An ex-navy diver who spent a record-breaking 100 days underwater revealed the effects his body went through.
Ex navy diver, Joseph Dituri, spent a staggering 100 days submerged in water and has spoken out about the after effects that he's still experiencing.
The retired diver spent his time underwater in a high pressure bunker in the Atlantic Ocean.
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While reporting amazing health benefits that have happened due to being in the chamber, the diver also shared the more negative on-going symptoms he noticed from his time in the bunker.
Dituri revealed that on his release from the bunker back in June of last year, he noticed that there was a height difference, that being in the chamber had basically caused him to 'shrink in size.'
He explained to the media: "I shrank by three-quarters of an inch, I had some significant problems, I cracked a tooth while I was down there."
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A stark difference from astronauts who tend to get taller while in zero-gravity, Dituri lived under immense pressure which compacted his height.
"When you go underwater you increase the pressure - in my case I almost doubled it," he said, which he thinks may have been a cause for the height difference.
Although some would consider a change in height as a drastic affect, Dituri didn't seem to care much, as he said the benefits of his time in the ocean out-weighed the negatives.
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The diver claimed that the stint left him with astonishing anti-aging benefits.
He told WKMG News: "I'm 56 now. My extrinsic [biological] age was 44. When I got out of the water, my extrinsic age was 34, so, my telomeres lengthened. I actually got younger when I was under the water."
As the body ages, cells divide and your telomeres get shorter causing cells to die, which then makes the body age through the dying cells.
Upon Dituri's return to land, tests confirmed that his telomeres are 'longer than when he went down there', meaning his body went into 'self-healing' stage while underwater, reportedly causing anti-aging affects.
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The reports on what happened to his body while in the chamber has excited scientists and researchers.
"The science isn't done, but we're working on it," he said.
"There's a whole bunch of things that it can't cure, but there's some good uses for it."
Chelsea Connor