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Title: Brrrr… The Water is Cold Reading Passage Safety experts estimate that half of all drowning victims actually die from the fatal effects of cold water, or hypothermia, and not from water-filled lungs. Loss of body heat is one of the greatest hazards to survival when you fall overboard, capsize, or jump into the water. Cold water robs the body of heat 25-30 times faster than air. When you lose enough body heat to make your temperature subnormal, you become hypothermic. This condition is progressive. The body passes through several stages before an individual lapses into an unconscious state. The first stage is mild hypothermia. The person feels cold and has violent shivering and slurred speech. The second stage is medium hypothermia. The person has a certain loss of muscle control, drowsiness and exhaustion. The third stage is severe hypothermia. The person collapses and may become unconscious. This stage may lead to death. Sudden immersion in cold water cools the skin and outer tissues very quickly. Within 10 or 15 minutes, the core body temperature (brain, spinal cord, heart, and lungs) begins to drop. The arms and legs become numb and completely useless. Consciousness may be lost and drowning follows. The rate of body heat loss depends on water temperature, the protective clothing worn, percent body fat, other physical factors like alcohol in the blood, and most importantly, the way that people behave in the water. Different activities in the water consume varying amounts of body heat. The more energy (heat) you expend, the quicker the body temperature drops, reducing the survival time. Any person pulled from cold water should be treated for hypothermia. Symptoms include intense shivering, loss of coordination, mental confusion, cold and blue (cyanosis) skin, weak pulse, irregular heartbeat, and enlarged pupils. Once shivering stops, core body temperature begins to drop critically. The First Aid steps for hypothermia include moving the victim to a warm shelter, checking breathing and heartbeat (start CPR if necessary), removing the victim’s clothing, laying the victim face-up with a blanket, and wrapping the victim in a blanket or other warm cloth. |
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