Hypothermia survivor shares critical tips for cold weather preparedness

i was once in a situation where i ended up in hypothermic shock and had to be rescued i can tell you some tips that i've learned along the way to help you stay out of that situation what's up everybody welcome back to the channel my name is gordon and we're talking about cold weather preparedness today it's going to be that time of year where temperatures are dipping below freezing at night on a consistent basis and if you're staying out at night you need to know some of these things okay so tip number one is that you need to have your clothes in layers i like to dress in at least three layers a wicking layer a trapping layer and a blocking layer and the wicking layer needs to be something other than cotton there's an old saying that says cotton kills and that can be true cotton can store up 27 times its own weight in water and it takes eight times longer than other fabrics to actually dry so you do not want to wear cotton in cold temperatures because the minute you start to sweat if you get wet in any way there's zero insulation power in that piece of fabric you definitely want to wear like nylons and synthetics for your base layer it's gonna wick the moisture away from your body and then the second layer you want to have on you is a trapping layers that's gonna be like a mid layer a puffy a merino wool over shirt that's going to help keep you warm keep your core warm the third layer is a blocking layer that's going to be like your hard shell like your rain poncho or a jacket that's going to repel wind and water another really important cold weather survival tip is to stay ahead of the cold don't let yourself get too cold to begin with there's lots of ways that you can prevent this one of them is to get or stay dry get out of the elements so that you can stay dry if your clothes are wet find a way to wring them out dry them out if you need extra insulation while you're out find some dry leaves stuff your clothes with the dry leaves don't wait to use those hand warmers you have in your bag if you're feeling yourself getting chilled break those things out you can put them on your torso underneath your armpits that's a great place to keep your core warm one myth that is like very hotly debated is that you should not drink snow or eat snow because it will cool your core body temperature down and you'll get hypothermia much faster and there's a part of that that's true you really shouldn't just eat snow because it will it'll hit your stomach and it'll cool down your core body temperature but you can suck on snow to get the hydration from it slowly you will lose calories but you will not lose as many calories as you think and it will be more beneficial that you're getting that hydration because really when you're under stress and when you're in a cold situation you need a lot of water to stay hydrated and if you don't have any water or means to melt water then by all means suck on some snow and you'll lose some calories but you will be better off because you'll be staying hydrated another myth that i hear a lot is that when you're in a survival situation and it's cold you should drink alcohol because it will warm up your core temperature and keep you warm and although you'll feel warm it is uh it's gonna dilate your blood vessels it's gonna open up your your blood vessels and you're gonna actually lose a lot of heat from your core because when your body gets cold your body actually shuts down some of your extremities it constricts the blood vessels so that you're not losing heat from your extremities tries to preserve your life by keeping all the warmth into your core when you drink alcohol although you might feel warmer you're actually losing heat and you could be putting yourself at risk of hypothermia another thing you can do is just making sure you're eating the right things to help your metabolism stay on track to combat cold weather so that means avoid alcohol avoid caffeinated drinks you should be drinking broths warm sweet drinks things with ginger in them chili peppers these are things that will you know kick start your metabolism and keep your your core temperature is warmer eat lots of lentils and nuts if you really want to dive deep into a very interesting topic look up water thermogenesis thermogenesis is the process of heat production in organisms and how your body reacts to intake of water or other substances that are colder or warmer than your body as i mentioned before i was in a situation where i had to be rescued from hypothermic shock and i know firsthand a lot of those symptoms they come on really slowly and you you just kind of don't even feel yourself entering those new stages in hypothermia but if you do recognize that you are in a hypothermic state or becoming hypothermic there's a few things you need to do right away hot water under your armpits hand warmers get out of the elements get out of the wind shelter yourself a really big one is to insulate yourself from the ground so the ground itself can just sap all kinds of energy from you and make you very cold so insulate yourself from the ground by putting a layer of debris sticks insulation just get yourself up off the ground and the biggest one is do not sleep do not let yourself fall asleep because one of the stages of hypothermia is that you start to get really really drowsy and all you want to do is just sleep you feel like if you could just sleep you'll feel better don't let yourself sleep that that is one of the final stages right there and you'll actually just go to sleep and die stay awake work get a fire going get yourself warmer fight another cold weather myth is that you should not feed a victim of hypothermia uh any food because they might you know like vomit and choke on their vomit or whatever but actually in fact you can actually feed hypothermia victims a little bit of high calorie food and it'll help them get their metabolism back up and running again so i hope you liked the video if you did 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