The heat escape lessening position (HELP), is a way to position oneself to reduce heat loss in cold water. It is taught as part of the curriculum in Australia, North America, and Ireland for lifeguard and boating safety training. It involves essentially positioning one's knees together and hugging them close to the chest using one's arms. Furthermore, groups of people can huddle together in this position to conserve body heat, offer moral support and provide a larger target for rescuers.
The HELP position is an attempt to reduce heat loss enough to lessen the effect of hypothermia. Hypothermia is a condition where, essentially, bodily temperature drops too low to perform normal voluntary or involuntary functions. Cold water causes a type of this called immersion hypothermia, that can cause damage to extremities or the body's core.
The HELP position reduces exposure of high heat loss areas of the body. Wearing a personal flotation device allows a person to draw their knees to their chest and arms to their sides.
Famous quotes containing the words heat, escape and/or position:
“And suddenly, to be dying
Is not a little or mean or cheap thing,
Only wearying, the heat unbearable ...”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“What does this mean? The individual,
Nature, mutation, strife?
I fell, though I am simple, still the whole
Is complex; and that life,
A huge, doomed throbbing—has a wiry soul
That must escape the knife.”
—Roy Fuller (b. 1912)
“The word “jealousy” is often used as if it were synonymous with envy; but I think the distinction worth preserving. Jealousy is predominantly concerned with the fear of loss of something one possesses, envy with the wish to own something another possesses. Othello suffers from the fear that he has lost Desdemona’s love. Iago suffers from envy of the position held by Cassio, to which he feels entitled.”
—Anthony Storr (b. 1920)