Was this realistic? A: the average person can hold their breath for about a minute and a half in desperation. i believe the world record is well above 8 minutes now, but those people have lungs 4 times the capacity. The brain is starved of oxygen at 4 minutes and brain cells begin dying rapidly.ttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_can_the_average_person_hold_their_breath_under_water. The average person can hold there breath for about 30 to 40 seconds, not that long uh.