2023-08-15 01:30:22
Health The medical myths that movies and series tell you
No, neither floats nor armbands are effective means of staying safe in the water. There is also no use pouring urine or baking soda on a jellyfish sting because it will not relieve the pain. And forget it, you won’t get any benefit from waiting two hours after eating to take a bath. These are some of the most widespread myths and false beliefs regarding bathing and everything related to the aquatic environment.
“Some of these beliefs are not innocuous, since they can lead to wrong decisions or interventions that do not conform to the available scientific evidence and, consequently, put the lives of bathers at risk.” Said by someone who knows what he’s talking about. Is about Roberto Jess Barcala Furelosdoctor in Sports Sciences and Nurse, coordinator of the Lifeguard Group of the Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine (Semes)principal investigator of the group Performance and Motricity for Rescue and Rescue (Remoss)from the University of Vigo, and someone who never tires, year after year, of championing informative work that saves lives.
The latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) show, in fact, that the preventive disclosure in which Barcala is active continues to be essential: in 2021 no less than 510 people died in Spain (419 men and 91 women) as a result of submersion and drowning in an aquatic environment. Until the end of last July, those who died from drowning in our country already amounted to 222 people, according to figures from the Federacin Espaola de Salvamento y Socorrismo (RFESS).
And against hoaxes, no matter how deep-rooted they are -or, precisely, the more deep-rooted they are-, scientific evidence. The magazine Educación Médica has published an article under the title Health education in the face of false beliefs, myths and errors surrounding aquatic incidents, firing against so much dangerous myth with the heavy artillery of evidence and scientific documentation.
The article is the result of the conclusions of a discussion group made up of 12 professionals (ERs, pediatricians, forensics, nurses, lifeguards and experts in documentary sources). Nine of them belong to the Semes-Socorrismo working group, coordinated by Barcala, and which, in addition, this summer, has spread on social networks, as part of its information campaign, a simple and enlightening document with 12 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers About Drowning.
The ultimate objective of the discussion group and of the conclusions that have been reflected in this article is “to provide clear and documented information that counteracts the side effects of traditions and false notions disseminated popularly and through social networks, especially in the summer season”, sums up the Semes coordinator. The catalog of errors is just as pernicious as what Barcala defines as “collateral effects” of those errors.
The first conclusion is that no one is immune to myth. The most widespread -and the most stubborn, sometimes- nest in the common bathers, withdrawn into the inherited tradition of many summer afternoons, but the article also identifies errors signed by regulators of aquatic spaces and facilities and political leaders, and even part of the health personnel and lifeguards.
how? Do those who watch over our security also succumb to prejudice? Barcala is quick to clarify that, in the case of his colleagues, it is not so much a lack of knowledge as “updating the latest available scientific evidence, in many cases from a terminological point of view”, and he immediately gives an example. “The term near drowning is still sometimes used to refer to a person who survives an aquatic incident, when It’s a totally outdated concept.. There are almost no drownings, just as there are almost no heart attacks or almost pregnant women. Drowning is a process that has several degreesfrom survival to death.
And ignoring this gradation, points out the Semes-Emergency coordinator, is not trivial, because it can raise doubts about the necessary treatment: “People with mild symptoms usually recover easily, but those who are disoriented, have a clear decrease in the level of of consciousness or respiratory distress, they must be referred to an emergency service and must be treated as drowned“Although, strictly speaking, they are not.
As potentially dangerous as the previous one is another false idea that is still encouraged by some aquatic emergency personnel: the drowning person asks for help. Well, look, not always, and this, according to Barcala, is a mistake that has helped to spread the cinema and social networks, “where it is common to see people who are drowning scream, wave their arms wildly and ask for help.” “.
From a preventive point of view, this false image can generate “biases” when it comes to identifying potential victims. According to the conclusions of the article, the person who drowns usually does so in silencebecause he concentrates all his attention and efforts on staying afloat, getting his head out of the water and breathing. A victim can disappear from the surface of the water in as little as 90 seconds.and “recognizing in time that you are drowning -says Barcala- is a challenge for lifeguards, since it can even be confused with recreational activities”.
Better known, widespread and popular, but sometimes as dangerous as those that affect lifeguards and health personnel, are the deeply rooted beliefs among users and bathers. the well-known Corte de digestion it is, according to Barcala, a summer classic as recurring as it is unfounded… and there it continues.
“I don’t even get rid of him,” he says between laughs. “My mother made me wait three hours after eating, because in Galicia the water is colder. When I remind her, she tells me: okay, maybe not three hours.” , but what less than an hour and a half, which is the time now advised to wait for their grandchildren”.
He tells this medium as he has told his mother dozens of times: “The problem is not food intake, but avoid thermal shock that can cause the difference between the outside temperature and that of the water”.
Replace the hoses and floats with a lifejacket is another of the recommendations that the article addresses to the public, because the first two “do not prevent drowning by themselves, since they do not guarantee that the airways remain out of the water at all times.” Its use as an exclusive preventive measure can generate, in addition, “a false sense of security in the bathers and an unfounded trust in parents and caregivers.
Red flag: either all or none
In the case of managers, authorities and political leaders, the dangerously widespread idea has taken hold that the job of lifeguards is to rescue people from the water, a mantra that, according to Barcala, directly impacts the essence of their work: the prevention. “99% of the actions of lifeguards and health personnel are preventive and informative, and that is not visible or counted in the statistics, but it is vital, because the best rescue is the one that is not carried out“, says the researcher of the Remoss group.
Barcala warns that the counterpart of this false myth is that “it can lead one to think that lifeguards are not needed on this beach because no one drowns, when the equation is exactly the opposite: no one drowns because there are lifeguards and their preventive work , informative and anticipatory is very good”.
In terms of regulation, experts also warn against a temptation that, lately, seems very widespread on social networks: the red and yellow flags apply to common swimmers, but not to athletes (open water swimmers, surfers…) who need certain wind and wave conditions. And no, points out Barcala, not at all: “These practices, however professional they may be, do not exempt from compliance with the rules and, of course, do not guarantee any immunity. Quite the contrary: the greater and more continuous practice, the more exposure and, therefore, the greater risk“.
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