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  • Essay / The diving reflex of mammals - 1762

    Cold, bitter, chilled, frozen, freezing, sharp and freezing. These words conjure up thoughts of being stuck in the middle of a snowstorm, being miserable, losing feeling in your hands and feet, shivering uncontrollably, and ultimately dying. However, if you add any of these adjectives to the word water, you're suddenly talking about sustaining one's life instead of making it miserable. Cold water is the key aspect of the phenomenon called the diving reflex in mammals. This reflex has been used profitably for thousands of years by whales, dolphins, seals and other mammals that inhabit the world's frigid waters. The diving reflex slows the heart rate and causes peripheral vasoconstriction to keep blood and oxygen flowing to the brain and other vital organs. This reflex allows these mammals to conserve oxygen and stay submerged for longer periods of time, giving them more time to find food, protect themselves, and travel. This reflex is also present in humans, but not to the same degree of intensity as observed in cold-water natives. mammals, and not for the same reasons. It is only in recent years that this reflex and the benefits it can provide to survival in the event of drowning in cold water have been observed and studied in humans. The aim of this article is threefold: first, to explain the physiological process of the diving reflex in mammals and how it is triggered; then, the role played by the diving reflex of mammals in the survival of individuals potentially killed in cold water; third, how doctors use this reflex in the practice of modern medicine.InitiationThe physiology behind the mammalian diving reflex is twofold, the first being the triggering of the reflex. In the article Mechanism of the Human Diving Response, Brett Gooden observed that "the response...... middle of paper ......on.org/research.html. April 15, 2011. Dugdale, David C. MD. 2010. Aging-related changes in the nervous system. Medline Plus. Retrieved from www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/004023.htm. April 18, 2011. Gooden, Brett A. 1994. Human response mechanism in diving. Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science, Vol. 29 Issue 1, pages 6-16.Iyer, Anand. 2007. No one is dead until they are hot and dead. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol. 134: 1042-1043. Khan, M. Faisal MD No date. A new hypothermia technique protects heart attack patients. Hermann Memorial. Retrieved from www.fbindependent.com/new-hypothermia-technique-protects-heart-attack-patients-p3615-91.htm. April 18, 2011. Stark, William S. Ph.D. 2004. Human diving response. Department of Biology, Saint Louis University. Retrieved from starklab.slu.edu/PhysioLab/Diving.htm. April 18, 2011.