Chilled to the Bone

Continued...

The First Symptoms

Body temperature is maintained by a balance of heat production and loss. Your body produces heat in two ways: by processing food and through muscular activity. It loses heat through sweat evaporation and conduction from warm skin to a cold environment.

Evaporation from wet clothing, inadequate insulating layers of clothing and contact with cold air, ground or water all accelerate heat loss. Children, the elderly and thin people with less body fat are more prone to heat loss.

The first symptoms of mild hypothermia are an uncomfortable feeling of cold followed by generalized shivering. Shivering increases heat production but also rapidly consumes glycogen stored in the muscles. When glycogen stores become depleted, heat output decreases.

The onset of shivering is followed by a rapid heart beat and constricted skin blood vessels as the body tries to conserve heat. Disorientation, loss of coordination and slurred speech are the next symptoms.

Warming Procedures

Early recognition and surface warming can prevent mild hypothermia from becoming more serious.

To warm someone suffering from mild hypothermia, get her out of the wind, remove her wet clothing, put mittens, a hat and dry socks on her, and wrap her in blankets. Since dehydration may accompany hypothermia, give her warm fluids if available. When hiking or skiing, continue toward safety by the most direct route.

The effects of mild hypothermia on the mind may lead a person to continue exercising or to remove her hat and mittens. These actions cause further heat loss and may result in a life-threatening situation. We've all heard stories of skiers or hikers who have died within several hundred yards of safety overcome by confusion and drowsiness.

What happens during more severe hypothermia?

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Table of Contents

Foreword: Billie Jean King

Comments by Barb Harris
Editor in Chief,
Shape Magazine

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