Watch a 76-Year-Old Freediver Make His Descent

Freediving, where intrepid and specially-trained souls see how deep they can descend on a single breath of air, is a small but growing sport. In this video from CNN's Great Big Story channel, we can watch freediver Aharon Solomons make his descent off the coast of Eilat, Israel.

Solomons is 76 years old, but he's not letting that stop him. "Once you're free-falling, it's pure pleasure," Solomons says. "It's an incredible sensation of restfulness."

Watching Solomons sink through empty, sunlit cerulean waters, it certainly looks peaceful. But freediving is a dangerous activity that has claimed several lives. Occasionally, divers go down and never come back up. Solomons makes this particular dive with a guide rope, which is a much safer practice.

But it still takes intense training to be able to hold one's breath for such an extended period of time. All mammals possess the "mammalian diving reflex," triggered by cold water hitting the face. The diving reflex makes the most of whatever oxygen our bodies contain at the point of submersion, which is why we can hold our breath longer underwater than above.

But as oxygen is converted to carbon dioxide, with no intake or release, the blood begins to acidify. Freedivers need to know how to consciously slow their metabolic rate, which in turn slows the body's conversion of oxygen.

Exhibiting such strict control over our physiology, overwriting our body's most basic instincts, is what makes freediving so simultaneously impressive and terrifying. I'd much rather watch then try it myself.