* * * * IMPORTANT PSA * * * * Drowning doesn’t look like the movies at all.
It’s summer on the northern hemisphere, which means people are going to beaches, rivers, lakes, pools and water parks. That means people are at risk of drowning. Hollywood has given us a false impression of what drowning actually looks like, and it costs lives.
Drowning is not splashing and screaming for help. It is silent, undramatic and over in seconds.
Below is video footage of an actual near drowning that illustrates how undramatic it is. People swim right by the drowning boy and have no idea he’s drowning. This is real and in real time.
The little boy in the video survived. Many children don’t.
* * * * ~ TW: Actual near-drowning footage. ~ * * * *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoN5N3tLvnM
An adult swimmer engaging in the instinctive drowning response during an active drowning may struggle for 30 to 60 seconds before they submerge and don’t come up. A child may only last 20 seconds before they go under and stay there.
Small children struggle less before they submerge for the last time.
What does the instinctive drowning response look like?
Splashing, if there is any, is minimal.
A drowning person’s body is vertical in the water.
Their face is tilted up towards the sky and their mouth is usually open.
You may only see their face barely poking above the surface as they try to keep their mouth out of the water.
Their face or mouth may bob up and down repeatedly on the surface, then they start to submerge completely and resurface over and over.
Their eyes are often closed, but look glassy and unfocused if they’re open.
They might have a panicked look on their face.
Their hair may be slicked down on their face, and they aren’t trying to brush it back or aside.
Their arms may be stretched out to the sides as if they’re trying to leverage themselves out of the water.
They might look like they’re climbing an invisible ladder or doggy paddling, but they aren’t moving in any direction.
(Exception: If there is a current, it may pull them along. They will still be vertical with their head tilted back and bobbing up and down.)
Drowning happens partly due to physics and partly due to biology. Human noses have nostrils pointing downward. If you put an open, empty glass in water, the air will stay trapped in it until you tip it and let the air bubble escape.
A person who is drowning instinctively tilts their head back to keep their mouth out of the water, and it’s like tilting the glass when they start to submerge. Water gets into their nose, goes down their throat and causes spasms in the larynx as the airway tries to protect itself. Imagine how hard it is to get a good breath to cough when you choke while taking a drink of something. It’s the same spasm, except a drowning person can’t clear their airway.
A drowning person can’t breathe enough to call out or reach for help. They are using all their body’s energy to stay above water and breathe.
It may look like they’re playing around.
Losing consciousness in drowning is a cumulative effect, not something that happens after they’re under for x amount of time.
A drowning person can’t get enough oxygen because of the spasm in their larynx. Their struggle uses more oxygen than they’re getting, carbon dioxide builds up and they can’t stay conscious.
A cessation of struggle and the final submerging means consciousness may have been lost or is being lost. The person might jerk around underwater– this is likely convulsions from the lack of oxygen. The spasm keeping the larynx shut relaxes and lets water into the lungs (wet drowning) or it may stay shut and the person suffocates that way (dry drowning).
The person may sink completely if water is going into their lungs. They’ll usually survive if they’re rescued right as they reach this point, but the longer they’re down, the smaller their chances of survival.
Even people who swim well will go into the instinctive drowning response if they end up in trouble in the water. Somebody knocked off a boogie board or getting a leg cramp can go into distress very quickly and easily.
It’s called the instinctive drowning response for a reason. It’s reflexive, not a choice.
Sometimes asking a swimmer who appears to be in trouble if they’re okay can make all the difference. If they can’t respond to you because they’re so focused on staying above water, they’re probably in trouble.
Always swim with a buddy. If you’re watching kids at a pool, put your book or phone away and watch them. Don’t use your ears to rely on screams for help or splashing sounds because it will not happen unless somebody else sees the drowning and yells to alert others, and by then it may be too late.
If your kid is loud in the pool and they get quiet, it may be because they’re drowning and need help. Parents have literally watched their children drown, and people will swim right past a drowning person without realizing it because they don’t know what real drowning looks like. You can thank Hollywood for that.
Here is video footage fishermen caught of a raccoon drowning in a river.
Watch how fast it happens.
That could be your two year old right next to you.
* * * TW Actual animal drowning footage.
The raccoon did not survive. (Poor baby… ). * * *
Go to 1:27 if the video doesn’t automatically put you there.
https://youtu.be/ieXHUnK6uhA?t=98
The raccoon steps off a ledge, is surprised to hit deep water and gets dragged along by the current. It sounds like the fisherman tried to catch the animal with his fishing line, but wasn’t successful.
Animals have the same instinctive drowning response that humans do; head back, a panicked face bobbing in the water, little to no splashing. I’m showing this to illustrate the instinctive part and how fast it happens.
Lifeguards are trained to look for the instinctive drowning response, but it pays if you know the signs, too, because that knowledge will save someone’s life.
~* Please reblog this to spread drowning awareness and save a life. *~
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