Instinctive Drowning Response (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The instinctive drowning response is a set of behaviors automatically undertaken by a person who either is, or is very close to, drowning. These are autonomic responses of the body, undertaken without deliberate control, and "represent a person's final attempts to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in water" before sinking. To an untrained observer, it may not be obvious the drowning person is in distress. In fact, the lack of visible panic in their movements is because at this point they are incapable of making other gestures or calling for help.Lifeguards and other persons trained in rescue learn to recognize drowning people by watching for these instinctive actions, since the popular belief about drowning being a violent activity with much movement is misleading. A person may appear to be swimming safely when they are within 20-60 seconds of sinking under the surface.