JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi. My name is Dr. Justin Davis, and I'll be describing to you today hypothermia. Now, hypo means less than or not enough and thermia means temperature. So hypothermia is when you're losing heat from your body. In the case of true hypothermia, you're losing more heat from your body than your body can replace. This often happens when you're exposed for a prolonged period of time to very cold or wet conditions. Now, mild hypothermia may not be that serious and can easily be fixed if your body is warmed up properly, but in cases of severe hypothermia, this can often lead to death if not treated very quickly. Luckily, only about 700 people in the United States die from hypothermia each year. How do you know if you have hypothermia? First of all, you'll know because you're very cold. The common symptoms that are associated with hypothermia are called shivering. Now, everyone knows what shivering is, but shivering is when your muscles very quickly contract back and forth to try to generate heat. The other symptoms, doctors call the "umbles", that's when your body stumbles, fumbles, grumbles, and mumbles. These can be common signs of severe hypothermia. So what should you do to treat hypothermia? If you find someone and they seem like they've been left in a prolonged state of cold and may have hypothermia, there are some important things to do. First of all, get them out of that cold environment or if they've been exposed to something that's wet and cold, take off their wet clothing and put them in a more warm environment. One thing to remember is, however, don't expose them to direct heat, that can be very dangerous. Other important things to remember that can be very dangerous, don't rub the limbs; this can actually be counter-productive and cause more problems than it can solve. You also don't want to put heat on the limbs because even though it seems like this might warm the body, it actually sends the cold blood back into the inside of the body, to the heart and the brain, and can be deadly. So rather it's important to gently warm the whole body and warm central parts such as the back of the neck and the mid part of the body. The other thing to remember is that while giving someone warm liquid is important, don't give them alcoholic beverages. While alcoholic beverages may temporarily seem to make them feel warmer, it actually makes the body lose more heat and can
be very dangerous. So, prevention is the key to not becoming hypothermic. Make sure that if you're in a cold, wet environment, that you let somebody know so that if something happens and you're stranded there, someone will know to look for you and also use common sense. Dress in many layers so that you keep warm, it's always a good idea to have wool socks when you're going to be out in the snow or somewhere very cold because this does a great job at keeping your toes and extremities warm. And remember, when you're out in a cold environment, be very careful with alcohol consumption as it may lead to more increased likelihood of accidents and it may also make you falsely feel warm, even though you're rapidly losing body heat.
