How To Avoid One Serious Health Risk In Cold Weather

Being prepared for different climates is an important component of survivalism.

Colder climates, for instance, can present a lot of challenges.

Here’s how to deal with one serious health risk that happens in cold weather.

Cold weather can be incredibly dangerous if you’re unprepared.

Roughly 1,300 people die every year in the United States as a result of hypothermia.

The Survival Rule of Three says that you can survive three minutes without air, three hours without shelter in adverse conditions, three days without water, and three weeks without food.

But exposure to cold weather without proper insulation can do irreparable damage in far less time than three hours.

Failure to prepare for extreme cold can lead to nasty problems like frostbite, which is when skin tissue freezes.

If frostbite occurs for too long, the affected area will become black and hardened and the skin tissue will die.

One way to avoid these effects is to stay hydrated.

Good blood flow helps fight the effects of hypothermia, and water helps promote blood flow.

It’s also very important to keep dry in the extreme cold.

Getting wet will drop your body temperature, which is not good.

Layering up is a necessity, but it should not be done at the expense of proper circulation.

If you’ve put on so many socks that your feet feel too tight in your shoes, then you run the risk of decreased blood flow, which will accelerate the effects of hypothermia.

If a part of your body becomes hypothermic, you should thaw it out only if you’re able to keep the body part thawed.

Otherwise, thawing a body part only for it to freeze again will actually exacerbate the problem and multiply the damage to your body.

Having shelter in cold weather is paramount, but make sure your location is properly prepped.

Make sure your HVAC unit is in good shape.

If the unit goes out in the middle of a cold snap, you could really put your health in jeopardy.

And repairing the unit could take time you may not have to spare.

Make sure your location has clean filters and vents.

If your HVAC unit goes out or your location doesn’t even have one, having a fireplace is a great idea.

Fires have kept humans alive since the discovery of fire itself.

Also, be sure that your home or bug-out location has proper insulation.

You want a location that traps heat.

Poor insulation will only ensure that your HVAC unit has to work even harder.

Added stress to the unit could strain it too much.

Next, be mindful of frozen pipes, which are easy to overlook.

They can become a problem when the temperature drops to 20ºF or below.

One way to keep pipes from freezing is to let cold water drip from your faucets.

Failure to properly account for the cold can result in some terrible situations.

However, mindful preparation will keep you alive and comfortable in challenging circumstances.