The longest breath-hold ever recorded for a person is 29 minutes and 3 seconds, achieved by Croatian freediver Vitomir Maričić on June 14, 2025, using pre-oxygenation (breathing pure oxygen) for the attempt, setting a new Guinness World Record for static apnea (holding breath voluntarily underwater). This incredible feat involved intensive preparation, including replacing nitrogen with oxygen in his lungs to drastically increase his breath-hold capacity.
Most of us can hold our breath for between 30 and 90 seconds. A few minutes without oxygen can be fatal, so we have an involuntary reflex to breathe. But freediver Vitomir Maričić recently held his breath for a new world record of 29 minutes and three seconds, lying on the bottom of a 3-metre-deep pool in Croatia.
Most popular
By holding their breath, the divers can expel carbon dioxide out of their bodies when stay underwater. Almost all healthy adults easily hold their breath for one to two minutes.
Science tells us the human body can last for only a few short minutes without oxygen -- he lasted 38 minutes. On September 18, 2012, saturation diver Chris Lemons was 330 feet below the surface, fixing pipes at an oil well off Scotland's eastern coast, while breathing heliox, a helium-oxygen mix.
Many got slightly disoriented, but thankfully without any incident. That is one of the main reasons why Stephen decided to do a VWT dive down to the bottom and wait there for Alessia's exit, to optimize her level of safety and be ready to guide her to the ascent dive line if necessary.
Time limits. The time a person can safely stay underwater depends on many factors, including energy consumption, number of prior breaths, physical condition, and age. An average person can last between one and three minutes before falling unconscious and around ten minutes before dying.
While most people can manage about 30 seconds to two minutes without gasping for air, these elite warriors push the boundaries significantly further. Under optimal conditions, a trained Navy SEAL can hold his or her breath for two to three minutes or even longer.
People with healthy lungs should be able to hold their breath for 30 – 60 seconds while chronic smokers are usually unable to hold their breath for longer than 25 seconds. Poor results in a breath-holding test could be an early sign of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD).
In the Christopher McQuarrie-directed film, Cruise went from doing stunts in the sky to doing them underwater. For the said sequence in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, the actor actually had to undergo training to be able to hold his breath underwater for six minutes.
Here are 25 of the dumbest world records that nobody has bothered to break—yet.
Jeremy Harper livestreamed himself counting to 1,000,000. It took him 89 days, during which he did not leave the house or shave. He spent an average of 16 hours a day counting.
Memorizing pi The record for the most digits of pi memorized belongs to Rajveer Meena of Vellore, India, who recited 70,000 decimal places of pi over 10 hours on March 21, 2015, according to Guinness World Records. (As of March 2024, Meena still holds this record.)
Top 10 Most Difficult World Records to Beat
Untrained people can hold their breath for 30 to 90 seconds, while trained individuals can hold it for several minutes. Training techniques to increase breath-holding time include cardiovascular and strength training and breath-holding exercises.
Hypoxic blackout, also known as 'shallow water blackout', happens when loss of consciousness occurs underwater due to a lack of oxygen. This is often due to breathholding or purposeful hyperventilation before going underwater.
A lack of oxygen activates a survival reflex that wakes you up just enough to resume breathing. While that reflex keeps you alive, it also interrupts your sleep cycle. This prevents restful sleep.
Common cardio-respiratory conditions such as cancer,10 chronic non-malignant lung disease, and heart failure increase in prevalence with age and are common causes of breathlessness (60% – 88% with heart failure and 90% – 95% with late stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
In controlled settings, such as certain breathwork exercises (e.g., pranayama or free diving training), holding your breath can increase lung capacity, improve CO2 tolerance, and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, leading to a calming effect.
A prime example is the box breathing technique, famously used by the Navy Seals, known as the 4-4-4-4 method. This simple yet effective method involves a cycle of inhaling for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds, and then pausing for 4 seconds before the next inhalation.
Own Your 3-Foot Space In Navy SEAL training, there's a simple but profound principle: Own your 3-foot space. It means focusing on what's directly within your control—your actions, your attitude, your effort—no matter how chaotic the environment around you becomes.
When certain seal species sleep in the water instead of on land, they use a technique called “bottling”, in which they float vertically in the water with only their heads above the surface so they can continue to breathe.
Drowning is often silent
A drowning person cannot call for help, splash, or raise their arms. A drowning person remains upright in the water and may look like they are treading water with their arms, but their legs are usually not kicking. A drowning person is quiet. Children playing in the water make noise.
Yes, North Sea diver Chris Lemons miraculously survived being stranded without air for nearly 30 minutes in 2012, experiencing a full recovery despite experts being baffled by his survival, an event now chronicled in the film Last Breath. He was rescued by his colleagues after his tether snapped, leaving him with only a tiny emergency air supply, but miraculously he was revived and suffered no lasting damage.
Oxygen is not flammable, but it can cause other materials that burn to ignite more easily and to burn far more rapidly.