hypothermia

Thanks to those of you who read and responded to my article. During my cold water immersion, I spent much of my time is so-called HELP position, which stands for something like "heat escape lessening position." The idea is to roll into a ball, keep your hands in your arms pits, and try not to move around much. Swimming makes you lose heat much faster because your heart is pumping it to the skeletal muscles where it gets sucked out by cold water. Water at 50 degrees is something like 100 x more potent at sucking heat out of your body than air the same temperature. In fact, if you are ever adrift at sea in 50 degree water and 32 degree air and heavy winds, you'll last longer if you can climb onto a floating buoy and await rescue there. The larger and rounder your body the slower you will discharge heat; sumo wrestlers do much better than skinny basketballers. Partly it's a matter of surface area to volume--sumos have much less of it that the tall, lithe types. But body fat is a decent insulator, so the more you have, the better your natural "wetsuit" is. I can't imagine Donal's ordeal! You Irishmen are made of stern stuff! A few other notes: alcohol, by opening up your capilarries and preventing the natural shunting of blood to protect your core, is a huge mistake and will only speed the rate of cooling. Drinking even a large hot coffee might offer some psychological relief, but the Admiral who studied hypothermia for years for the Coast Guard told me that even 32 ounce steaming coffee (2 lbs.) is such a minor fraction of body weight, and it's temperature so little over our natural state, that it doesn't make much of a physiological difference. In terms of rewarming afterwards, if you become severely hypothermic a al George whose heart rate got down to 17, the state can be lifethreatening. The heart becomes very crancky at such cold temperatures, the electrical signaling doesn't work so well, and the blood stuck in the limbs can become acidotic and lethal. If possible, have a paramedic or doctor preside over your rewarming. If no one is available, a technique pioneered by the Danish Navy is growing in popularity, though you might want to check with a hypothermia specialist here. Instead of immersing the person in a warm tub, place just his or her hands in buckets of warm (not scaulding) water. This allows rewarming to proceed gradually, avoding the likelihood of sudden heat changes that could cause probelms with the heart.

Thanks to those of you who read and responded to my article. During my cold water immersion, I spent much of my time is so-called HELP position, which stands for something like "heat escape lessening position." The idea is to roll into a ball, keep your hands in your arms pits, and try not to move around much. Swimming makes you lose heat much faster because your heart is pumping it to the skeletal muscles where it gets sucked out by cold water. Water at 50 degrees is something like 100 x more potent at sucking heat out of your body than air the same temperature. In fact, if you are ever adrift at sea in 50 degree water and 32 degree air and heavy winds, you'll last longer if you can climb onto a floating buoy and await rescue there. The larger and rounder your body the slower you will discharge heat; sumo wrestlers do much better than skinny basketballers. Partly it's a matter of surface area to volume--sumos have much less of it that the tall, lithe types. But body fat is a decent insulator, so the more you have, the better your natural "wetsuit" is. I can't imagine Donal's ordeal! You Irishmen are made of stern stuff! A few other notes: alcohol, by opening up your capilarries and preventing the natural shunting of blood to protect your core, is a huge mistake and will only speed the rate of cooling. Drinking even a large hot coffee might offer some psychological relief, but the Admiral who studied hypothermia for years for the Coast Guard told me that even 32 ounce steaming coffee (2 lbs.) is such a minor fraction of body weight, and it's temperature so little over our natural state, that it doesn't make much of a physiological difference. In terms of rewarming afterwards, if you become severely hypothermic a al George whose heart rate got down to 17, the state can be lifethreatening. The heart becomes very crancky at such cold temperatures, the electrical signaling doesn't work so well, and the blood stuck in the limbs can become acidotic and lethal. If possible, have a paramedic or doctor preside over your rewarming. If no one is available, a technique pioneered by the Danish Navy is growing in popularity, though you might want to check with a hypothermia specialist here. Instead of immersing the person in a warm tub, place just his or her hands in buckets of warm (not scaulding) water. This allows rewarming to proceed gradually, avoding the likelihood of sudden heat changes that could cause probelms with the heart.