In cold water, the body's metabolism slows and the organs need less oxygen. It's called the diving reflex and has been studied in mammals such as seals. For reasons not well understood, Copass said, children seem to have a greater ability than adults to survive near-drownings in cold water.
New research shows that cold water drowning victims can be brought back to life as long as two hours after they drown if the right steps are taken. That means even if the heart has stopped beating and the victims' brains aren't getting the oxygen we all need to stay alive.
The usual postmortem changes of vascular marbling, dark discoloration of skin and soft tissue, bloating, and putrefaction occur in the water as they do on land though at a different rate, particularly in cold water (4).
Anna Elisabeth Johansson Bågenholm (born 1970) is a Swedish radiologist from Vänersborg, who survived after a skiing accident in 1999 left her trapped under a layer of ice for 80 minutes in freezing water.
Temperature management
Hypothermic patients with core temperatures less than 86°F who have undergone sudden, rapid immersion in cold water may experience slowing of metabolism and preferential shunting of blood to the heart, brain, and lungs, which may exert a neuroprotective effect during submersion.
TRUE or FALSE: Hypothermia is what kills most people who fall into cold water. ANSWER: False. Most people drown in the first minute of cold-water immersion due to cold shock and their involuntary gasp reflex.
Put on layers of clothing. If you need to enter the water, do not get undressed. A person wearing two layers of woollen clothing will lose less heat than a person wearing only a swimsuit. If possible, wear as many layers of wool as possible and cover yourself with a waterproof layer.
This can occur when a child is suddenly plunged into very cold water and drowns. In this situation, survival after more than 30 minutes has been known to occur.
Most people can hold their breath comfortably for about 1-2 minutes. Trying to hold your breath for much longer than this, especially under water, may be dangerous. Our bodies need both oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) to survive.
Thus, agonizing from drowning in fresh water is faster and, though still painful, is a lighter pain than salt water in nose, thrachea and lungs... Not to mention that saltier water is more buoyant leading to it being easier to float and less likely to drown in.
The events that result in drowning can be divided into the following sequence: (i) struggle to keep the airway clear of the water, (ii) initial submersion and breath-holding, (iii) aspiration of water, (iv) unconsciousness, (v) cardio-respiratory arrest and (vi) death – inability to revive.
Death – inability to revive
Less than 5–10 min of submersion has been associated with a better outcome by several authors. Claesson et al. 57 reported that, following cardiac arrest due to drowning, all survivors at one month were found within 20 min, and 75% within 10 min.
Without breathing: 22 minutes.
The longest any human being ever went without breathing took place in 2012, when Danish freediver Stig Severinsen held his breath underwater for 22 minutes. Without oxygen, the human brain will die after about four minutes.
Good neurological outcome is more likely when return of spontaneous circulation occurs within 30 minutes, especially when the drowning occurs in winter. The findings of this cohort study question the therapeutic value of resuscitation beyond 30 minutes in drowned children with cardiac arrest and hypothermia.
The current non-oxygen aided records stand at 11 minutes, 35 seconds for men (Stéphane Mifsud, 2009) and 8 minutes, 23 seconds for women (Natalia Molchanova, 2011).
Some individuals experience headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea and euphoria, and some become unconscious without warning. Loss of consciousness may be accompanied by convulsions and is followed by cyanosis and cardiac arrest. About seven minutes of oxygen deprivation causes death of the brainstem.
The upper survival limits of human tolerance to impact velocity in water are evidently close to 100 ft/sec (68.2 mph) corrected velocity, or the equivalent of a 186-foot free-fall.
That means that most people can dive up to a maximum of 60 feet safely. For most swimmers, a depth of 20 feet (6.09 meters) is the most they will free dive. Experienced divers can safely dive to a depth of 40 feet (12.19 meters) when exploring underwater reefs.
A freediver can hold his/her breath for as long as 10 minutes. The world record for breath-holding is 22 minutes, which is currently held by Stig Severinsen.
This results in a kind of "hot flash" that makes victims of severe hypothermia — who are already confused and disoriented — feel as though they're burning up, so they remove their clothes, researchers have concluded. Hypothermia or crime?
'The secret to acclimatising to cold water is just to swim in it, often – at least once a week, and preferably two or three, gradually extending the time that you stay in the water,' says Dr Heather Massey a swimmer and a researcher at the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth.
Cold water drains body heat up to 4 times faster than cold air. When your body hits cold water, “cold shock” can cause dramatic changes in breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. The sudden gasp and rapid breathing alone creates a greater risk of drowning even for confident swimmers in calm waters.
Hypothermia is a medical emergency caused by prolonged to very cold temperatures and your body temperature drops below 95°F/35°C. A person can die from hypothermia in as little as under one hour.