Биоанагаах ухааны инженер Жозеф Дитури далайн гүн дэх даралтат орчин хүний биед хэрхэн нөлөөлдгийг судлах зорилгоор Флорида мужийн эрэг орчмын 22 фит гүнд 100 хоногийг өнгөрөөжээ.
2023 онд хийсэн энэхүү туршилтаар Дитури 1.6 атмосферын даралттай орчинд байх хугацаандаа хоолны дэглэмээ өөрчлөөгүй ч биеийн жин нь найман фунтээр буурч, холестерины түвшин 72 нэгжээр буурсан гэж мэдээлсэн байна. Мөн түүний цусан дахь тестостероны хэмжээ огцом нэмэгдэж, үрэвслийн маркерууд багасч, нойрны чанар сайжирсан нь тархины цахилгаан бичлэгээр батлагджээ. Гэсэн хэдий ч өндөр даралтын улмаас нурууны яс шахагдсанаар түүний биеийн өндөр 0.75 инчээр намссан байна.
Энэхүү туршилт нь гипербарик хүчилтөрөгчийн эмчилгээний хүрээнд хийгдсэн бөгөөд судлаачид уг аргыг хөгшрөлтийн эсрэг үйлчилгээтэй эсэхийг тогтоохыг зорьж буй юм. Гэвч шинжлэх ухааны салбарын зарим мэргэжилтнүүд энэхүү үр дүнг хязгаарлагдмал хэмээн үзэж, далайн гүний даралт нь урт наслалттай шууд хамааралтай гэх баталгаа байхгүй гэдгийг анхааруулж байна.
Дитури өөрийн туршилтыг ганц хүний хүрээнд хийгдсэн судалгаа гэдгийг хүлээн зөвшөөрч байгаа бөгөөд одоо Аризонагийн их сургуультай хамтран XPRIZE Healthspan төслийн хүрээнд илүү өргөн хүрээтэй судалгаанд оролцож байна. Энэхүү шинэ судалгаанд 200 оролцогчийг хамруулан гипербарик протоколыг илүү нарийн хяналттай орчинд туршихаар төлөвлөж байгаа аж.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
For 100 days, biomedical engineer Joseph Dituri lived in a small habitat 22 feet beneath the ocean off Key Largo, Florida, breaking a world record and, he says, uncovering striking changes in his own body along the way. He’s now trying to turn that personal experiment into genuine research, though not everyone in the field is convinced.
The 60-year-old researcher’s underwater stay was never really about the record itself. It was about testing what happens to the human body when it’s exposed, for months rather than minutes, to the kind of pressurized environment found in the ocean depths and used in hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment normally reserved for conditions like decompression sickness or carbon monoxide poisoning.
That question matters because hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or HBOT, is increasingly being floated as something more than a niche medical fix. Some researchers believe it may influence aging itself, through stem cell activity and the telomeres that cap the ends of our chromosomes. Dituri‘s 100-day stint, undertaken in 2023, amounted to a long-form human trial of one.
What Changed in His Body After 100 Days Under the Ocean?
At 1.6 atmospheres of pressure, around 25 pounds per square inch, Dituri experienced several changes in his body after his journey beneath ocean. He reported a 72-point drop in cholesterol, an eight-pound weight loss without changing his diet, lower inflammatory markers including cortisol, and a sharp rise in testosterone.
Popular Mechanics described the experience simply as “seven times the testosterone.” Not every effect was welcome, however, because the pressure compressed his spine enough to shrink him by three-quarters of an inch. “That was a really good surprise to happen.”
Better Sleep, and a Brain That Showed It
Before heading underwater, he blacked out the windows and lowered the temperature in his Tampa home to mimic the chamber’s conditions, giving himself a baseline for comparison. Once submerged, he reported logging twice as much REM sleep as he had on land.
An electroencephalogram taken of his brain afterward showed increased coherence, meaning the neural networks were communicating more efficiently than before. Dituri has described the combined effect of these changes as remarkable, framing them as evidence that hyperbaric environments could meaningfully affect long-term health, not just treat isolated medical conditions.
Scientists Aren’t Convinced Yet
Not everyone studying hyperbaric medicine is ready to follow Dituri‘s conclusions. Neal Pollock, who studies diving physiology at Laval University, points out that thousands of patients already undergo daily HBOT sessions for a month or longer under FDA-approved protocols, yet the extreme ocean-like pressure conditions experienced during Dituri’s underwater mission have not been shown to create any systematic link to extended life expectancy has ever emerged.
Even the Israeli researchers whose telomere findings are often cited in support of anti-aging claims have said their own results were widely misread and don’t prove longer life spans. Kinjal Sethuraman, medical director of the Center for Hyperbaric and Dive Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center, goes further, arguing that:
“That money is better spent on healthier food, regular exercise, reducing stress, restorative sleep, and being part of a community. Those are the pillars of aging well.”
Dituri, for his part, acknowledges the limits of his own case, calling himself “an n of one.” He’s since joined a larger effort at Arizona State University, part of a bid for the $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan, where 200 participants will test a similar hyperbaric protocol under conditions far more rigorous than a single scientist alone in the ocean could ever provide.
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