Hypothermia Briefing

[giegs]

People acclimated to colder environments also end up with different body composition that helps them deal with the cold. If my dad had mentioned keeping the thermostat low was a form of alpine training maybe I would have been more into it as a kid.

Cool Temperature Alters Human Fat and Metabolism

Men exposed to cool temperatures for a month had an increase in brown fat along with changes in metabolism. The finding hints at new approaches to conditions such as obesity and diabetes.

www.nih.gov

One of the nice things about cold people drowning is they don't try and fight you as much.

 

[Virgulino Ferreira]

Which reminds me of this good movie, based on the miraculous story of "an Icelandic fisherman who survived six hours in 5 °C (41 °F) cold water after his fishing vessel had capsized and furthermore trekked, for another three hours, across lava fields to reach a town for help in freezing conditions."

 

[Virgulino Ferreira]

I wouldn't agree on that.

We are talking here about normal human beings. Not the Finns.

 

[spankoka]

I wouldn't agree on that. As a child I and both of my children went to a swimming school at a local sea beach. Depending on luck the water was between 10 and 17 C. All the children learned to swim, which means in Finland being able to swim 200 m without a break and 50 m on your back.

I can remember well when my older daughter was there. It was about 11 C and 10 m/s wind. All the parents were freezing with a lot of clothes on. The children had a warm up running at the beach and then went to water without any complaints.

I have quite often cleaned the hull of my boat without any gear in 12-13 C water. It takes at least 30 minutes. Once I did almost a hour. At the end I stopped feeling cold and when I got out of the water I started shivering a lot. Probably had a mild hypothermia, but had no problems getting out of water with ladders at the transom. We went for a transport sail for a race and I spent about an hour inside the boat with the heater on full power before I felt warm enough to go out.

I get the point about cold water, when you have a really big tide-the ocean makes you walk a long way before you are even up to your knees. The sea retreated and you just wanted to swim.

 

[Autonomous]

Where's the dividing line between "feeling cold" and hypothermia?

That is a good question with difficult definitions.

Shivering cold? A chill? The dull pain of cold?

I lost the heater when driving a truck in a remote area. It was < -20° F. Being young and stupid I only had a light jacket. When I got to a station with heat and repair facilities I could not talk but only had the shivering chill.
On the bike ride I mentioned earlier, I didn't catch a shivering chill but the dull pain of cold was everywhere. I could ride okay but it took a day and a half to feel better.

 

[Virgulino Ferreira]

Where's the dividing line between "feeling cold" and hypothermia?

That is a good question with difficult definitions.

From next to nothing that I know of, hypothermia is formally defined as core body temperature below 35oC.

The only quick way to accurately measure core body temperature is with a rectal thermometer.

Therefore, it is impossible to know if I am with hypothermia.

 

[Autonomous]

So someone telling you to stick it up your ass may be a Good Samaritan?

 

[cyclone]

More cold water stuff