Diving and skydiving offer escapes from daily stress

Two women told SRF how diving and skydiving help them switch off from everyday stress and give their minds a break.

For diver Milena Schläfli-Wüthrich, the change begins as soon as she puts her head underwater. “As soon as I put my head under water, my everyday thoughts disappear,” she said. “It is no longer possible to think about work or upcoming tasks.”

Standing in her diving gear on the bank of the Aare river in Solothurn, she checked her cylinder, buoyancy jacket and weights before starting a river dive. She has already covered the route around 50 times and feels at home there.

Underwater, she hears only her own breathing. Evening sunlight filters through the water plants, while small pike swim through the golden light and large catfish approach. Local waters can sometimes be murky, but Schläfli-Wüthrich said she dives in Swiss waters two to four times a week and “sees everything”.

After an hour in the water, she said the feeling of relaxation continued long after the dive. The effort involved in the hobby did not matter to her, even after a long working day spent packing equipment, travelling to the water and cleaning everything afterwards.

“I was able to recharge a lot of energy,” she said. “Now I am much more alert and focused.” She described diving as a beneficial counterbalance to her office job.

Skydiver Cheyenne Heer finds her escape in a very different setting. She sits with 10 other people in a small aircraft. At an altitude of 4,000 metres above Grenchen Airport, the side door opens, she lowers the visor on her helmet and jumps.