Hypothermia = Heat retention + Heat production < Heat loss
Retaining heat: Increase body mass (Eskimo vs. Masai), use insulation layers, and increase body fat.
Producing heat: Shiver, be fit and exercise efficiently (low fluid loss). Also, consume food, rehydrate, and store glycogen.
Losing heat: Cold temperature, getting wet (rain, sweat, water), and wind (blowing, or moving, e.g. biking)
Symptoms: The "-umbles"
"Stumbling, fumbling, grumbling, mumbling."
Recovery Techniques
(starting with mild hypothermia and progressing to serious hypothermia):
Put on dry clothing, more clothing, find shelter, exercise, consume glucose.
Drink warm sugary liquid (not coffee or alcohol), and get into a dry sleeping bag with a non-hypothermic person.
Wrap in multiple layers, be very dry, insulate the body from all sources of cold, urinate to remove cold water from body, and apply warm towels, packs or hot water bottles to the neck, underarms and groin.
External rewarming techniques dilate blood vessels in peripheral parts of the body, which sends the cooler, acetic blood to the heart and major organs, which lowers body core temperature. So only internal rewarming is used for serious hypothermics, and includes inhaling hot air, and flushing the bladder, stomach, thorax with a warm saline solution.
A profoundly hypothermic person is clinically dead, but still warm. Their muscles will still contract when a limb is bent, the skin is blue, a very slow pulse (2-3 beat/minute), and the pupils are dilated and fixed.
kellyjones00 (593)
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