Surviving in 40 degree water.

Question

How long do you think someone could be in 40 degree water before they got hypothermia?

Answer 1

Depends on how much of the person is submerged. Recently a Utah fisherman was trapped from the waste down in river water that was probably about 40 degrees (maybe a little colder.) He was trapped all night. When they rescued him, his core temperature was 35 degrees lower than normal, which means he was on the verge of dying from hypothermia.

Answer 2

Cold water can kill in three ways - cold shock resulting in ineffective breathing, rapid onset of panic, confusion, and inneffective swimming, struggling briefly at the surface and then sinking.

death by drowning.

hypothermia -  with body chemistry dysfunction causing cardiovascular collapse and death.

Recognize and manage hypothermia early - thought processes become quickly impaired and can rapidly lead to decision making which turns an unpleasant situation into a dangerous one. In a non-immersion situation, the greatest heat loss is through the head and neck, insulation for these areas is most important. In maintaining extremity function good head protection has been shown to be more useful than better gloves or socks. Get out of the water! Water will cool 20 - 30 times faster than air. Movement in the water, such as swimming, will make this even worse. Severe hypothermia is a medical crisis. The victim must be handled gently and knowledgably. “No previously healthy person should die of hypothermia after he has been rescued and treatment has been started.” (Cameron C. Bangs, M.D.).

Answer 3

If someone was submerged up to their neck in 40 degree water they would probably get stage 3 hypothermia in a matter of hours, no more then 3 and probably less then that.  If your core (chest) is surrounded by water at that temperature it would not be able to sustain an appropriate level of warmth to sustain the rest of the body.  It would probably make you pass out within a matter of 2-3 hours because as your core cools so does the flow of blood to your brain.