What is the meaning of hypothermia?
It’s when your body temperature drops below normal, which if not corrected promptly can lead to death. The body has a natural need to regulate its internal temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. As your body cools, it pulls warmth from the surface toward its core to protect the internal organs, with complications for its other normal senses and functions. Eventually the nervous and respiratory systems shut down and you die. The speed at which hypothermia occurs depends on a person’s mass and the temperature it is exposed to. This is why people who fall into cold water are in such peril. Even in 55-degree water, a person may have much less than an hour before hypothermia sets in. A child may have just a few minutes.
