Comment on What's the deal with gasping? Is it an inherent reflex? Is it learned? Did I desensitize myself to the point of not gasping anymore? Do you gasp? Do certain groups of people gasp less commonly?

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

• ReanuKeeves@lemm.ee ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I feel like people trained for emergencies/high stress situations like police, military, mma fighters, even medics are less likely to gasp whereas a defenseless 95 year old woman would be more likely to gasp.

  So is gasping a bad defense mechanism or why would we want to have less of a reflexive response in tense situations?

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  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I think those people are just less surprised when something happens. I don’t think they are unlearning how to gasp, but it takes a bit more to trigger it in someone who’s already seen worse than the rest of us want to imagine.

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    • ReanuKeeves@lemm.ee ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      So would it be more beneficial to not gasp? Or gasp less at least?

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      • fubbernuckin@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Probably not necessarily? Evolution does kind of a bad job at doing things that are beneficial, it just does things that half work some of the time, or does things at random that don’t really hurt us, or does things at random that do hurt us but don’t cause us to instantly drop dead as soon as we’re born.

        This feels to me like a thing that half works some of the time. Raw speculation here, but gasping could be to get a bit of oxygen to deal with a dangerous situation, but evolution equated danger with the unexpected so some of us just reflexively gasp when there’s something unexpected. Or maybe it’s something else, who knows.

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  • Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Similar to above commenter, I’m just flinging poo, but

    Those who are trained in the tougher situations are, I imagine, more desensitized and therefore don’t do the egads! sort of gasp. I imagine they probably don’t necessarily need to rely on that burst of air because they’ll take a purposeful deep breath before heading into the fray.

    That being said, I think professionals do still gasp. It’s probably just not something one’s brain really catches onto. But it is a startle reflex - so if a surgeon is squirted in the face with blood, if there’s a close call with a firefighter, if a cop walks up to a car and has a gun out under their chin… I imagine each of these will get a little gasp at the very least.

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    • ReanuKeeves@lemm.ee ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Do babies gasp? I feel like I seem them make surprised faces but not gasp, or maybe baby gasps are quieter?

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      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        They do.

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