Posted by Forrest Brownell on August 13, 1997 at 21:43:48:
In Reply to: Re: Cold Comfort (WAS 'WH - Frostbite') posted by Phil Winterbourne on August 13, 1997 at 10:41:14:
Phil Winterbourne delves more deeply into the physiology of smoking and cold
response than I would have had the courage to do, and he makes an important
point. Not only is nicotine a vasoconstrictor, inducing arterial spasm and
accentuating both susceptibility to, and morbidity arising from, cold injury,
but it also potentiates platelet adhesion and increases the viscosity of the
blood, further compromising the ability of the body to warm and nourish the
extremities.
I'd still be most reluctant to suggest that a smoker surrender his pipe, or a
tippler forego his grog, but it is good to know the reckoning we may be asked to
pay for our pleasures. I've never smoked, and so can say nothing at first hand
about the consequences, but I do enjoy a drink now and again. I can still
remember downing a single tot of rum on one cold mountain bivouac, and the
paroxysms of uncontrolled shivering that followed close on the heels of the
initial glow of warmth. 'Be prepared' and all that -- or, to crib shamelessly
from the TARS Safety Code yellow card, 'DONT BE A DUFFER'.
Not bad advice.
Forrest (still ashore, alas, but with Canada Geese flying by overhead)