13 Jan Keeping Safe When the Water Gets Cold
Enjoying Smith Mountain Lake when the water gets cold requires extra safety measures. A bit of forethought and planning will keep you safe and enjoying your surroundings.
When immersed in cold water, the body loses heat through the contact of water with the skin. As surrounding water sucks heat away from the body, hypothermia (the lowering of the body’s core temperature) sets in, we become weak and lethargic, and we can quickly drown.
How Our Bodies Survive Cold Water
When the face is immersed in water that is 70°F or less, the mammalian diving reflex (MDR) kicks in. The body automatically slows down our respirations and heartbeat to where they are nearly undetectable, constricts the muscles in our extremities, and directs oxygen laden blood to our brain and critical organs.
The MDR is designed to help us survive cold water immersion. It is more pronounced in infants and children, where there have been cases of resuscitations after 40 minutes of submersion. In adults, survival for 25 minutes has been recorded.
The MDR reverses quickly so it is imperative that CPR is administered immediately, and the patient is quickly transported to advanced medical care. The conventional thinking that brain death occurs four to six minutes after one stops breathing isn’t always applicable in these cases.
Cold Water Safety Tips
- Always keep an updated first aid kit with a survival space blanket nearby.
- Let people know where you will be and when you will return.
What else can you do if you find yourself unceremoniously dunked in water below 70°?
ALWAYS wear a personal flotation device (life jacket) around the water, on your dock, and in your boat. Even if you are a good swimmer, a plunge into cold water can leave you dazed or unconscious. It’s nearly impossible to swim in clothes without flotation assistance.
The side stroke, breast stroke or elementary backstroke, keeping your arms in the water, are the best strokes to use when swimming in clothes.
Keep your head above the surface. More heat is lost through the head than any other part of the body.
If you cannot swim to safety, assume the American Red Cross HELP position: knees to the chest, keeping the body as compact as possible to retain heat. With more than one person in the water, gathering side by side with arms around one another’s waists, as in a football huddle, with knees held close to chests will help retain heat.
Treating Hypothermia
Take care to warm yourself properly after cold water exposure. Warm the torso and head first with clothes and blankets. Warming hands and feet next to a fire may feel good, but it forces the coldest blood in your body to your core and may reduce your temperature even more.
If you feel you have frostnip (cold, painful red skin on your extremities), warm gradually. If you feel you have frostbite (pale, no pain, frozen opaque skin), take care not to rub and create more tissue damage (there are ice crystals there). Instead, warm to the frostnip level (pain and red skin) and place pads between affected toes and fingers.
Contributed by: Patrick J. Massa, SMLA Water Safety Council, former EMT, College Swim Coach and Open Water Lifeguard Training Instructor