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The moment of unconsciousness: How does the human body rapidly collapse in a hypoxic environment?
In our daily lives, we may not have thought that changes in air composition, such as nitrogen, helium or methane, may lead to premature death. These situations are a special form of suffocation. When humans enter an environment lacking oxygen, the rapid disappearance of oxygen can lead to terrible consequences.
According to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, "Breathing in an oxygen-deficient environment can cause severe and immediate effects. Individuals who are unable to alert to low oxygen concentrations may lose their ability to oxygen after just a few breaths. Consciousness."
In such a situation, the human body lacks oxygen supply, resulting in dangerously low blood oxygen levels, which in turn affects the functioning of the brain. In fact, if the oxygen concentration is less than 60%, it will cause severe hypoxia and cause loss of consciousness. This series of rapid and terrifying biological processes is often accompanied by unpredictable accidents and tragedies.
Physiological mechanism of hypoxia
The human body's breathing rate is usually between 12 and 20 times per minute, which is mainly affected by the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood. When a person inhales air rich in nitrogen or other physiologically inert gases, over a few breaths the oxygen concentration will drop to dangerous levels, causing the oxygen currently in the blood to be rapidly expelled.
After just a few inhalations of nitrogen, oxygen will be rapidly consumed in the body, which may lead to unconsciousness in a short period of time, without even realizing that one is suffocating.
During the internship, even under certain circumstances, delayed inhalation of these inert gases may lead to various degrees of headaches, syncope, fatigue and other problems, accompanied by violent reactions. In a related experiment in 1963, participants experienced blurred vision and confusion, ultimately leading to an understanding of the physiology of unconsciousness.
The ability of animals to sense hypoxia
Unlike humans, some animals are highly sensitive to low-oxygen environments. For example, some diving animals can actively avoid such environments. This allows animal handling processes, such as controlled atmosphere slaughter (CAK), to quickly render animals unconscious by reducing oxygen coverage, thereby achieving a more humane handling effect, but this method also needs to be mastered with care.
Accident and death cases
In the past few decades, accidental suffocation incidents caused by nitrogen have occurred from time to time. In 1981, five technicians died after accidentally entering the rear cabin of a nitrogen-filled space shuttle; in 2013, several people were poisoned due to the unintentional use of liquid nitrogen at a party in Mexico. These incidents remind us that we must strictly follow regulations for the safe use of inert gases to avoid accidents.
Suicide and euthanasia
Inert gases are also used by some people as a method of suicide. Some euthanasia campaigners have proposed methods of self-euthanasia using helium or nitrogen, sparking heated debate on the issue. Such behavior prompted the formulation and revision of relevant laws and caused debate among many ethicists, especially the issue of accessibility of suicide methods.
This method has not only created controversy in society, but also attracted legal attention. When state governments began to consider nitrogen as a method of execution, discussions about its humanity and morality arose one after another. .
Conclusion
With a deeper understanding of the mechanism of action of inert gases, they must be handled with caution, whether in industrial use or legislation involving human life. Protecting life is more important than anything else. At this point, we should think about whether our understanding of this suffocation can help avoid more tragedies in the future?
