PSA: The Truth About Cold Water
Aug. 23rd, 2010 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdre"It is impossible to die from hypothermia in cold water unless you are wearing flotation, because without flotation – you won’t live long enough to become hypothermic."
"If you have ever heard the phrase, “That water is so cold, you will die from hypothermia within ten minutes.” then you have been lied to about hypothermia. For that matter you can replace ten minutes with twenty, or thirty, or even an hour, and you’ve still been lied to. In most cases, in water of say 40 degrees (all variables to one side), it typically takes a full hour to approach unconsciousness from hypothermia, the third stage of cold water immersion. But remember, you must be wearing flotation to get this far."
Most fascinating to me was this line:
"The bodies efforts to keep the core warm – vasoconstriction and shivering – are surprisingly effective. The shivering and blood shunting to the core are so effective, that twenty minutes after jumping in (twice the “you’ll be dead in ten minutes” time), I had a fever of 100.2."
Article here.
"If you have ever heard the phrase, “That water is so cold, you will die from hypothermia within ten minutes.” then you have been lied to about hypothermia. For that matter you can replace ten minutes with twenty, or thirty, or even an hour, and you’ve still been lied to. In most cases, in water of say 40 degrees (all variables to one side), it typically takes a full hour to approach unconsciousness from hypothermia, the third stage of cold water immersion. But remember, you must be wearing flotation to get this far."
Most fascinating to me was this line:
"The bodies efforts to keep the core warm – vasoconstriction and shivering – are surprisingly effective. The shivering and blood shunting to the core are so effective, that twenty minutes after jumping in (twice the “you’ll be dead in ten minutes” time), I had a fever of 100.2."
Article here.