With these hot weeks, being at the beach has become a necessity and swimming is even more so, to seek refreshment. But as we know, without making unnecessary alarms, even this relaxing place can hide dangers. In fact, they have been since the beginning of the season several deaths from hydrocutionso let’s see what it is and how to avoid it.
The “hydrocution syncope“is literally a collapse (a sudden and temporary loss of consciousness) from rapid immersion, mainly due to a cold liquid, characterized by autonomous reflexes that can also cause death by cardiorespiratory arrest or drowning.
In a simpler way, we could explain it with a piece of advice: after several hours of sunshine, maybe after playing on the beach, and maybe even after eating, you have to avoid instinctively diving into the waterespecially if it’s cold.
You must surely be thinking: “But it is a matter of course“Unfortunately this is not the case, and the evidence proves it since every year there are many who come to the emergency room with hydrocution syncope.
Not everyone remembers thatin summer, our body temperature is around 37/39 ° C (even more if by mistake we stay under the sun for hours and we don’t hydrate at best), while that of the sea, lake or river, is usually around 18/20.
The thermal shock is therefore really excessive e the brain goes haywire. A real thermal shock. If we were to go back to giving a medical explanation, we could say that: the mechanism begins with a vasoconstriction, which in turn causes reflexes at the level of the brain stem.
In those moments, both the cardiac and respiratory regulation centers are affected, causing cardiorespiratory arrest. If, on the other hand, the bulbar centers are not lethally involved, the arrest of circulation and oxygenation still causes a syncope with loss of consciousness.
So what is mistakenly referred to as a “congestion” is actually the syncope (or syndrome) of hydrocution, that is the sudden bump of very hot skin with cold watercausing a violent and transient vagal reflex that dramatically reduces heart rate and blood pressure.
If this condition lasts more than a few seconds, it can lead to loss of consciousness, thus risking death by drowning.
So how to avoid the risk of hydrocution syncope?
Doctors recommend that you enter the water slowly, getting wet a little at a time to avoid sudden changes in temperature. So, no to violent dives, perhaps after hours of being on a pedal boat under the sun. It is essential to remember that caution is never excessive because the sea can be fatal.
Staying on topic, here are 7 tips for staying hydrated during the summer heat. Also, here are some tips to help you sleep better.