Nitrox is considered so popular with scuba divers around the world because it offers them additional benefits over traditional air diving. It’s also known as Enriched Air Nitrox (EANx). 

Nitrox is a diving gas containing more percentage of oxygen than traditional air. In this article, we will discuss together up to three benefits of nitrox when scuba diving. You may know the first one, as it is commonly taught to scuba divers. What about the other two?!

The 3 Benefits of Nitrox When Scuba Diving 

Nitrix has 3 fantastic benefits of nitrox when scuba diving is that it extends your Dives, improve your Vitality after scuba diving and also increase your safety from decompression sickness these benefits include::

• Reducing nitrogen absorption.
• Accelerating nitrogen removal while ascending. 
• Reducing micro-bubbles.

Reducing Nitrogen Absorption 

The first benefit of nitrox when scuba diving is reducing nitrogen absorption. As a result of that, you can stay longer underwater. 

• Nitrox has more nitrogen, that means there is less nitrogen in breathing gas. 
• Nitrogen in breathing gas causes high risks of decompression sickness. 
• Nitrox decreases absorption of nitrogen and that offers longer bottom times. 

This is what scuba divers will learn in most traditional diving courses. In a simple way, the higher percentage of oxygen lowers the amount of nitrogen in the breathing gas and due to breathing less nitrogen, the tissues of our body are saturated less rapidly.

Enrique national diving nitrogen content in your breathing gas is the main cause of decompression sickness in scuba divers. Instead of that, your body metabolizes oxygen and no damaging bubbles are created.

Decreasing the percentage of nitrogen in your breathing gas makes you enjoy longer bottom time on your dive and also permits less absorption of nitrogen over a given dive profile when we compare it to using regular air.

Accelerating Nitrogen Removal While Ascending 

The second benefit of nitrox when scuba diving is fostering the removal of nitrogen while ascending due to its higher percentage of oxygen.

• Nitrox promotes foster removal of nitrogen while ascending. 
• The great nitrogen differential between lungs and tissues makes it removed quickly. 
• When you breathe a higher percentage of oxygen this speeds up nitrogen removal from the body. 

This occurs due to the increased gas partial pressure differential between that contained in the lungs and that dissolved in the tissues. 

It’s considered the same principle that has been used by technical divers to enable them to accelerate their decompression. 

So one of the safety benefits of nitrox is that it doesn’t only slow nitrogen absorption when being on the bottom of the sea, but also it accelerates the removal of it from the body.

Reducing Micro-bubbles

The third benefit of nitrox when scuba diving is preventing the formation of excess micro-bubbles in your body while ascending. This helps in turn avoid feeling tired after scuba diving.

• Micro-bubbles formation occurs in all scuba divers during their accents but are too small to cause decompression sickness.
• The more micro-bubbles formed the stronger the immune response of your body, leading at the end to post-dive fatigue.
• When you breathe nitrox while ascending, this reduces the number of micro-bubbles.
• Nitrox helps prevent the immune reaction and in turnn prevent feeling tired after scuba diving.

The micro-bubbles that are formed in all scuba divers during ascents aren’t usually big enough to cause an immediate harm or even produce the symptoms of DCS.

Nitrox Reduces Decompression Stress

In both theories and scientific studies, nitrox can reduce decompression stress. Scuba divers who usually experience decompression stress after scuba diving notice that when they use nitrox, they feel less tired after scuba diving.

The Compelling Benefits of Nitrox

Those three benefits of using nitrox when scuba diving are strong reasons to get certified to use this gas mixture in your dives. Nitrox isn’t regarded as an expensive cost while scuba diving and you will have less risks to DCS.

As a result, you will improve your post-dive vitality. If you want to take your diving to the next level, a nitrox course is an amazing option for you.

By the end, we can summarize the three benefits of scuba diving in the following:

• Extending your dives.
• Reducing the risk of DCS.
• Avoiding feeling tired after scuba diving.