Talk:Diving reflex

Rename to Diving response.

According to Lindholm, Peter; Lundgren, Claes EG (1 January 2009). "The physiology and pathophysiology of human breath-hold diving". Journal of Applied Physiology. 106 (1): 284–292. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.90991.2008., the diving response is present in all air-breathing vertebrates. The characteristics listed for diving response are the same as those stated for the mammalian diving reflex, so I assume that the alternative name Diving response has been specifically chosen to accommodate the full range of animals in which it occurs. The term Mammalian diving reflex is not an accurate description, and therefore, the article should be renamed to the more general term, Diving response, with Mammalian diving reflex as a redirect. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 14:02, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

It appears that Diving reflex is also used in the literature. This should be considered as an alternative title. I have no strong preference between diving reflex and diving response. Maybe a slight leaning towards Diving reflex which is already a redirect. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 12:17, 26 January 2017 (UTC)

• support Diving reflex--Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 14:45, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
• Support: The terms, diving response and diving reflex, have been used interchangeably in the cardiovascular literature for decades, and apply to mammals, reptiles (crocodiles, turtles) and diving birds (penguins, ducks), justifying removal of the word "mammalian" from the article title. --Zefr (talk) 16:56, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
• Support Diving reflex CV9933 (talk) 17:15, 26 January 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Diving reflex it will be. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 20:30, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

Merger discussion

I propose merging the content of Blood shift which is about diving reflex into Diving reflex, and converting Blood shift to a disambiguation page linking to Left shift (medicine) which discusses the one meaning and Diving reflex which discusses the other meaning. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 09:58, 7 February 2017 (UTC)

Support. The blood shift component described as "left shift" in medicine is a rare, if not weird, term for which there is no medical source, and could readily be abandoned as insignificant. The blood shift component as part of the diving reflex is justified. --Zefr (talk) 15:10, 7 February 2017 (UTC)

Zefr are you suggesting just a merge and redirect without disambiguation? • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 07:42, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

I feel the content of Blood shift that applies to the diving reflex be merged, and the minor content discussing Blood shift as synonymous with Left shift be redirected to the Left shift article. --Zefr (talk) 14:18, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

OK, that means a disambiguation. I will merge into diving reflex. The left shift meaning is obscure, so I will put a hatnote on the diving reflex page to cover the left shift. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 18:26, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

Merged and disambiguated. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 06:40, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Effects

Paragraphs 3 and 4 do not appear plausible based on hydrostatics, and most of their content is unreferenced. I propose to rewrite them as and when I find a suitable source, but may first delete unreferenced and dubious material as potentially misleading. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 06:47, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Looks like Zefr got to it first. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 06:51, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Zefr, There is a good reference in Lindholm and Lundgren 2009 for arrythmia in humans, which is a bit technical for my summarisation skills. Mybe you could have a go at it? • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 16:09, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Reading it now. Thanks for the good work! --Zefr (talk) 16:14, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Evolution

It would be nice to add a section on the evolution of the reflex. The article claims that it is present in all terrestrial vertebrates, but it would surprise me if the whole collection of processes we call MDR are present since the first tetrapod. Quantum7 05:50, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Quantum7, Sure it would be nice to have it. Do you know of a suitable reference that covers evolution of the reflex? Why would it surprise you if it goes back to a common tetrapod ancestor of all terrestrial vertebrates (which does not have to be the first tetrapod)? · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 21:05, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

I don't have a suitable reference, but I'll look around for one. It would surprise me because the reflex has lots of complicated parts: temperature/pressure sensing on the face, responses to capillary flow, heart rate, breathing, etc. Combined with the very different selective pressure from different environments I would expect different parts of what we now call the diving reflex to have evolved at different times. But this is all speculation. --Quantum7 06:45, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

This review, having an excellent discussion of neural sensing and pathways from rat studies, gives some insight to what would be a nearly impossible set of evolutionary mechanisms to define.

This report speculates on natural selection inferred from rat studies.

Rather than discussing 'evolution' per se, a brief section on mechanisms consistent with the best interpretation of the neural circuitry would be useful, although this will be challenging to state concisely. Zefr (talk) 19:15, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

Both articles are valuable sources, especially for the other articles which they cite. I support your comments, I recommend that you give it a go. One or two paragraphs would be fine for an article of this current size. The articles may catch some editor's future attention for even further expansion. ~2026-42230-19 (talk) 00:21, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

Quantum7 - as you raised this topic, it's on you to write a section. Good luck! Zefr (talk) 17:25, 30 July 2026 (UTC)