Cold Water Shock.

Professor Mike Tipton says: ‘Cold water shock is one of the biggest stresses that you can place the body under. Cold water kills and it kills quickly.’

It can occur in temperatures of under 15°C. Sea temperature heats up more slowly than air temperature. Even on the relatively warm south coast of England, sea temperatures don’t tend to rise above 15°C until July. And in many parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, surface sea temperatures usually stay under 15°C throughout the year.

Studies carried out by Mike and colleagues in Portsmouth and at King’s College London highlight a particular risk for those who put their face in the water. The body’s automatic response to going under – holding your breath – can conflict with the body’s cold shock response, which does the opposite. This causes the heart to go into abnormal rhythms, which can lead to sudden death.

Historically, the threat associated with Cold Water Immersion was regarded in terms of hypothermia. This belief was established as a result of the Titanic disaster and supported by data obtained during maritime conflicts of World War II. However, more recently, a significant body of statistical, anecdotal and experimental evidence has pointed towards other causes of death on immersion - cold water shock. Therefore most people who enter cold water die before the drowning or hypothermia stages.

Here is a video of Channel 4's 'SAS Who Dares Wins' Chief Instructor, Ant Middleton. Ant was an elite special forces soldier, who was trained to operate in the most extreme environment our planet offers. Here's a short video of him being immersed into cold water.

His ability to conduct the simplest of tasks is severely reduced.

Credit: RNLI

You need to fight the instinct to swim until you have recovered from cold water shock.

Your lifejacket is the most important piece of equipment you can wear to deal with cold water shock - look after it!

Ryan Tozer

RYA Sea Survival Instructor