as when I'm hanging out at home, or with friends. Add that to the up and down factors and sure, I'd say skydiving can make you tierd as hell. :P:)
~D
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I'm wiped out at the end of the day as well. I don't understand it though. All we do is take a short walk to the plane, ride to altitude and then coast all of the way down. No physical effort at all. That's my kinda sport ! ;)
-Jeff.
http://www.iplummet.com

Common sense and common courtesy are NOT common.

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i could go for days. but i got WAY too much energy...

soo everbody says..... but i kinda like it...

but im sure if i didnt make a bunch of jumps in a day i would either be depressed or have even more energy.... i think i would be depressed though..

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two words describe it for me, adrenaline burnout, did 6 exits from 10500' in the fall and it was 2-3 days before i was refreshed but cold weather jumping is tiring in itself i think the temp was -10 plus freefall windchill


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***All we do is take a short walk to the plane, ride to altitude and then coast all of the way down. No physical effort at all. That's my kinda sport ! "

But then there's packing...that's what wipes me out. That and carrying the damn Skymaster 290 back the the hanger every jump...damn those are big.

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When we were trying for the UK women's record we had oxygen on the plane. We weren't going much higher than usual but due to formation flights the flight did take a little longer. I found that I was far less tired after 5 jumps with oxygen than I am usually after 5 jumps without.

I assumed as a result of this experience that going up to 13 grand a few times a day is what tires my body - having to spend time operating with less oxygen input, sort of agreeing with what your father was saying.

Also, until I was a RAPS student at a windy dropzone I never knew how tiring sitting around doing nothing is ;)

tash
Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

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Quote

No physical effort at all. That's my kinda sport !



You need to become a TM, then...there's quite of bit of physically demanding stuff there...its super fun, though.

I get tired from jumping, but anymore its really only if I do more then about 6 jumps in a day. My record is 15 in a day, but the day that killed me is when I did 10 tandems in a day (damn near all of them were back to backs)...that day exhausted me.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Some of the exhaustion might be mental. Spending a lot of time in a noisy environment like a plane or freefall can be very stressful even if you don't notice it.

Someone mentioned in another thread that if he wears earplugs on the way to altitude he'd be much less tired at the end of the day, so I decided to try them out. On the previous weekend I had done 7 tandems on Saturday, and 8 on Sunday. After each day I was so tired I didn't want to do a fun jump at the end of the day. The next Saturday I did 10 tandems, wore earplugs on the way to altitude, and wasn't really feeling tired at all at the end of the day.

It might be worth a shot. Besides, using earplugs will also protect your hearing....;)

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Hell, yes. I've done 16 skydives in a day and as many as 6 tandems in a day. I think some of it has to do with being "charged up" all day, situational senses on overload, and then when you get down from that last jump of the day, you tell yourself that was the last one, you give your mind and body permission to turn those senses off = tired.

Students add to the situation. They can put you into hyper-gear. I'm more exhausted on those days than when I'm fun jumping.

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i get tired sometimes at boogies etc. but I attribute it to jumping, packing dirt diving( if we're doing RW) and hanging out all night.


I only do 2-3 per day at my home dz and I dont get tired at all. (unless its really hot out) but I also work NIGHTS and on the weekend I flip my schedule 180 degrees... so I am always a Little tired etc. but not drastically more then normal
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On days I'd jump,I'd be worn out by the end of the day.All the mental concentration,practicing/dirt diving, and working your body so much in freefall and under canopy is bound to take its toll eventually.Then throw in the chemical aspects..adrenaline etc. and its effects.I'm also hypoglycemic so all the adrenaline and other chemicals play around with my blood sugar and I have a tendency to be worn out by the time the beer light comes on.


"...just an earthbound misfit, I."

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It depends on how the training day goes.
If I can pound out 10 back to back or split it up to 5 with a 20 and another 5 I am less tired than if I am waiting around doing 2 and 20's. The heat plays a factor as well as the humidity. Yeah truth is we've had lots of humidity in AZ this summer.








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I think it really depends on how much you jump. I feel a bit tired after team training weekends when we make 8 jumps a day and all the time between jumps is spent creeping, debriefing and packing. On the other hand, I don't feel tired at all when I come to DZ to a make a couple of fun jumps;).

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So seldom do us new guys have an answer...I'm usually all questions but I'm a paramedic with a little high altitude (mountain) experince...Here's the deal

First your heart rate is up from all the adrenaline, this begins well before you jump. Now you take that heart muscle, that is demanding oxygen, up to a place that is oxygen deprived, let's say 12,000 ft.

You live closer to sea level than 12K so your blood doesn't have as much hemaglobin (the thing that carries oxygen) as someone who lives at say 8000ft and is not well adjusted to be at altitude(this is why it takes 3 months or more to climb Everest...acclimation time)

Also, if it's cold (and usually is at 12,000) your body will shunt blood to your internal organs to keep them warm and happy, this has the side effect of making your kidneys think that they have a fluid overload and they make lots more urine than normal (ever notice you pee more when your at the ski resort than at the beach) so as you dump fluid out, your circulating volume goes down meaning your body must do more work with less of the fluid it needs (water).

This is besides all the oxygen demands from your other organs and then you repeat this process let's say 5-10 times a day...your tired, dehydrated, likely haven't been eating as much making you low on fuel and maybe a bit hypoxic. You've sucessfully kicked your own ass.

So, stay in shape (as you already do), Drink lots of water, eat something with some carbo's and fats to give your body some short and long term calories (trail mix is a good source of both) for the day and jump more :)
Skydiving: It's like dodge ball, with a really big ball...

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