What is hypothermia?
Hypothermia is a medical condition whereby your whole body loses heart fast. The heat produced is lower than the heat your body lets out. As you know, the average temperature of a man should be 37 C. When your body temperature goes below 35 C, you can say you have hypothermia. Hypothermia affects your whole body system.
patient with hypothermia
There are five stages of hypothermia. They are:
Mild (H1): In this stage, you only get the shivering symptom. You are even conscious enough to know what’s happening around you.
Moderate (H2): In this stage, you stop shivering, but then you start losing consciousness.
Severe (H3): At this stage, you lose consciousness. You are completely unaware of what’s going on around you.
Possible Death (H4): Once you get to this stage, you may die or not.
Death (H5): This is the worst stage. It is a stage where no treatment works, and the person dies indefinitely.
You need to avoid getting to the last stage.
dress warmly
What causes it?
Hypothermia is caused by too much exposure to cold. The risk is higher during cold weather. To treat hypothermia, you’d need to warm the body enough to go back to the average warm temperature. Hypothermia doesn’t just come up on its own; it has to be triggered.
1. You can get hypothermia if you wear thin clothes during cold weather.
2. Fall inside the water or pool and do not take a warm bath after
3. Staying out long in the cold
4. If your home has too much ventilation and air conditioning
5. Keeping your wet clothes on for a long time
red face during cold
Symptoms of hypothermia
How do you know when you have hypothermia? What are the signs to watch out for? Find out below.
1. Unconsciousness
2. You could lose your memory
3. Difficulty in breathing
4. Rambling and speaking incoherently
5. Skin becomes red and cold, especially for infants
6. You begin to shiver
7. You become clumsy
8. Your pulse becomes weak
9. Lack of energy and dizziness
The symptoms don’t all appear at once, which is why you might not be quick to discover that you have hypothermia. Also, the fact that you become confused might not let you be aware that you have hypothermia.
Take warm drinks
Ways to treat and prevent hypothermia
1. Listen to the weather forecast beforehand and dress accordingly. Or you could watch out for signs.
2. If you must go outside during the rainy period or winter, dress in warm, covered clothes and use an umbrella or raincoat
3. For the infants and elders sleeping area, keep the temperature at 70 degrees
4. Change out of your wet clothes immediately
5. After swimming in the pool or beach, take a warm bath and sip something hot
How to treat a hypothermia patient
1. Remove the wet clothes the victim was wearing and cover him/her in warm blankets
2. Give them something warm to drink or eat
3. Warm the person’s body by placing a hot water bottle or a warm cloth on his chest and head.
In conclusion, you should know everyone is at risk of getting it as long as you keep exposing yourself to cold. Keep yourself warm always, and you can prevent it.
