Drowning looks different than you think

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

Think drowning involves screaming, gasping, and flailing? Think it’s easy to notice someone drowning? Well, you’re wrong. Drowning is a silent killer. There’s no splashing, waving, or calling for help of any kind. It's not like what you see on TV. Many people would not even notice another person drowning at just 30 yards away. Read on for tips on how to keep yourself and those you love safe from this silent killer whether at the beach or in your backyard pool.

The Facts About this Silent Killer

The Instinctive Drowning Response, a term coined by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people instinctively do to avoid suffocation when drowning. The responses to drowning are undramatic and surprisingly quiet. Drownings are the leading cause of injury death for young children ages 1 to 4. Even scarier is that in a small but significant percentage of kids' drownings, an adult will have watched the whole process, not having a clue what was happening (Source:CDC).

Drowning Doesn't Look Like What You'd Expect

Dr. Pia, in an article entitled "It Doesn't Look Like They're Drowning" featured in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine (Fall 06), describes the typical drowning response as follows: "Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouth of a drowning person is not above the surface of the water long enough to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning person’s mouth is above the surface, she exhales and inhales quickly as her mouth starts to sink below the surface of the water. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs."

Signs of Drowning

Watch for these signs the next time you’re swimming with your kids or others:

* Head low in the water, mouth at water level

* Head tilted back with open mouth

* Hair over forehead or eyes

* Eyes glassy, empty and unable to focus

* Eyes closed

* Hyperventilating or gasping

* Not using legs

* Body is vertical and upright

* Trying to swim in a certain direction but not making progress

* Trying to roll over on the back

Stay Aware to Save a Life

Keep your eyes open for any oddities because even when things seem ok, they may not be. A good way to be sure is to ask your kid or the person you’re swimming with if he or she is all right. If they are rather still, do not answer or have a blank stare, then you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them! As any parent knows, kids make noise in the water. If they are not making noise, find out why and get them out of the water ASAP.

[alienlovechild 75]

The worst part is someone can drown next to you and you may not know it until it's too late.

You wouldn't leave a gun a on table for a kid to find but people don't always secure their swimming pools and kids die that way.

[Jenn! 918]

I had read this a few weeks ago. Great info.

I learned it during lifeguard training, but even I had forgotten alot of it. Too much TV.

[HAL 9000 96]

Excellent info

[Ladylethal 12]

I plan to do with my kids what my parents did to me and my brothers. We all learned how to swim at age 2, and had swimming lessons till we were about 10. We were taught how to deal with the beach and waves from an early age, and we all love water. That way my parents were always at ease with us and swimming pools or the beach.

My husband can't swim and it's one point we argue about since I think he should learn at all costs and he simply says he's too old to learn now.

[Peikko 1,575]

I don't know how often it results in drowning, but kids seem to enjoy ducking each other/holding onto each other around the neck etc - I never allow it when I am watching them, but they all try to do it.

Oh, and yes, totally agree, swimming lessons from a young age, both for pool swimming and open water.

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

I plan to do with my kids what my parents did to me and my brothers. We all learned how to swim at age 2, and had swimming lessons till we were about 10. We were taught how to deal with the beach and waves from an early age, and we all love water. That way my parents were always at ease with us and swimming pools or the beach.

My husband can't swim and it's one point we argue about since I think he should learn at all costs and he simply says he's too old to learn now.

i agree he should learn. it's a good thing to know.

[Ladylethal 12]

i agree he should learn. it's a good thing to know.

His mother is the alarmist type and instilled her fear of water onto him since he was a little kid. She never gave him or his sisters the chance to learn, so now none of them do.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Ladylethal

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

His mother is the alarmist type and instilled her fear of water onto him since he was a little kid. She never gave him or his sisters the chance to learn, so now none of them do.

point out to him that when you have kids, it's his job to teach them.

[Ladylethal 12]

LOL, knowing my husband he'll say that job is mine, as I'm the one good with water between us.

[slim 1,525]

The worst part is someone can drown next to you and you may not know it until it's too late.

You wouldn't leave a gun a on table for a kid to find but people don't always secure their swimming pools and kids die that way.

Yet nobody wants to ban swimming pools....

[twowls 217]

This is huge. Mr. Owl and I lived in Mexico for some months at a very dangerous beach, and it was a constant struggle to understand who was in trouble and who wasn't. The volunteer Mexican lifeguard force was really really good--the rest of us would have no idea what they were going after until we saw them dragging a limp body to shore.

It's illusive and elusive. People just fade away. So many times, I'd be tending bar and a guy would roll up from the sand all shaken and exhausted and say, "I almost didn't make it." None of us would have any idea what he was talking about, even though we had the same view of the ocean as everyone else. You just don't see it.

Also, people told me stories of having people tug them down or wrestle with them when they were trying to rescue--drowning people also need to know How to Be Saved. Don't fight it, for one.

There were four drownings in the week prior to our arrival.

[alienlovechild 75]

Also, people told me stories of having people tug them down or wrestle with them when they were trying to rescue--drowning people also need to know How to Be Saved. Don't fight it, for one.

They aren't "fighting" anything. It's an instinct they can't control. Imminent death and no air tends to trump reason.

Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

Edited July 24, 2010 by alienlovechild

[twowls 217]

They aren't "fighting" anything. It's an instinct they can't control. Imminent death and no air tends to trump reason.

Mm, no. It's an instinct but if there's a little education prior, it's not uncontrollable. You can teach yourself to respond to lifesaving maneuvers rather than resist them.

[alienlovechild 75]

Mm, no. It's an instinct but if there's a little education prior, it's not uncontrollable. You can teach yourself to respond to lifesaving maneuvers rather than resist them.

If they were trained they wouldn't be drowning would they?

If you're drowning how do you know someone is going to rescue you in the nick of time?