Hypothermia (sometimes called exposure) is the biggest cause of deaths resulting from accidents in the water. Hypothermia occurs when your body temperature drops below 35° C (96°F). Anyone who is exposed to severe cold without enough protection can develop hypothermia. Certain medications, medical conditions or the consumption of alcohol can also make people more susceptible to the cold.

As your body temperature begins to fall, your body responds by shutting down the supply of heat to the less vulnerable body parts, typically your limbs and other extremities, in an attempt to maintain the temperature of your vital organs. As your body temperature continues to fall, these organs fail, resulting in death. Most deaths occur as a result of heart failure when the body’s core temperature falls below 30° C.

The symptoms exhibited by a person suffering from hypothermia may include:

• slow or irregular speech
• shallow or very slow breathing
• fatigue
• confusion
• slow pulse
• weakness or drowsiness
• shivering
• cold, pale skin

Unconsciousness in victims usually occurs when the body temperature falls to within the range 30 – 32°C. Death can occur any time after this depending on the conditions and how quickly a victim receives treatment. There have been instances of victims being revived after many hours in an unconscious state.

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In the first ever published article on this great site, I mentioned briefly the importance of volunteering and how we doing this for our local communities are volunteers ourselves. Many times we think of volunteer work, as a great hassle: something that needs to get done but isn’t really that pleasing. Today I want to come towards you with a completely different approach, and talk about the effects volunteer work have not just for your community but also for your family.

Let me start off by saying, that our lives need to have some purpose in order for us to feel good with ourselves. Many people will decide to join special support groups or help disadvantaged children in Africa to fill that gap of purpose. What we many times forget is our importance of helping our own community first. If you think of all the efforts done in Africa (and are still taking place as we speak) it’s amazing that the problem still hasn’t be solved. If all of those efforts and resources were put into the hands of accountable people to take care of our own people in the US (like the orphanages, or the inner cities) we could of re-built our cities twice. The problem with people is that they feel as if the further away they go, the more their work matters.

But anyway, I won’t get into that debate. We can all agree that our lives need to have meaning in order to have a healthy mindset. So I just wanted to share with you in this short article I’m typing, the benefits on your own health and mental state. Research suggests that out of nature, we are caring and giving human beings. Yes, you will see a lot of injustice in the world, but if you look deep down into a human’s soul you will see a soft person with kindness. When we do good, it is really to feed our inner innocence. When we give, we feel much better about our selves and have a feeling of contribution. Many times people tend to volunteer just for their own mental sake. It shouldn’t be the focus, but hey…if that will help someone in need let it be that.

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In the last article, we talked about certain things every person can do in order to maintain safer communities – especially those around waters (such as the sea, lakes and rivers.) Although it is important to make sure we are helping each other out as much as possible, it is equally important to help out ourselves as much as we can. So in other words, there are certain things we can do in order to avoid disaster.

In this article, one of the most common safety tips will be suggested for everyone that enjoys going out for a swim. Some of these you will have heard of elsewhere, but I will try and share with you the most important ones so that you can both keep them in mind, but also share them with family and friends.

• Don’t Go For A Swim With A Full Belly.

Okay, this is an easy one. Since we were very little, we have been taught to always allow our stomachs to digest all the food we have eaten prior, before we even think of returning to the water. The reason they say this, is basically because when you are trying to swim with a full belly, you will tire much faster. Not only that, but besides going straight to the bottom of the sea, many times you may throw up in the water. So that will create a very big problem for you, and you are putting yourself in danger of drowning. So when you decide to have a nice ham sandwich lunch, make sure you allow yourself to rest and digest for at least 2 hours before you decide to go for a swim. Please don’t let sandwich be a reason they box you up much sooner than usual.

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