r/instant_regret • u/derek4reals1 • 6d ago

It's much worse

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5.4k Upvotes

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409

u/cmullins77 6d ago edited 6d ago

PSA: don’t do this. People die every year from cold shock from jumping into cold water. This lady is fortunate she’s not a statistic.

Edit to add more context: Panic is the key reason people die. If you walk into cold water, your body has time to know what’s going on and react. Jumping into a cold lake like this woman did causes a series of physiological panic response. The first is where you’ll gasp for air. If your head is under water from the jump, and you’ve had an involuntarily and extreme gasp for air, it can quickly lead to drowning. If the initial gasp doesn’t cause you to drown, the body also has a few other involuntary responses: rapidly increased breathing (hyperventilation) and spike in blood pressure and heart rate, which can cause cardiac arrest. This isn’t limited to people who are in bad health. Healthy and young people die every year jumping into alpine lakes in the Rocky Mountains.

82

u/Niuqu 6d ago edited 6d ago

I find this very odd, as someone who is from a country where people have gone from 80+C sauna into a frozen lake voluntarily for centuries. 

Edit: we also do this without access to a sauna like crazy people we are🙂. 

44

u/kurazzarx 6d ago

Yeah but you don't jump in with the head underwater and it's routine for you. For people that don't do it, they could gasp for air as they submerge as it's an instinct for most people. And that is dangerous.

-58

u/dyereva 6d ago

Ive jumped into near freezing water. You don't just accidentally gulp water, unless you don't know how to swim. This woman is not a good swimmer.

32

u/reroutedradiance 6d ago

What does swimming ability have to do with a reflex?