• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content

Home> Community

Published 14:25 2 Jul 2023 GMT+1

Bizarre phenomenon of ‘paradoxical undressing’ before people freeze to death

There's a bizarre phenomenon known as paradoxical undressing which occurs in those suffering from hypothermia

Chloe Rowland

Chloe Rowland

There's a bizarre phenomenon known as paradoxical undressing which occurs in those suffering from hypothermia - and it's thought to have caused a headache for police in the past.

Hypothermia is a condition that occurs when your body temperature drops to 35°C or lower, and if left untreated, it can cause the body to completely shut down.

According to the NHS, some of the symptoms of the condition include; shivering, slurred speech, slow breathing, tiredness or confusion and pale and cold skin.

Advert

Hypothermia is a condition that occurs when your body temperature drops to 35°C or lower.
Pixabay

But one of the lesser-known impacts of the fatal condition is paradoxical undressing.

The strange phenomenon is used to describe when victims of extreme hypothermia begin taking off most or all of their clothing, which in turn increases heat loss and worsens the condition.

It's the last thing you think you'd do if you were freezing to death, but there's a scientific explanation as to why people may do it before losing consciousness.

In an effort to reduce heat loss, the body induces vasoconstriction, aka the contraction of blood vessels.

Advert

If someone has been in a state of hypothermia for a while, though, the muscles required for vasoconstriction become exhausted and start to fail.

It happens during severe hypothermia.
Unsplash

This causes warm blood to rush to the person's extremities, which feels like a kind of 'hot flash', according to researchers.

Given the fact that those with hypothermia are already disorientated, they begin to feel like they're burning up and start ripping off their clothes.

This is where it gets even more interesting, because paradoxical undressing is thought to occur right before another unusual behaviour called terminal burrowing.

Advert

Hypothermia can be fatal if untreated.
Pexels

The behaviour is similar to what happens when animals hibernate and burrow away for the winter - their packed-in environment designed to minimise heat loss from their body.

But in humans, it can look even more strange.

For instance, in a 1995 article in the International Journal of Legal Medicine, researchers from Germany said hypothermia victims were found 'in a position which indicated a final mechanism of protection, i.e., under a bed, behind a wardrobe, in a shelf.'

And this is where the police come in.

Advert

The behaviours can easily look like something else.
Pexels

Because of paradoxical undressing and terminal burrowing, it's easy to mistake those who have died of hypothermia of being a victim of a crime.

According to Live Science, having found the body, some investigators in the past could have wrongly believed that the person was a victim of a sexual assault and murder due to them being naked, and that being found in a strange location due to the burrowing was an attempt to get rid of or hide the body.

Those thought to be suffering from hypothermia should seek medical attention immediately.

The NHS advises in the meantime to:

  • Move the person indoors or somewhere sheltered as quickly as possible
  • Remove any wet clothing, wrap them in a blanket, sleeping bag or dry towel, making sure their head is covered
  • Give them a warm non-alcoholic drink and some sugary food like chocolate if they're fully awake
  • Keep them awake by talking to them until help arrives
  • Make sure you or someone else stays with them
Featured Image Credit: Pixabay

Topics: Science, Weird, Health

Chloe Rowland
Chloe Rowland

Chloe Rowland is a Sub Editor and Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Salford with a BA Multimedia Journalism degree in 2019 but has continued to use the fact she has a Blue Peter badge as her biggest flex.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

7 hours ago
11 hours ago
12 hours ago
a day ago
  • 7 hours ago

    Man’s life was saved when Domino’s workers noticed he didn’t place an order one day

    Sometimes cheesy stories can be heartwarming too

    Community
  • 11 hours ago

    Man bought storage container for £1,400 and made enormous profit after discovering what was inside

    One man's trash is another man's treasure

    Community
  • 12 hours ago

    Brutal ancient torture method used against spies was worryingly simple but one of the worst ever

    The mental ramifications are much worse than the physical

    Community
  • a day ago

    Man digs up time capsule from 2000 and people are shocked at how much has changed in last 25 years

    Dylan Schrader created a Crayola time capsule in 2000 and finally opened it for social media to see

    Community
  • Skibidi Toilet trend explained as bizarre phenomenon goes viral
  • 300 million people see world completely differently thanks to common deficiency that mostly affects men
  • Windows users about to get major change to 'blue screen of death' when computer fails
  • Real reason behind why people experience deja vu, according to science