Thermal effects of whole head submersion in cold water on nonshivering humans

Laboratory for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Health, Leisure and Human Performance Research Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada Submitted 29 September 2005 ; accepted in final form 24 March 2006 This study isolated the effect of whole head submersion in cold water, on surface heat loss and body core cooling, when the confounding effect of shivering heat production was pharmacologically eliminated. Eight healthy male subjects were studied in 17°C water under four conditions: the body was either insulated or uninsulated, with the head either above the water or completely submersed in each body-insulation subcondition. Shivering was abolished with buspirone (30 mg) and meperidine (2.5 mg/kg), and subjects breathed compressed air throughout all trials. Over the first 30 min of immersion, exposure of the head increased core cooling both in the body-insulated conditions (head out: 0.47 ± 0.2°C, head in: 0.77 ± 0.2°C; P < 0.05) and the body-exposed conditions (head out: 0.84 ± 0.2°C and head in: 1.17 ± 0.5°C; P < 0.02). Submersion of the head (7% of the body surface area) in the body-exposed conditions increased total heat loss by only 10%. In both body-exposed and body-insulated conditions, head submersion increased core cooling rate much more (average of 42%) than it increased total heat loss. This may be explained by a redistribution of blood flow in response to stimulation of thermosensitive and/or trigeminal receptors in the scalp, neck and face, where a given amount of heat loss would have a greater cooling effect on a smaller perfused body mass. In 17°C water, the head does not contribute relatively more than the rest of the body to surface heat loss; however, a cold-induced reduction of perfused body mass may allow this small increase in heat loss to cause a relatively larger cooling of the body core. hypothermia; heat loss; submersion; perfused body mass; thermal model; symptomless hypothermia; thermal core; cold-water near drowning Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: G. Giesbrecht, 211 Max Bell Centre, Univ. of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada R3T 2N2 (e-mail: giesbrec{at}cc.umanitoba.ca )