In third place among the causes of death from unintentional injuries is drowning, and, unfortunately, children occupy far from last place in this sad statistics. It would seem that precautionary measures are elementary and known to all, however, with the onset of the next beach season, statistics are only confirmed. The main reason for this is neglect of the elementary safety rules, which are mentioned so many times: you can not leave children unattended, drink alcohol, swim to depth, overheat or overcool, swim during a storm, jump from piers and other elevations without examining the bottom and not having skills, and when using inflatable means for swimming, extreme care must be taken. But, based on statistical data, non-observance of these rules is, although the main, but not the only cause of death on the water. Perhaps the following five common causes of drowning will help to understand how you can minimize the risk by resting on the water.
1. Lack of knowledge about signs of drowning
Thanks to the cinematography, most people believe that a drowning man is shouting loudly and waving his arms. But not always the real drowning occurs exactly this way. Cries and waving of hands are a sign of a panic attack. To save a person in a panic is not easy, it is most reliable in such situations to use a life ring. But drowning can come and without panic, it may seem that the drowning just stands in the water, thought about or looked at something. To check if everything is all right for him to ask about it, if there is no answer, then perhaps not more than a minute will remain for his salvation. The most noticeable signs of a "quiet" drowning are the following:
- the look of the drowning person becomes glassy, while the breathing is frequent and superficial, his hands perform instinctive movements under the water, trying to push off from the water, but can not make conscious movements, for example, attract attention or swim to the shore.
- drowning, while in a vertical position, trying to stretch his head above the water, while the mouth is increasingly below the water level.
- The drowning man throws back his head and tries to catch the air with his mouth.
- eyes can be closed or hidden under the hair, while the person does not attempt to remove hair.
Watching children should check the child's condition, especially in cases where he abruptly stopped the game or after falling under the water appears on the surface and remains immobile. Even if the kid is just thinking, make sure that everything is in order will not be superfluous. 10% of children are drowning in front of their parents, who do not even know what is going on. An example of this is the story of saving a child in front of an unsuspecting mother. The child was in shallow water, among other children. The only sign of drowning was that the baby sank under the water, appeared on the surface, then re-plunged, each time deeper, while the depth did not exceed the growth of the child. Mom, watching the baby, was confident that the child is playing like that. But in fact, before drowning there were only seconds and only awareness of the woman who was nearby, and the measures taken by her saved the life of the baby.
2. Lack of opportunity and inability to provide first aid
Another common cause of drowning is the lack of first aid. As a rule, among vacationers, few people have an idea of the technique of saving drowning and necessary resuscitation enterprises. Also, not all beaches are equipped with rescue stations. Therefore, going to the resort, you need to spend several hours to study this issue. If you have children, you should even attend first aid courses. Superfluous such knowledge will not, but if necessary, perhaps, save someone's life. It is also necessary to know that in the first minutes after salvation, death from cerebral edema or lungs may occur, and during the day the rescued person may die from the development of acute renal failure. Therefore, before the arrival of an ambulance, you can not leave the rescued unattended, and, if necessary, take appropriate measures.
3. Insufficient measures to ensure the safety of children
This question is especially important when resting near water bodies. Even for a minute leaving the child in the water unattended, the danger of drowning increases many times. The most safe is bathing in calm water, when adults are near the baby. But in this case, cases where parents lose their vigilance using inflatable devices for children are common. For example, inflatable circles create an imaginary security impression, but they also conceal a hidden threat, because at any moment the child can slip out of the circle or turn over with the circle upside down, thus trapped. The safest are correctly sized armlets and lifejackets. But, nevertheless, even such means are not an absolute guarantee of security.
Leaving children to splash offshore in shallow water also can not be left without supervision. In order not to lose a child from the sight in the presence of a large number of people, you can put on a bright headdress for your child.
4. Poor health
A common cause of drowning is loss of consciousness or cardiac arrest. In such situations, a person simply goes under the water and does not appear on the surface. You can save it only if you can immediately extract it from the water and take resuscitative measures. Therefore, with health problems, and in particular with the cardiovascular system, it is worthwhile to be more careful, avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, if you feel unwell, or pressure drops, it's better to delay bathing.
5. Non-observance of caution in the presence of waves
In some cases, even harmless to look at the waves can be much more dangerous than they seem. If the wave knocks down or drags deeper, it threatens with the fact that after bathing there will be no force left on the shore. There are cases of drowning in the meter depth of adult people who, exhausted, could not reach the shore.
Apparently, resting on the water can not be forgotten that this is not an entertaining attraction, with insurance provided and a well-thought-out security system, first of all - it is an element that requires utmost attention and caution.