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So when the brain perceives drowning, it basically shuts down and starts doing self-destructive things? The article says that a rescuer being pushed down by som

by gcv 16y ago

So when the brain perceives drowning, it basically shuts down and starts doing self-destructive things? The article says that a rescuer being pushed down by someone who is drowning can end up in trouble too — and this is a real risk to a rescuer who normally swims and dives like a fish? I don't mean to sound skeptical, I'd just like a little clarification. I never understood how swimmers can possibly drown unless hypothermic or completely exhausted. If this is the case, then it's horrible that we haven't evolved out of this destructive "drowning response instinct".

randallsquared 16y ago
You call it destructive, but it sounds like it's nearly optimum for getting back out of water you just fell into. "Grab the riverbank or a tree; climb up it." That's simple and effective. The only time it causes further problem is when you're on a boat and fall in, or otherwise find yourself suddenly away from the shore.
- thaumaturgy 16y ago
  Right. I can't swim a lick. Once, while on a solo backpacking trip very much in the middle of nowhere, many tens of miles from the next person, and while navigating a river canyon, I fell into the cold water, well over my head. Somehow my toe touched something on the bottom and I rocketed out of the water like an explosion. The next thing I knew, I was flopped over onto a large rock like a fish, a few feet from where I fell in. I still have no idea exactly how that all happened, but near as I can guess I gave the best leap of my life and scrambled the rest of the way up. I really need to learn how to swim. :-(
  - Tichy 16y ago
    Sign up for a course today, in fact, do it right now, it is probably just a few mouse clicks away?
Semiapies 16y ago
Despite a lot of floofy rhetoric, we didn't evolve to spend time in the water. We're land apes with reflexes that try to get us out of the water after we've fallen in.
- Jach 16y ago
  Is this rhetoric you're referring to the water-ape hypothesis?
  - ramchip 16y ago
    I was puzzled and looking for a joke until I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
  - Semiapies 16y ago
    Really more a lot of swimming-education propaganda, but that's part of it, too.

by gcv 16y ago

randallsquared 16y ago

You call it destructive, but it sounds like it's nearly optimum for getting back out of water you just fell into. "Grab the riverbank or a tree; climb up it." That's simple and effective. The only time it causes further problem is when you're on a boat and fall in, or otherwise find yourself suddenly away from the shore.

thaumaturgy 16y ago
Right. I can't swim a lick. Once, while on a solo backpacking trip very much in the middle of nowhere, many tens of miles from the next person, and while navigating a river canyon, I fell into the cold water, well over my head. Somehow my toe touched something on the bottom and I rocketed out of the water like an explosion. The next thing I knew, I was flopped over onto a large rock like a fish, a few feet from where I fell in. I still have no idea exactly how that all happened, but near as I can guess I gave the best leap of my life and scrambled the rest of the way up. I really need to learn how to swim. :-(
- Tichy 16y ago
  Sign up for a course today, in fact, do it right now, it is probably just a few mouse clicks away?

Semiapies 16y ago

Despite a lot of floofy rhetoric, we didn't evolve to spend time in the water. We're land apes with reflexes that try to get us out of the water after we've fallen in.

Jach 16y ago
Is this rhetoric you're referring to the water-ape hypothesis?
- ramchip 16y ago
  I was puzzled and looking for a joke until I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
- Semiapies 16y ago
  Really more a lot of swimming-education propaganda, but that's part of it, too.