nitrogen narcosis

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. a semistupor, lightheadedness, or euphoria experienced by deep-sea divers when nitrogen from air enters the blood at higher than atmospheric pressure.

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Etymology

Origin of nitrogen narcosis

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Part of the reason lies in the challenge, another in how deep dives change the chemistry in the brain, creating nitrogen narcosis or a “rapture of the deep” that freedivers describe in lyrical terms.

From Washington Post • Nov. 13, 2020

From 40 metres to 60 metres you get nitrogen narcosis and from 80 metres and deeper you get oxygen poisoning.

From The Guardian • Nov. 9, 2019

Using a helium-oxygen mixture avoids the disoriented mental state known as nitrogen narcosis, the so-called rapture of the deep.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

Even experts risk equipment failures, insufficient decompression, and the dangerous confusion induced by nitrogen narcosis.

From National Geographic • Jul. 11, 2016

They felt fine, needed no decompression, had suffered neither nitrogen narcosis nor the bends, even in mildest form.

From Time Magazine Archive