What are the types of hypothermia?

Prepare for the Water Survival 929 Test. Use flashcards, multiple choice questions, hints, and explanations. Get water safe!

Hypothermia is categorized by how cold the core body temperature becomes, which drives the symptoms and treatment. The three levels reflect increasing severity: mild hypothermia, moderate hypothermia, and severe hypothermia. In mild cases, the person still shivers and remains relatively alert with faster heart and breathing rates. As temperature drops to the moderate range, shivering often lessens and confusion, poor coordination, and slowed movements appear. When hypothermia becomes severe, shivering stops, consciousness is impaired or lost, and there’s a high risk of dangerous heart rhythms and other organ failure. In water rescue, heat loss happens quickly, so recognizing these stages helps guide rapid, careful rewarming and monitoring. Other descriptions don’t fit hypothermia: burns use first-to-third degree labels, duration-based terms like acute or chronic describe time, and extent terms like localized or systemic describe how much of the body is involved, not the severity of hypothermia.