Man has always tried to explore the vast and mysterious watery depths in various ways. Diving first appeared 5000 thousand years ago and it had major role in hunting, as well as military and recreational applications. Diving by holding the breath was something taught from early childhood. Divers had their legs bound with ropes and attached to stones and many could reach depths of 31 meters.
Generally and the most importantly, the problem with diving was the inability to breathe under water. In the lack of artificial materials for diving suits, which would make efficient protection for divers, natural ones like leather and wood were used, and later glass and various metals. At the end of the 16th century a diving bell was invented that had an open bottom enabling the air to be captured inside it. Additional bells were added later to refill the air quantity using valves. In 1715 more developed equipment appeared that consisted of a barrel of air with a window made of glass and leather waterproof sleeves. These inventions were limited because they left no space for maneuvering and didn't have the possibility of constant additional air.
After numerous more or less successful efforts over the centuries, the focus of finding the proper way to cover the face or head and to enable air ventilation lead to the first flexible diving suit created in 1960, a suit that could protect the diver from enormous amount of oxygen which made them intoxicated i.e. anesthetized. The diving suit with a diving apparatus was called 'scuba', as in 'Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus'. Only after this invention did diving become swimming under water.
A condition that can be caused by diving is decompression sickness - the breathing of air under pressure compresses the oxygen that spreads through the blood and body tissue. If the pressure is abruptly released, the oxygen returns to a gas state at a speed that is too great for the body to absorb in a normal way and it consequently forms bubbles of oxygen. The solution is to gradually return to the water's surface. The first decompression chamber was created in 1983 in America due to this discovery.
Diving is enjoyed everywhere and depending on the depth an oxygen tank is used or the diver can use breath alone. The latter method is quite safe to use for shallow diving and needs no equipment.
