Featured Image Credit: @drdeepsea/Instagram / drdeepsea/YouTube
The world of science envelops many crazy self-experiments.
From the French adventurer Michel Siffre who wanted to find out what six months in complete darkness does to the body's circadian rhythms to the reverse ageing lifestyle that is owned by biohacker Bryan Johnson.
In 2023, one man decided to challenge himself to spend a record-breaking 100 days in a habitat located 30 feet under a Florida lagoon.
Bear with me, there was a reason behind this.
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Dr. Joseph Dituri - more fittingly named 'Dr Deep Sea' - wanted to see how prolonged underwater living would impact his body and ultimately, research a type of medicine that helps deliver oxygen to the human body under high pressures by promoting the growth of new blood vessels.
For the study, the scientist and former naval officer scuba-dived into a 9m by 9m room where he monitored his body's reaction to the intense pressure of living in the deep, vast blue.
As well for safety, he was supervised by medical, psychological and psychosocial experts.
'Part of the work will see a psychologist and a psychiatrist monitor the effects he experiences while in an environment similar to extended space travel,' a press release from last year read.
'It's an isolating confined extreme environment. And as humans, we really need to figure out how we're going to be living in that (environment) if we're going to expand our planet, if we're going to go interplanetary, if we're going to find all the cures that we need to find.'
But that wasn't all. To pass his time down there, Dr. Dituri also taught school kids via video and even discovered a 'brand new species.'
When he finally resurfaced, the 56-year-old claimed that it 'was never about the record' - although I bet being championed by the Guinness World Records was worth it.
He added: 'It was about extending human tolerance for the underwater world and for an isolated, confined, extreme environment.'
Probably one of the most interesting findings was that the biomedical engineer's blood tests showed a 50% reduction in every inflammatory marker in his body.
Dr. Dituri noted quite a few health improvements following the 100-day mission, including longer telomeres - structures on chromosomes often linked to longevity.
'I'm 56 now. My extrinsic [biological] age was 44. When I got out of the water, my extrinsic age was 34,' Dr. Dituri told reporters at WKMG News in Orlando.
'So, my telomeres lengthened. I actually got younger when I was under the water.'
The retired officer claims that his telomeres are not as long as they were when he first emerged in June, but they are still longer than before his underwater mission.
He also believes his remarkable 'age reversal' was due to living in a high-pressure or 'hyperbaric' environment.
