Diving bradycardia of elderly Korean women divers in cold seawater: a field report

Throughout the world, breath-hold diving has been reported in women divers in Korea (haenyeo) and Japan (ama), sponge divers in Greece, pearl divers in the South Pacific and shell divers in Australia. However, most of them have begun to use SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), whereas women divers in Korea and Japan have continued breath-hold diving. Since over 80% of haenyeos at present are in their sixties or older, it is predicted that breath-hold diving will cease to exist in a couple of decades. There is very little known about elderly haenyeos' cardiovascular changes. The purpose of the present study was to explore the diving patterns and heart rate of older Korean women divers while breath-hold diving in cold seawater.