Hey Steemians :)

As I always do, I would firstly like to express my gratitude to this amazing community who continue to interact with me on my posts, and especially those who follow me. It is truly humbling to have as many people engaging with me as I have on what is only my third day on the platform. NOW, back to the content of today’s post. Instead of doing an analysis on a recent medical controversy, I thought I would provide some medical insight into a sadly reoccurring tragedy over the last few years – shallow water drowning. It is a troublesome issue and one parents and children alike should be aware of.

So, without further delay, lets dive into the details:

What is Shallow Water drowning?

Shallow water drowning is the by-product of an event known as shallow water blackout. Essentially, an individual will suffer from cerebral hypoxia (low level of oxygen in the brain) caused by excessive breath holding beyond a point known as the ‘urgent need to breathe’; which is triggered by elevated CO2 (carbon dioxide) associated with the action of a breath-hold. As you pass the point where you urgently need to breath, oxygen levels continue to decline towards the point of blackout without any trigger from the brain that respiration is required.

Sadly, this seems to be remarkably common in our contemporary setting, and has unfortunately has left a multitude of families/parents heartbroken.

I thought you couldn’t just blackout because you eventually feel the urge to breathe?

Under normal circumstances, yes. Following a normal breath-hold, the CO2 levels in the body begin to increase in a linear fashion, whilst inversely O2 (oxygen) levels decline. As the levels of CO2 in the body continue to increase, the levels are detected by specialised receptors known as central and peripheral chemoreceptors. Central chemoreceptors are more sensitive to changes in CO2 and are located in the brain, where they detect the levels of CO2 by changes in blood pH (usually around 7.4). As the pH begins to decrease with the increase in CO2, the central and peripheral chemoreceptors (to a lesser degree) initiate respiration via respiratory centres in the brain stem - triggering the movement of respiratory muscles (e.g. diaphragm) which cause the lungs to expand. These events are what control breathing in everyday life, yet are also critical in initiating breathing following a breath-hold under water.

As levels of CO2 decline they then reach the point where respiration is urgently required, signalling to the individual to resurface where they can then exhale CO2 and inhale O2.

Okay, so why doesn’t this change in shallow water drowning?

There is a very key element I have touched on a couple of times except I will reinforce quickly before elaborating further; that being that respiration is driven by levels of CARBON DIOXIDE, not oxygen (well at least at sea level). This is crucial, as if the carbon dioxide levels do NOT increase to critical levels whereby respiration is required BEFORE oxygen levels decline to hypoxic (low) levels, the individual will black out and possibly drown whilst remaining unconscious.

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How does this occur in the first place? Simply, it is due to hyperventilation which is essentially just the exhaling of excess CO2 through forced respiration. If a swimmer does repetitive dives OR forcibly expels air before attempting a dive, they will lower the levels of CO2 in the body. As a result, the levels of CO2 in the body will start at a lower level and hence it will take an extended period of time to trigger respiration; all whilst oxygen will begin to decrease further and possibly reach the O2 blackout zone where they will fall unconscious.

How to avoid it?

There is no easy solution, especially when you’re worried about it occurring to someone else and not yourself. I would recommend avoiding repetitive long breath-holds for extended periods of time, and remaining extremely vigilant with younger children around water. Simply put, stay safe around water.

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