The Cold Facts about Hypothermia by Thomas Yoon

If you ever go to cold countries, you should undoubtedly have heard of Hypothermia. If you haven't, you should learn something about it. Your very own life may depend on knowing the information below:

Hypothermia is a condition marked by an abnormally low internal body temperature. It develops when body heat is lost faster than it can be replaced. Normal muscular and cerebral functions become impaired and death can follow if it becomes worse. This takes place below 96º F and lower.

Signs of hypothermia include confusion or sleepiness; slurred speech or shallow breathing; weak pulse or low blood pressure; stiffness in the arms or legs or poor control over body movements. Severe hypothermia can cause an irregular heartbeat, leading to heart failure and death.

Symptoms of Hypothermia

Shivering is typically the first sign of hypothermia. It eventually becomes uncontrollable. However with severe hypothermia, shivering stops. One of the key indicators that the victim has moved from mild/moderate hypothermia to severe hypothermia is that he/she is no longer shivering.

Behavior changes like complaining, difficulty in speaking, and uncoordinated movements. Victims will struggle to perform simple tasks like walking a straight line or zipping up their coat. With severe hypothermia, behavior changes from erratic to apathetic to unresponsive. Uncharacteristic behavior like inappropriate excitement or lethargy, poor judgment, and poor decision making are common.

Cold, pale and blue-gray skin due to constricting blood vessels. May develop into a coma, with dilated pupils making it difficult to determine if the victim is alive or dead.

How Heat is Lost from the Body

Convection: Heat is carried away from the body by currents of air or water. Wind chill is an example of convection.

Conduction: Transfer of heat between two contacting surfaces. Water conducts heat 25 times faster than air and steel is even faster than water. Generally conductive heat loss accounts for only about 2% of overall loss. However, with wet clothes the loss is increased 5 times.

Evaporation: Heat loss when water is removed from the body during sweating and respiration.

Radiation: The loss of radiated heat from a warm body to a surrounding colder environment. This is more significant on cold, cloudless nights. Factors important in radiant heat loss are the surface area and the temperature gradient.

It is important to recognize the strong connection between fluid levels, fluid loss, and heat loss. As the body moisture is lost through the various evaporative processes the overall circulating volume of water in the body is reduced, leading to dehydration. This decrease in fluid level makes the body more susceptible to hypothermia.

Field Treatment for Hypothermia

The basic principles of re-warming a hypothermic victim are to conserve the heat they have and to replace the body fuel they are burning up to generate that heat.

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BIO:

Many years of working experience in Marine, Facilities,
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