LAFAYETTE, La. (KADN) - With a winter blast dipping into the Acadiana area, there are things people need to know about the threat of hypothermia.
When it gets as cold as what is forecasted, people run the real risk of hypothermia.
Hypothermia accounts for 63% of weather-related deaths each year, or about 1,300 people, which is twice the number of heat stroke deaths and 10 times the number of deaths for other events.
Our body lives best at a temperature around 97.9 (formally 98.6) and 90% of body heat is radiated through your skin, while the other 10% is exhaled through the lungs.
When the temperature cranks down, the brain shuts off blood flow to the extremities, shunting the warm blood to your core. Your hands and feet get cold. Shivering increases warmth but takes five times more energy.
If all this fails, people will experience hypothermia and are in real trouble at that point. Shivering stops, confusion and possibly hallucinations set in, skin becomes bluish, and the patient will also have low blood pressure and an abnormal heart rate.
There are other things to consider. Children and the elderly are more vulnerable. A 60-degree house can produce hypothermia overnight, a common condition in a power outage. People caught outdoors can get into trouble quickly. A 50-degree day can produce hypothermia in windy conditions with wet clothes.
Also, certain medications can make things worse.
