This summer, you and your family will be around a lot of pools, lakes, and oceans. Do you know the real-life signs of drowning necessary to protect your family? Drowning is the #2 cause of accidental death among children. (The first is motor vehicle accidents).

You would think your parental instinct would kick in the second your child is in trouble but would it? Not if you don't know what to look for. Drowning doesn't splash. It doesn't call out for help. It's silent and quick and if you don't know what to watch out for, your summer could end in the most tragic way imaginable.

Real-Life Drowning isn't Like Movies and TV

If you ever watched the popular TV show, "Baywatch", you probably saw a lot of fictitious drowning scenes. You recognized them by the tell-tale splashing, flailing, and crying out for help. When the lifeguard jumps in to rescue the victim, they have to fight them every step of the way to get them back to shore.

This is what television drowning looks like. Television drowning is actually something called 'aquatic distress'. Aquatic distress is the first step before drowning. It's when the brain realizes something is wrong. Fatigue, panic, a cramp, disorientation or any number of things trigger a desperate, terrified attempt to get out of the water as fast as possible.

Aquatic distress may precede drowning but it doesn't always. Oftentimes, the person goes from "perfectly fine" to drowning with no in between. If help doesn't arrive within 1-2 minutes, complete submergence and suffocation will occur. This is called the Instinctive Drowning Response, and once it starts, the drowning person cannot save themselves. They need rescue from an outside source.

 

Understand the Instinctive Drowning Response