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Loading... Dec 17, 2022 · A person can survive for hours or even days after being immersed in water and still be alive, depending on how deep the water was, how long the person was underwater, and other factors. However, there is a consensus that someone can die from drowning within minutes of submerging.
People also ask
What happens if a person dies from drowning?
How much water can cause a drowning?
Is drowning always fatal?
- Overview
- How much water does it take to drown?
- Stages of drowning
- Drowning prevention and water safety
- Takeaway
Every year, more than 3,500 people in the United States die from drowning, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s the fifth most common cause of accidental death in the country. Most people who die by drowning are children.
Drowning is a form of death by suffocation. Death occurs after the lungs take in water. This water intake then interferes with breathing. The lungs become heavy, and oxygen stops being delivered to the heart. Without the supply of oxygen, the body shuts down.
The average person can hold their breath for around 30 seconds. For children, the length is even shorter. A person who’s in excellent health and has training for underwater emergencies can still usually hold their breath for only 2 minutes.
But the health event we know as drowning only takes a couple of seconds to occur.
If a person is submerged after breathing in water for 4 to 6 minutes without resuscitation, it will result in brain damage and eventually death by drowning.
This article will discuss safety strategies to prevent drowning.
It doesn’t take a lot of water to cause drowning. Every year, people drown in bathtubs, shallow lakes, and even small puddles. The amount of liquid it takes to cause a person’s lungs to shut down varies according to their:
•age
•weight
•respiratory health
Some studies indicate that a person can drown in 1 milliliter of fluid for every kilogram they weigh. So, a person weighing around 140 pounds (63.5 kg) could drown after inhaling only a quarter cup of water.
A person can drown on dry land hours after inhaling water in a near-drowning incident. This is what’s known as secondary drowning.
Drowning happens very quickly, but it does take place in stages. The stages can take between 10 and 12 minutes before death occurs. If a child is drowning, it may happen much more quickly.
Here’s a breakdown of the stages of drowning:
1.For the first several seconds after water is inhaled, the drowning person is in a state of fight-or-flight as they struggle to breathe.
2.As the airway begins to close to prevent more water from getting into the lungs, the person will start to hold their breath involuntarily. This takes place for up to 2 minutes, until they lose consciousness.
3.The person becomes unconscious. During this stage, they can still be revived through resuscitation and have a chance at a good outcome. Breathing stops and the heart slows. This can last for several minutes.
4.The body enters a state called hypoxic convulsion. This can look like a seizure. Without oxygen, the person’s body appears to turn blue and may jerk around erratically.
Drowning happens quickly, so being proactive about preventing drowning accidents is essential.
Children between the ages of 5 and 14, as well as adolescents and adults over 65, are at a higher risk for drowning.
Children under 5 years old face an extremely significant risk of drowning. Males have a higher risk than females, especially teenage males.
To prevent drowning, there are some best practices you can follow.
Drowning remains a leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
Never leave children unsupervised when enjoying time in any body of water — even if it’s a shallow one. It only takes a second to inhale water, starting the chain of events that lead to drowning.
Apr 4, 2017 · A high concentration of carbon dioxide combined with a low concentration of oxygen in the blood triggers the need to take a breath underwater. In the first breath, copious amounts of water are inhaled. As water reaches the airway, the larynx usually closes, preventing water from reaching the lungs.
Searches related to what happens if a person drowns in ocean
- Drowning occurs when water enters the lungs from being in or below the water. It typically occurs in one of the two following manners
- ‘Dry drowning’ isn’t technically drowning. Instead, it’s a type of submersion injury in which water enters the larynx, but never actually enters the lungs.
- A person can drown in less than 60 seconds. It has been reported that it only takes 20 seconds for a child to drown and roughly 40 seconds for an adult—and in some cases, it can take as little as a ½ cup of water to enter the lungs for the phenomenon to occur.
- Swallowing water is not drowning. “Sometimes you will notice that someone will exit a pool or the ocean and begin coughing and spitting out water,” he says.
What happens when a person is drowning? Australia’s former surgeon general Professor John Pearn, a pediatrician, describes drowning as a hypoxic march of events that reduce oxygen to the brain ...
- Julie Power
May 16, 2024 · Drowning is the process of experiencing respiratory impairment from submersion or immersion in liquid. Drowning happens when a person's nose and mouth are under water for too long, making it impossible to breath. Drowning is not always fatal. Fatal drowning happens when the drowning results in death. Nonfatal drowning happens when a person ...
Mar 7, 2018 · Abstract. Drowning, which typically involves a watery environment, remains a serious public health concern claiming an estimated 362 000 lives per year worldwide across all socioeconomic classifications and has remained under close observation by the World Health Organization and its signatories.
