Florida professor spends 100 days underwater, shares the effects on the human body: 'Pretty impressive'

Dr. Joseph Dituri said preliminary findings indicate his cholesterol dropped by 70 points

A Florida professor who goes by the nickname "Dr. Deep Sea" set a new world record for living underwater, breaking the old one by almost 30 days. 

Dr. Joseph Dituri, an associate professor at the University of South Florida, lived in a  100-square-foot underwater habitat at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo for 100 days. 

"The psychological impact was definitely awe-inspiring, let's just put it that way. When I came back, there was so much coming at me. It was like sensory overload," Dituri said Wednesday on "The Story."

Dr. Joseph Dituri spent 100 days living in an underwater habitat.  ((Screenshot/ The Story))

"Dr. Deep Sea" shared that he would scuba dive once a day to get out of the habitat and move around. He also taught a class in biomedical engineering while he was living underwater. 

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"It was terrific teaching hyperbaric stuff in a hyperbaric environment. How cool!" he told anchor Martha MacCallum. 

Dituri explained that his medical team had preliminary findings about the effects spending 100 days underwater had on the human body. 

Dituri said the preliminary findings indicate his cholesterol dropped by 70 points.  ((Screenshot/ The Story))

"These are preliminary indications at this point, but initial indications suggest that I dropped about 70 points in my cholesterol. My inflammatory markers in my body are cut by half. My oxidative stress is cut by two-thirds. And, you know, my coherence is up pretty significantly. Not quite a standard deviation, but almost. So what that says is basically I'm able to think and rationalize thoughts better now," he said. 

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"By and large, a positive impact on my focus. Now, remember, this is all preliminary data and we're trying to work towards an answer. It's about tens of thousands of pieces of data. You know, we did electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms, pulmonary function tests, blood, urine, saliva. I mean, so there are many, many data points that I still need to go through to figure out exactly what happened. But the preliminary findings are pretty impressive."

Dituri broke a record Saturday for the longest time living underwater at ambient pressure, in an underwater lodge in the Florida Keys. (Frazier Nivens/Florida Keys News Bureau/Handout via REUTERS)

Diving explorer and medical researcher Dr. Joseph Dituri peers out of a large porthole inside the Jules' Undersea Lodge, in a Key Largo lagoon, Florida Keys, Florida, on May 13, 2023. (Frazier Nivens/Florida Keys News Bureau/Handout via REUTERS)

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, diving explorer and medical researcher Dr. Joseph Dituri surfaces Friday, June 9, 2023, after living for 100 days in the Jules' Undersea Lodge marine habitat at the bottom of a lagoon in Key Largo, Fla. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, diving explorer and medical researcher Dr. Joseph Dituri points to his watch Friday, June 9, 2023, indicating that it is time to surface after spending 100 days in the Jules' Undersea Lodge marine habitat at the bottom of a Key Largo, Fla., lagoon. (Mariano Lorde/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, diving explorer and medical researcher Dr. Joseph Dituri, left, basks in the sun Friday, June 9, 2023, after completing a 100-day underwater mission in the Jules' Undersea Lodge marine habitat at the bottom of a lagoon in Key Largo, Fla.  (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

Dituri broke the previous 73-day record for underwater human habitation at ambient pressure, undertook medical and marine science research and interacted online with more than 5,500 students during his Project Neptune 100 mission organized by the Marine Resources Development Foundation.  (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

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Dituri added that the thing he missed the most while being underwater was the sun. "I have been trying to soak up as much vitamin D as possible," he said. 
 

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