The summer is finally here! Thousands of people will enjoy various beach and water activities. Although these activities are fun they come with certain risks. Those who are planning to spend some time near the water (be it river, lake, or sea), need to learn a few things that can save their own and other people’s lives.
It is very difficult for people who have seen a case of drowning only on TV to recognize one when it happens in front of their eyes.
What many people expect in cases of drowning is a lot of screaming, yelling, splashing, etc.
But, in most cases, these reactions are not present and drowning is a silent event that is characterized by only a few quiet reactions.
Francesco A. Pia, Ph., has defined this occurrence as an Instinctive Drowning Response.
This set of behaviors is what most people do to avoid suffocation in the water.
This behavior doesn't look even close to what most people believe. We cannot usually see more than regular waving or splashing and the calls for help and screams are missing.
To understand how calm and quiet this event appears for someone who looks at the person who is drowning from the shore, you should take a look at some of the statistics.
According to these statistics, drowning is the second most numerous cause of death in children who are up to 15 years old (right after vehicle accidents).
About 750 children in the United States drown every year and nearly half of them do so in an area that is less than 25 yards away from their parent or other adult. In about 10% of these events, the adult will directly watch the child without understanding that the child is drowning. In other words, drowning doesn't look like we imagine.
Dr. Pia has written an article on this subject for the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine and described the details of the instinctive drowning response.
Drowning people, in the vast majority of cases are not able to ask/call for help. Our respiratory system exists only for breathing. Speech is a function that we have developed later and it is the secondary function of this system. In other words, the system will always be focused on breathing first, and even after it detects that everything is functioning well we can speak.
People who are drowning have their mouths below and above the water’s surface alternately. This means that there is not enough time for drowning people to exhale, inhale, and speak. They are only focused on getting enough air.
In addition, in these moments people cannot wave to signal that something is wrong either. Our instincts force us to move our hands as if we are trying to hold ourselves on the surface of the water. In this way, we can balance our body and increase the ability to take a breath.
When the Instinctive Drowning Response happens, drowning people cannot willingly control the movements of their arms. It is not physiologically possible, for most people, to control their movements and to yell for help, wave for help, or move toward a safer zone.
Once people enter the so-called Instinctive Drowning Response phase, they have about 20 to 60 seconds before they drown. They can be saved only by an experienced swimmer or a trained lifeguard.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you are not in trouble when you hear someone yelling for help and splashing. This situation is called aquatic distress.
This phase is not always occurring before the instinctive drowning response and it doesn't last for a long time. In this phase, people can willingly perform movements that can save their lives – they can reach some objects that can help them hold on or they can yell or wave.
The following is a list of signs of drowning that are typical for people who are in the water:
- Head placed back with mouth wide open
- Mouth at water level, head low in the water
- Eyes closed for more than a second
- Eyes empty and glassy without focus
- Not using legs in a vertical position
- Hair over eyes or forehead
- Gasping or hyperventilating
- Rapidly trying to roll over on the back
- Trying to swim in a certain direction, but not making any progress
- Performing something that looks like climbing on an imaginary ladder.
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