Sudden Cold Water Immersion may be even more dangerous than hypothermia
On Jun 24, 8:04?am, wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:27:14 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 05:06:59 -0000, Chuck Gould
wrote:
The shock of the cold water can also cause an
involuntary gasp reflex that can cause victims to inhale water and
drown
Know what this is called?
It's called the Mammalian Dive Reflex
scientific american had an article on this about a decade ago...
I suspect if more people were consciously aware of this risk that
fewer folks would consider simply having a pfd somewhere that it could
be grabbed at the last minute before or immediately after going
overboard......(normally after, who "plans" to go
overboard?)...adequate.
That gasp of shock upon hitting the cold water could literally be a
last gasp.
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