The longest lasted 3 times.
From what I've read before, and I don't have the citation, the one guy lasted three times before he started talking and that was longer than anyone else.
I'd be surprised if 183 times wasn't someone just having fun. By then if you didn't know what he was saying was true you'd never know.
And I think that sort of thing strengthens a person. I have a friend who has myasthenia gravis, and has stopped breathing many times to the point of passing out. She has a view of life which is not afraid of death, is very present and quite comfortable. As do a number of people I know who lived on the edge of death for a long time.
Arf