How long can you hold your breath underwater? The Guinness Book of World Records reports that the longest time recorded for a human is 22 minutes. So how do we compare to other species? Dolphins can hold it for approximately 20-30 minutes while sea birds can dive underwater for 3-10 minutes. But none of us can compare to Cuvier’s beaked whale – a species that has been recorded for holding it’s breath for over two hours!