According to Reddit, These Facts Could Save Your Life.
Life is precarious, and nothing makes you appreciate this fact more than Reddit’s list of potential death traps. On the other hand, an anxiety-provoking prompt for one person may be useful knowledge for another.
On r / AskReddit, user u / luciflerfather asked, “What fact could have saved your life?” Some of the answers were quite unexpected – obviously death can find us anywhere. Like this tip from u / OnTime4SocialEvents , which made scuba diving terrifying on multiple levels:
If you are scuba diving and vomit, vomit directly into the regulator. Do not remove the regulator from your mouth, because after vomiting, the natural instinct is to inhale. Vomiting will come out of the vent valve along with your bubbles.
We took an open dive and were not taught this. Luckily, we were only a few feet down. This could be one of those life-changing days …
Reactions to this indicate that people vomit during regular diving, and this attracts fish, so it’s a pleasure to focus on and not drown! What else can you be afraid of?
Fires and burns
One of the most important tips in a fire is a very simple action: sleep with the door closed. U / iglooman500 originally posted this saying it will prevent damage to your space (and you sleeping in that space). This was confirmed by u / -Moph- , who says that as an engineer they see many objects damaged by fire:
It is often possible to see rooms that are completely livable in a home that would otherwise be badly damaged by fire and soot just because the door was closed.
Another story is when fire penetrates the roof space and brings down the roof and ceilings, but hopefully by then you will have already gone well out the window.
Make sure you have a smoke alarm in your room if you sleep with the door closed, and that your alarms are linked so that when one of them goes off, they all go off.
Many have mentioned that they keep a small fire extinguisher in their bedroom. This may seem like a lot of preparation, but it won’t happen when the flames lick the closed door. However, u / Reluctant_username , which claims to be a firefighter in the UK, had more specific firing rules:
I would advise you to close your bedroom doors at night. If the alarm goes off, see if it’s safe to sign out. If it’s clear, go away. If it’s rather smoky, it’s probably safer to stay put. Call 999/911 and tell me which room you are in. Towels, sheets, etc. at door slots to block smoke from entering. Open windows and scream for help and get some fresh air. If you live within 10-15 minutes of the fire station, you should be fine. If not, consider running out of the window. Fire extinguishers are designed to extinguish small fires, not to gas cool tons of smoke from a large, distant fire.
Let’s move on to a completely different type of burning pain: if you are not familiar with how chemicals burn the skin, you may not be aware of the problem until it becomes severe, as u / Caputtohsi writes :
Chemical burns are not like fire or heat burns. Many do not immediately trigger the reflex action of pain.
I lost a piece of leather under my arm because an industrial cleaner was dripping under my raincoat. I rinsed my hand and didn’t even get much redness, but after 30 minutes I noticed that my shirt was soaked in blood. There was no pain until the next day, and by then a quarter of his skin had fallen off.
Read labels and remove all chemicals as quickly as possible using recommended method. Water is not always the best solution.
Ice
For someone who would never knowingly go to a frozen lake, this conversation was extremely compelling. There have been many, many tips on what to do if the ice breaks under you if you want to survive, starting with this from u / Breakfastdestroyer :
If you are trapped on thin ice, lie on your stomach and crawl / wiggle to return to the bank on the side you came from. Chances are, if he held you while you were standing, he will continue to hold you, while your weight will be distributed over a larger area.
But wait, first there is some more from u / Koyaan in case you’ve already left and can’t find the starting point of the breakout:
And if it doesn’t work out, swim to the spot with the greatest color difference. It means;
if there is snow on the ice, all solid ice will be dark (snow blocks the sun) and the hole / chisel of water will be light.
If there is no snow on the ice, the water hole / chisel will be lighter than the others.
And if you don’t come out? According to u / Wobbles42 , who added information obtained by hypothermia researcher Dr. Gordon Gisbrecht, just stop at the edge so they can find you:
You want to get as much of your body out of the water as possible. This will minimize the rate of heat loss. Then place your hands on the ice and do not move . Your goal is to freeze the clothes on your hands right on the ice. This will prevent you from slipping to the surface when you inevitably pass out.
It seems like I’m giving up, but I’m not. Once you realize that there is no way to escape, you increase your chances of survival, increasing your chances of being saved.
Stay away from ice!
Forests
Ah, there are so many ways to die in the forest. According to u / T heCopenhagenCowboy, you can minimize them with a little know-how and communication:
If you get lost in the forest, stay where you are! The chances of finding a way out on your own are pretty slim, and you just create a large search area for the SAR.
Also, let people know where you are going and when you will be home. If you are not at home by X time, ask someone to call for help.
Another u / paddle_your_canoe rule works very well in the worst situations – don’t panic:
The rule of thumb is that if you think you are lost, you need to sit down for five minutes. Many people get anxious and start wandering in random directions in search of a trail, which makes them even more confused and anxious. Sometimes doing a little squat can help clarify the situation and help you remember details more clearly.
U / ArtigoQ added that as you walk down the forest trail, LOOK YOU FREQUENTLY so that your brain can better recognize the terrain if you get confused or turn around . If you get lost and thirsty, here’s what to do according to u / mufasa_lionheart :
If you are trying to decide whether to drink unsafe “natural” water or risk dehydration: Giardia occurs in 5 days, kidney failure can last less than 5 hours, so if it comes down to it, you can be saved. soon (a few days) risking water. Better a week of vomiting from both ends from your safe home than dying from dehydration.
And while you are lost in the forest, u / bulletben7 gives this advice: “If you see a bear cub, a very angry mother does not lag behind.” There are so many dangers. Enjoy your trip.
Other people
What is the best thing to do when you are attacked by another person? By all accounts, run like hell. You might think you can fight, but really few of us are trained to defend against an attacker, especially if it’s a group of people. And if a person has a knife, don’t even think about it for the myriad of dire reasons that u / JDPhipps explained :
If you have ever attended a self defense class, always pay attention to what they say about knife protection. Any authority figure will tell you that any attempt to defend against an attacker with a knife is a last resort if you are cornered and unable to run. This is the only time you need to at least try to fight someone with a knife.
If you are told that it will save you from the knife, find a new place to take self-defense courses. No one worthy of their attention will recommend that you go against the knife with your bare hands, unless your only option is to sit there and receive a fatal blow.
If you can’t run, give the person whatever he wants, but don’t leave with him as long as you can help him, according to u / burmanzag :
My friend’s father is a detective. He always told her and her twin sister that if someone is going to grab you, fight with all your might, don’t give up. He always said that if someone physically picks you up, chances are they will never let you go, which means that they will not only rape you, but they will also kill you.
Some people have quoted the idea that if you shout “fire” you are more likely to get help than if you just scream “help” because more people will run to investigate / help put out the fire. It sounded like an urban legend, so we asked a UL Fire Research Institute representative.
Unsurprisingly, there is no evidence of the effectiveness of shouting “fire” in getting help; but she confirmed that closing the door is an excellent fire precaution because “a closed door can be an effective barrier against lethal levels of carbon monoxide, smoke and flames so that the room is comfortable to live in when the first persons arrive.”
Good luck everyone.