ThisIsNotMeR
Member
- Sep 25, 2021
- 37
So, I thought of this kind of randomly, and decided to do some research on it. How good a method it is seems to very much depend on how cold we're dealing with. Temperatures significantly below freezing cause painful external damage before hypothermia, so we don't want to go with that, as it would be quite a painful experience before you eventually reach mind-altering stages of hypothermia so as not to feel the pain. There is plenty of discussion and reports of painful near-deaths by freezing, but these deal with temperatures below freezing. Reports of more pleasant experiences are from temperatures a little above, where frostbite or other freezing injuries are avoided. It seems that the moments leading to death can be quite pleasant, as far as causing damage to your body in a physical manner can be, and many people slip into later stages of hypothermia without noticing at all. As such, this post is specifically referring to temperatures above freezing. It goes like so:
As you are exposed to the cold, you will certainly feel the discomfort associated with this, and I don't think this is avoidable. However, from here on, it doesn't get worse. If you've been outside in winter you've already been cold, and it won't be much worse than this. As your body temperature lowers you will start to shiver uncontrollably, but by this point people report to have stopped really feeling the cold; it is merely a reflex. At the next stage, your mind will start to lose function, shivering will stop and your movements will slow; this is likely comparable to being drunk, and you will have stopped feeling cold. There are also reports of people appearing "crazy" by this point, but in no way in any pain, and there is apparently no self-preservation instinct by here either. You may even feel warm, see paradoxical undressing. As you cool further your body functions will slow down and you'll settle down into unconsciousness, until eventually your heart stops. People have even reported euphoria in late stages.
The largest barrier seems to be the discomfort from the cold itself as you approach hypothermia, which is kept to a minimum if we use temperatures a bit above freezing, but is unfortunately not easily avoided. Frostbite, while indeed very painful and leads to the loss of fingers or toes, is in fact caused by thawing of areas which have frozen. This pain would only be experienced should you be discovered and warmed up before death AND temperatures were low enough to actually freeze you. You will of course need to be somewhere where you know it will stay consistently cold-but-not-below-freezing (below 10°C, or 50°F is reported to be sufficient especially when wet). You also need to be somewhere you will absolutely not be discovered; the recovery process from hypothermia is highly painful and you may lose fingers or toes. An example of a suitable location in the UK may be the Scottish Highlands in Winter. You want to go some ways off any hiking trails, and preferably be under cover of trees. Doing this in the evening is a good idea as there are not likely to be many hikers overnight, giving you plenty of time.
So my thoughts were to go off into nature, but take plenty of alcohol and perhaps even sleeping pills to reduce the amount of time you actually experience (or at least care about) the cold, to get you past the first bit of discomfort. Being wet increases rate of cooling substantially too, if you feel you could manage drenching yourself in water. Note that water will not be below freezing, and you don't need to worry about temperatures going below through using it- water won't decrease the temperature significantly from your surroundings, it merely increases the rate at which your body loses heat. After all, you've never heard of cold water freezing anything :p
Finally, why do I bring up this method if it has strict location requirements and carries risk of an extremely painful recovery? Simplicity- in the event that you already have access to such a location, I would argue this method requires the least amount of preparation given the relative lack of pain. To me also, it is one of the more beautiful ways to go, surrounded by nature as your mind slips into euphoria. Feel free to add any more thoughts, information, stories, anything about this method!
(sources: https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/10937/how-unpleasant-is-hypothermia, www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/erh9qa/comment/ff51wlw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
As you are exposed to the cold, you will certainly feel the discomfort associated with this, and I don't think this is avoidable. However, from here on, it doesn't get worse. If you've been outside in winter you've already been cold, and it won't be much worse than this. As your body temperature lowers you will start to shiver uncontrollably, but by this point people report to have stopped really feeling the cold; it is merely a reflex. At the next stage, your mind will start to lose function, shivering will stop and your movements will slow; this is likely comparable to being drunk, and you will have stopped feeling cold. There are also reports of people appearing "crazy" by this point, but in no way in any pain, and there is apparently no self-preservation instinct by here either. You may even feel warm, see paradoxical undressing. As you cool further your body functions will slow down and you'll settle down into unconsciousness, until eventually your heart stops. People have even reported euphoria in late stages.
The largest barrier seems to be the discomfort from the cold itself as you approach hypothermia, which is kept to a minimum if we use temperatures a bit above freezing, but is unfortunately not easily avoided. Frostbite, while indeed very painful and leads to the loss of fingers or toes, is in fact caused by thawing of areas which have frozen. This pain would only be experienced should you be discovered and warmed up before death AND temperatures were low enough to actually freeze you. You will of course need to be somewhere where you know it will stay consistently cold-but-not-below-freezing (below 10°C, or 50°F is reported to be sufficient especially when wet). You also need to be somewhere you will absolutely not be discovered; the recovery process from hypothermia is highly painful and you may lose fingers or toes. An example of a suitable location in the UK may be the Scottish Highlands in Winter. You want to go some ways off any hiking trails, and preferably be under cover of trees. Doing this in the evening is a good idea as there are not likely to be many hikers overnight, giving you plenty of time.
So my thoughts were to go off into nature, but take plenty of alcohol and perhaps even sleeping pills to reduce the amount of time you actually experience (or at least care about) the cold, to get you past the first bit of discomfort. Being wet increases rate of cooling substantially too, if you feel you could manage drenching yourself in water. Note that water will not be below freezing, and you don't need to worry about temperatures going below through using it- water won't decrease the temperature significantly from your surroundings, it merely increases the rate at which your body loses heat. After all, you've never heard of cold water freezing anything :p
Finally, why do I bring up this method if it has strict location requirements and carries risk of an extremely painful recovery? Simplicity- in the event that you already have access to such a location, I would argue this method requires the least amount of preparation given the relative lack of pain. To me also, it is one of the more beautiful ways to go, surrounded by nature as your mind slips into euphoria. Feel free to add any more thoughts, information, stories, anything about this method!
(sources: https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/10937/how-unpleasant-is-hypothermia, www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/erh9qa/comment/ff51wlw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
