Kate Winslet held her breath underwater for more than 7 minutes while filming the Avatar sequel

Kate Winslet held her breath underwater for more than 7 minutes while filming the Avatar sequel

Tom Cruise may be known for doing his own stunts, but Kate Winslet is giving him a run for his money. In her commitment to preparing for her role in Avatar: The Way of the Water, Winslet set a new record for a person holding their breath for a film. She stayed underwater for seven minutes and 15 seconds, beating Cruise's previous record, Total Film reported (though it's unclear if there is an official record book for this unique category).

"I have the video of me showing up and saying, 'Am I dead, did I die?'" Winslet told Total Film in a new interview. "And then to say, 'What was [my time]?'" she continued. "I immediately wanted to know what time it was. And I couldn't believe it."

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It seems like Winslet's competitive nature has driven her to test her limits. "Well, I didn't have to hold my breath for more than seven minutes," Winslet explained in the recent interview. "It's just that the opportunity came up to set a record. I wanted to break my own record, which was already at six minutes and 14 seconds. And I said, 'Come on!' So I broke my own record by a minute."

Winslet is "a prep demon," James Cameron told The New York Times when discussing the upcoming film in October. “She chose freediving as something to build her character around,” he continued, explaining that her character grew up underwater. “So she had to be completely calm underwater, and it turned out she was a natural.”

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Deep sea sequences in the new film required many cast members to become comfortable underwater and train to hold their breath for minutes at a time. These include Zoe Saldaña, who managed about five minutes, according to the Times interview, and Sigourney Weaver, who reached six and a half minutes.

"The first step is you fake it until you make it: You tell your boss, 'Yeah, absolutely, I'm so excited,' and then it's complete horror, like, 'What am I going to do?'" Saldaña told the New York Times, "In the best case scenario, you'll go home with a brand new talent, but I was scared."

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"It's extremely challenging to hold your breath for that long underwater," says Joy Miles, an ACE-certified group fitness instructor and endurance trainer. While Winslet's performance shows her "extreme control over regulating [her] breathing and carbon dioxide emissions," Miles doesn't recommend everyone try something like this for themselves.

"Holding your breath for more than two minutes can potentially reduce the flow of oxygen to the brain, which can lead to fainting and, in extreme cases, brain damage," she says. “In the heart, a lack of oxygen can lead to arrhythmias and impair the heart’s ability to pump.”

So holding your breath underwater for minutes at a time isn't exactly a skill most people need to learn, but swimming is great for your lungs. It forces the body to use oxygen more efficiently, Earl Walton, owner of Tailwind Endurance in New York City, previously told Shape. Additionally, swimming teaches the lungs to take in more fresh air with each inhale and expel more carbon dioxide with each exhale.

Swimmers actually move more air in and out of their lungs when relaxed than runners, according to a study in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. So if you've been looking for a low-impact cardio and strength training exercise to add to your routine, consider hopping in the pool for a few laps. Just leave the seven-minute breath hold to professionals like Winslet.