On March 1, 2023, University of South Florida professor Joseph Dituri embarked on a mission to stay 100 days underwater in isolation in order to find out what happens to the human body under such conditions.
Back in May, at 74 days he broke the world record for the longest time staying underwater without depressurization. He finally re-emerged after completing his mission on Friday.
"We broke the record, but I don’t care," he told local Florida news outlet 10 Tampa Bay in May. “I’m down here for three specific reasons."
He now says he feels ten years younger than when he started the experiment, after having spent over three months 30 feet underwater in an undersea lodge off the coast of Key Largo.
After returning to dry land, Joseph Dituri, 55, was evaluated by paramedics who measured his vitality, as well as telomeres, the DNA sequences that connect to the ends of chromosomes.
Telomeres usually thin out as we age, but Dituri's telomeres are now 20% longer than when he dove in March.
Dr. Dituri's life and work
Dituri was a diving officer in the US Navy for nearly 30 years and pursued education and academia in his retirement from the military.
His academic career has centered around hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment for a variety of conditions and involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized environment to increase the amount of oxygen the blood can carry.
According to 10 Tampa Bay, Dituri already runs a hyperbaric treatment center in Tampa and has continued his work as an educator remotely while living underwater for the last several months.
Cholesterol was cut and sleep improved
According to Dituri and his researchers, he now has 10 times more stem cells than at the beginning of the study. Additional beneficial effects of deep-sea immersion include experiencing deep REM sleep for 60-66% of the night, a decrease of 72 points in cholesterol and his inflammatory markers were cut in half.
Dituri's research may prove invaluable to the field of marine and environmental research, and could even help astronauts prepare for extended space travel.