6 Horrific Facts Movies Don’t Show About Living In SubMarine
Cruddy, cramped, and occasionally smells like sh*tCaged in a container deep in see, Imaginable?
Almost all of us, much like our predecessors, have lived almost all of our lives on land. The first prototype of a working submarine was built in the 17th century under the rule of British King James. Since that period submarines have become much more advanced, and safe. While living on a submarine was considered impossible back in the day, with the recent advances being made, it is no longer impossible, in fact, many marines do spend extended hours on it. Today, we’ve got some interesting facts about living in a submarine.
Psychological RollerCoaster
The people on a submarine describe their duties as full of boredom, with moments of sheer panic. Imagine, having the same view and being stuck in a small place, without a lot of options for entertainment; that’s exactly what it’s like living in a submarine. If you’re claustrophobic, living under the sea in a submarine is definitely not for you.
Compared to the conventional 24-hour days that we are used to, submarine crews also need to adjust to 18-hour days, referred to as 3-sectioned duties.
18-hour days are divided into 3 sections of 6 hours each because while underwater, the people on watch need to be at their peak mental capacity, as such, the navy went with the 18-hour format. Adjusting to this takes a lot of time and definitely is not for everyone.
Lack of Sleep
The crew along with the officers are almost always sleep-deprived, because of constant watches, along with maintenance duties. The work never stops while residing in a submarine; even when it’s docked in a port; officers mostly get little to no sleep, because of the restocking and repairs going on. Sleep deprivation means that one always feels tired and on edge, which does seem quite extreme.
Sleep deprivation also causes the risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Lack of sleep also causes a person to feel less alert and hinders their productivity. If a person does not get enough sleep due to work and others, it can also cause chronic insomnia as well as various mental illnesses in the near future, sleep deprivation is also connected to schizophrenia and PTSD.
Effects on your body
While most modern submarines are equipped with an atmospheric controller, the air is still not as good as the one we breathe on our day to day basis. The air in a submarine often has a higher percentage of CO2.
While a higher percentage of Co2 has no immediate dangers, if you spend a lot of time in it, your blood absorbs it and becomes slightly acidic, which can cause indigestion, and directly affects healing time as well, causing minor injuries to take a longer time to heal.
Nutrition and Weight Gain
Due to the hardships associated with spending time on a submarine as well as the mental toll it takes on a person, submarines are allocated a higher budget for food, because good food is a morale booster and helps people perform better. However, with good food comes the risk of losing self-control and indulging in overeating, which increases the risk of weight gain.
If a person does end up gaining, it becomes extremely hard for the said person to lose weight, because, on a submarine, there are very limited options for exercise, due to the lack of space involved.
Initially, they used to carry exercise bicycles, but as submarines are often out for 90 days at a time, most of the equipment becomes overused and faulty. They cannot carry free weights as well, because it makes a lot of noise and can be a cause of failure.
Skin Conditions
As submarines are often out for 90 or more days at a time, being underwater means that the crew has to live without sunlight. Lack of sunlight often causes various skin diseases.
A crew coming back from a mission or a tour often has very pale skin. Being away from sunlight also risks vitamin D deficiency. Lack of sunlight also causes serotonin levels to fall down, which leads to severe depression as well. Depression or seasonal affective disorder (SAD), if this is piled upon the lists of mental hardships and risks posed by living on a submarine, can get fatal for a person as well.
Take an exit from Movies and step into Reality
Movies like ‘Below’, ‘U-571’, ‘Black Sea’, ‘Crimson Tide’ ,and ‘The Enemy Below’ will satiate your curiosity about how it feels like living in depth of sea. Nonetheless ,it shows very little about underwater reality. The oceanic depths have their own stories, and people in the submarines have to deal with external perils and internal adversities in parallel.
It’s not always as easy as it seems; while the thought of living on a submarine tingles, the adventurer within you, it’s not a comfortable lifestyle and definitely not for everyone.
A minuscule accident could cause a person to lose his life; it is extremely dangerous, and the mental downsides of living in a small space, with a lack of entertainment and exercise, can cause even the people with the strongest mental fortitude to cave into the pressure.
With the myriad of effects I have stated above, I cannot imagine myself being surrounded by a Submarine environment.
Maybe a YES for a few hours, just to experiment!
But hopefully not more than that. Living in a submarine calls for a real gut punctuated by moments of immense patience. Kudos to all the people who make their lives through it. Will you dare to spend a few months of your life in it? Waiting for your stance in the comments below!
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