2023-06-21 12:42:52
What happens to the body and mind in dramatic scenarios like that of the Titan submarine? What role could cold, food and water play? The fundamental difference (also for the mind) between lack of oxygen and excess of carbon dioxide
Hours of apprehension for the fate of the 5 passengers of the Titan ( HERE the latest updates, ed ), with whom contact was lost after the immersion in the sea on Sunday.
According to US Coast Guard calculations, there will be breathable air on board only until 11am on Thursday (5am Boston time). The race against time is getting tighter to save the crew and hopes are dwindling by the hour.
From a medical point of view, we asked an expert to trace the physiological and psychological scenarios of the people on board: what could be the behaviors to implement to prolong survival a little and what can happen over time?
If the hull is intact and the passengers still unharmed, they will probably have had to deal with panic, perhaps also given by the sense of claustrophobia. The space on board is already very limited, given that the submarine is 6.70 meters long in total, while the width and height are close to three meters and there are 5 passengers (between experts and tourists, that’s who they are, ed ): At the beginning it was very It is probable that someone has had a panic attack, which causes hyperventilation and therefore consumes more oxygen, shortening the length of time left – explains Matteo Cerri, Professor of Physiology at the University of Bologna -. If, on the other hand, the crew managed to maintain control – he continues -, the only hope is to gain as much time as possible by trying to reduce activities to the minimum, paradoxically we would need to sleep. If there is someone (like the explorer Hamish Harding, ed) who has already lived in extreme environments, he could have given instructions to others. in any case it is very difficult to predict the reaction one might have: I believe that a moment of hysteria, a panic attack was natural in a certain phase.
What are the factors that can favor or complicate the probability of survival as far as we can assume of the situation?
If the cold took over the submarine, this would be a factor in favor – observes the expert -: it could prolong survival, but only if the cold reached the brain before hypoxia (lack of oxygen, ed). One survival strategy might be to “go for hypothermia” before oxygen deprivation sets in. You would need to figure out the right time to do this, because if they try to cool down (by taking off their clothes, touching the walls of the submarine) when there is still enough oxygen, the body will react by consuming even more air. a difficult balance to guess, but a factor that could play in their favor.
The other variable to consider is food and water: are they elements that could interfere with their situation and how?
If there was no food it could be a small advantage – replies the specialist -. It would go in the direction of helping the cold fight hypoxia: fasting would lower oxygen consumption and, combined with hypothermia, could be an ally. Water is important and the lack of it can generate psychomotor agitation, but the hours passed are still not sufficient to create problems and I can assume that water has been brought on board rather than food.
The most feared and unfortunately the most probable scenario is that of suffocation. What happens to the body in the previous phases and what are the variables to calculate in this case?
The lack of oxygen paradoxically is not the worst scenario – Cerri clarifies —: decisive for the end-of-life dynamics if the oxygen runs out first or if the carbon dioxide (CO2) increases too much. An excessive increase of CO2 compared to oxygen would worsen the psychological situation causing panic and a distressing sense of suffocation in the final moment, because the increase in CO2 is perceived by our brain with an extremely anxiety-producing signal and the reason why fear takes over us – says the expert -. If the oxygen decreases before the CO2 reaches a high concentration, first a severe headache would occur, then drowsiness and then progressive sleep. Our brain is not well “structured” to understand how much oxygen is missing, it may seem paradoxical, but much more “interested” in CO2, therefore if oxygen drops but CO2 remains normal, the reaction of our vegetative system would not be as dramatic as with the opposite hypothesis.
Could it be a situation in quotes better because a person, instead of gasping to death from suffocation, could fall asleep?
Yes, this is a possibility, the possibility that perhaps they too are hoping for if they know the situation a little, confirms Cerri.
What could the prevalence of oxygen or CO2 depend on?
From the filters used on board: a problem for any small environment – explains the specialist -, the internal air cleaning activity can depend on the electronic instrumentation on board which could be non-functional and also depends on how much oxygen had been stored.
In these crucial hours, simplifying a picture of which we have no details and which we can only hypothesize, passengers should not eat, stay very calm, try to cool off at the right moment and cross their fingers hoping to gain a few hours that will allow rescuers to find them . There have already been cases of people found in avalanches or drowned who were revived once saved, precisely because the cold had protected them, concludes Cerri.
June 21, 2023 (change June 21, 2023 | 12:42)
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