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Growing up and learning about drowning, I was always told that when you drown, water fills up in your lungs. Like most people, that is what we were all taught. But reality is, this is not what really happens when drowning occurs.
In reality, a very small portion of water get in our lungs and science behind drowning and what we know of it has changed.
Here is what science is telling us about drowning today:
- To start, victims usually do not yell when they need help. They actually are utilizing any and all oxygen they can get to breath.
- Our body begins to develop an overload of carbon dioxide. Without adequate oxygen, we are not able to properly expel all the carbon dioxide in our body and it begins to build up.
- In order to protect our lungs, our body closes our throat. This prevents water from going into our lungs, but it opens the way for water to go into our stomach.
- Eventually victims become unconscious due to lack of oxygen and overabundance of carbon dioxide. At this point our throat relaxes and water fills our lungs.
- From there our heart stops and blood stops flowing.
The point is not to scare you out of the water, but to educate and inform. Drowning is easily preventable and knowing the signs and what happens when someone drowns, will hopefully prevent drownings from happening.
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