On May 22nd, on the way to the Baiyin Mountain Marathon in Gansu Province, extreme weather broke out, local hail, freezing rain and strong wind caused the temperature to drop suddenly, and the contestants felt unwell and their body temperature dropped.
By the 23rd, * * * had retrieved 15 1 contestants, 8 of whom were slightly injured and were treated in the hospital. 2 1 The player lost his vital signs when he was found.
It is "temperature loss" that kills 2 1 person, which is known as one of the two biggest killers outdoors.
Source: cover news
How terrible is "temperature loss"?
"Hypothermia, also called accidental hypothermia, is a kind of clinical hypothermia syndrome. It is the spontaneous drop of body temperature below 35 C caused by the cold environment. " Wang Yizhen, chief physician of the Department of Critical Care Medicine of Tianjin TEDA Hospital, said that the thermoregulatory center was normal at this time, only because the heat generated was not enough to meet the needs of the body, which led to a significant drop in the deep body temperature, that is, the core body temperature (referring to the body temperature of the main organs that maintain life, such as the brain, heart and lungs), which led to abnormal functions of various organs and eventually led to death.
In daily life, cold can stimulate the thermoregulatory center, make the blood vessels on the body surface contract through adrenergic sympathetic nerve to keep body temperature, and increase muscle tension and jitter through motor nerve to generate heat. "The human body maintains normal body temperature by balancing heat production and heat dissipation," Wang Yizhen said.
"Although the runner is running a marathon cross-country race, strenuous exercise may not be able to offset the runner's body temperature loss in the case of insufficient warmth and extreme weather." Wang Yimin analyzed that when the heat production rate is lower than the heat loss rate, the body temperature will gradually decrease, and when the core body temperature is lower than 35℃, the organ function will decrease, resulting in abnormality. If the body temperature continues to drop, it will lead to death.
The reason why hypothermia has such a serious impact on human body is that hypothermia reduces the activity of the whole enzyme, dilates peripheral blood vessels and affects aerobic metabolism, so hypothermia actually affects every system of the body.
Therefore, patients with hypothermia will have symptoms such as headache, anxiety, stiff muscles and joints of limbs, pale and cold skin, rapid heartbeat and breathing, and elevated blood pressure at the beginning of a cold.
When the body temperature continues to drop, the patient falls into a state of insanity from a lethargic state.
When the body temperature is lower than 32.2℃, the patient's heartbeat and breathing are slowed down, and his pulse is weak and arrhythmia occurs. The patient developed hallucinations, aggression and refused to help, which further developed into stupor and coma.
At this time, the cold heart can't bear the stimulation, and any stimulation will cause ventricular fibrillation. If the body temperature continues to drop to 29 ~ 24℃ C, it will die of cardiac arrest or ventricular fibrillation.
What should I do if I encounter temperature loss in outdoor sports?
"Although temperature loss is one of the common dangers of outdoor sports, this risk can be prevented before outdoor sports are carried out, and the corresponding equipment is ready." Li Chong, instructor of chinese mountaineering association camp, national senior outward bound trainer and expedition leader of China Exploration Association, said.
The players are playing. Source: Baiyin Daily
"However, this mountain marathon 100 km cross-country race was held in early summer, and it is easy to ignore the temperature difference in warm and hot weather, thus taking it lightly." Li Chong analyzed that, generally speaking, participating in cross-country marathon is different from simple outdoor hiking and survival, and the pursuit is speed. Therefore, the contestants are all lightly packed, and the equipment generally only brings water, vitamins and functional drinks. Therefore, if you encounter extreme weather, you may not be able to cope with it.
Everyone who is engaged in outdoor activities knows that the temperature loss is mainly caused by the interaction of several major factors such as temperature, humidity and wind, so when preparing outdoor equipment, these three aspects should be carefully prepared.
"For outdoor sports, a warm three-piece suit is essential." Li Chong said, coats, down jackets, etc. Rain-proof and wind-proof materials should be used, the soft shell and fleece in the middle should be kept warm, and it is essential for the inner layer to wear quick-drying underwear. Once the clothes on your body are wet by sweat, rain and river water, you can have spare ones instead of wearing wet underwear to cause temperature loss.
"Keeping the head warm is very important, because exposure to the outside is easy to cause rapid temperature loss." Li Chong stressed that you must prepare warm hats, gloves, scarves, windbreakers, thick socks, wind shields and even goggles, which are all necessary items for traveling in windy and cold weather. There are too many exposed body organs, and the greater the wind speed, the faster the body loses heat.
The temperature in mountainous areas is lower than that in urban areas, especially in high altitude areas, and the weather is even more unpredictable. Therefore, in the process of outdoor activities, it is very important to master some scientific knowledge and self-protection measures in addition to choosing suitable warm clothes to prevent hypothermia.
"Under the influence of the environment, human body temperature decreases through evaporation, radiation, convection and conduction." Li Chong reminded that the decrease of body temperature is caused by long-term exposure to cold environment, not extreme cold. Because the flowing air keeps taking heat away from the body strap, this "air cooling effect" makes the somatosensory temperature lower than the actual temperature when there is wind, so exposure to cold wind should be avoided. Outdoor sports enthusiasts should learn to use local materials if they encounter temperature loss outdoors. For example, large plastic bags can also temporarily prevent wind and rain.
Many runners in the cross-country race of Yinshan Marathon just found a corner with a little shelter from the wind to warm up and wait for rescue, and were finally rescued safely.
Don't suddenly heat up to save people who have lost their body temperature.
If the temperature loss occurs outdoors, it is necessary to take time to give first aid to the patient.
"For the rescue of those who have lost their temperature, they must not suddenly heat up such as baking fire, and they need to heat up slowly." Wang Yimin said that due to severe dehydration of patients with severe hypothermia, the concentration of body fluids and cell fluids increased, and the biochemical environment in the body changed greatly to adapt to the low temperature environment. If rewarming is too intense, blood vessels may expand violently, leading to hypotension, further lowering the core body temperature and causing rewarming shock.
Therefore, the best way to help those who have lost temperature is to get rid of the low temperature environment and strengthen heat preservation.
Rescue site. Photo courtesy of Gansu Fire Protection
The first thing to do is to prevent people who have lost their body temperature from being exposed to the cold. If it is wet clothes, it must be changed in time to avoid emitting more heat.
"In the hospital, we will use a 37℃ rewarming blanket for patients with hypothermia. If the site conditions do not allow, we can wrap it in clothes or sleeping bags to cool down. " Wang Yimin introduced that in vitro rewarming of patients with hypothermia should focus on the core parts, such as neck, armpit and groin. The limbs only need passive warmth to prevent frostbite. In addition, thermos flask wrapped thermos flask with cloth to prevent thermos flask from heating up too fast.
It should be noted that for patients with severe hypothermia, it is impossible to return to normal state in the wild, and they can only delay their death and must be transferred to hospital for treatment immediately.
We must also be careful when dealing with patients with hypothermia, so as to avoid a large amount of cold blood flowing back from the epidermis to the heart during the treatment, causing arrhythmia.