In just one month, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has raised $80 million in donations, not to mention heightened our awareness of the disease.
WATCH: LITTLE GIRL SHOUTS 'F***** HELL' AFTER ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE
But, while the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis fundraising campaign has been a success, the death of a Scottish teenager has revealed that the Ice Bucket Challenge can be dangerous - and potentially deadly.
Professor Mike Tipton has spoken with Forbes about the dangers people taking part in the challenge could potentially face.
Hypothermia
Despite most assuming the primary danger of pouring cold water over themselves is hypothermia, that is not, Professor Tipton says, the case.
“There was a bit of a preoccupation with hypothermia dating right back to the Titanic, and then reinforced during the Second World War,” he explains.
In fact, fatal hypothermia takes a relatively long time: starting from 37ºC/99ºF, it takes half an hour for your core body temperature to fall below 35ºC/95ºF.
Which leaves Ice Bucket challengers plenty of time to dry off and get themselves warmed up again!
Drowning
Scottish teenager Cameron Lancaster, 18, reportedly drowned after jumping into a flooded quarry in a bid to add a twist to his Ice Bucket Challenge. And this, Professor Tipton said, is partly due to the 'gasping' response the Ice Bucket Challenge will have triggered in the teen.
“It’s basically exactly the same as you would imagine if you stepped or jumped into a pool they said was heated and it wasn’t, or stepped under a shower that had just run cold.
"It’s a gasp response followed by uncontrollable hyperventilation.”
READ: TEENAGER DIES AFTER SUSPECTED ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE GOES WRONG
That rapid inhalation completely destroys a person's ability to hold their breath, meaning that - despite their ability to hold their breath for a minute in a heated pool - they may only last a few seconds in cold water.
Despite peer pressure to 'add a twist' to the Ice Bucket Challenge, it is, therefore, incredibly dangerous to fully submerge yourself in water after pouring a bucket of freezing water over yourself.
Cardiac arrest
Most Ice Bucket Challenge participants don’t submerge themselves, so how can cold water immersion be dangerous to them?
The problem occurs when they gold their breath and their face gets wet; this will trigger two responses - cold shock and the diving response.
Professor Tipton explains: “If you’ve got those two responses co-activated then you’ve got a response trying to accelerate the heart – the cold shock response – at the same time as you’ve got a response trying to slow it down, the diving response.”
READ: REMOTE SCOTTISH ISLAND LEFT WITHOUT WATER AFTER ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE
This sees your body trying to speed up and slow down your heart rate at the same time, creating an abnormal heart rhythm – arrhythmia – and occasionally leading to the most dangerous outcome of cold water immersion: sudden cardiac arrest.
And this has happened already; Willis Tepania, 40, from New Zealand, had a heart attack after downing a bottle of bourbon shortly after his Ice Challenge.
How to make the Ice Bucket Challenge safer
Professor Tipton advises participants to:
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Tuck their chin towards their chest so their face stays dry
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Not to hold their breath for any longer than necessary
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To avoid total immersion in cold water
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Donate to a charity of your choice WITHOUT taking part in the challenge - easy!
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