ELI5, if you get an injury underwater (say in the ocean) that opens the skin and bleeds, what stops your body from intaking water?
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Your circulatory system (where you bleed from) is set up in a pressurized system, not unlike a cooling system on a vehicle is. Its all designed to stay in its own loop, but a burst or scrape can shoot or dribble some out.. Platelets (clotting parts of your blood) and white blood cells (the fighters) also get sent to that area where your cut is, to immediately start the healing process. The swelling around the cut is because your blood system is pressurized, and suddenly it has some serious work to do.
Ok so when you take your blood pressure, you have a systolic and diastolic rate.
The top number is how hard your heart has to TRY to get the blood to push through your circulatory system.
Notably, your body holds about 1.5 gallons of blood, at any time. Your heart can only hold a little blood in it, so it can take many pumps to get all 1.5 gallons pumped through the heart. Incredibly, it can take up to 70 pumps or more to lose enough blood from a nicked vein or artery, to die. This is how we know that the circulatory system is pressurized, because putting pressure on a cut works to save lives. Pressure is needed.
If you lose too much blood, your blood pressure can drop.
Being hypoglycemic can also cause the pressure to drop. Sugar is necessary for maintaining blood pressure.
See? Its a lot like a car cooling system. Only, instead of adding a toxic (deadly) radiator fluid, to our bodies, we add nutrients and water to maintain our blood pressure instead. We also dont want high blood pressure because thats like driving an overheating car. Eventually, the “engine” is going to blow. In this case, your heart.
The lower number is really how much rest your heart is really able to get. If its harder for the blood to get back to the heart, your heart might not be able to open up into its between-beats “rest stop” position as easily.
Now, that said, it IS possible for water to get into your blood, but that is mainly from inhaling water accidentally, which over a reasonably short period of time of being in your lungs, even a small amount,, can mix with your blood killing blood cells and nutrients, and cause you to become hypoxic, which would end up with lower blood pressure and death.
A person can get a “sucking” chest wound, also, which can mix water with blood, or can at least bring blood into your lungs, but again, these have nothing to do with having a cut on your arm or leg.
It is a pressurized system. It just doesnt do this with normal cuts and lacerations that are not mixing air, blood, and water. As long as your lungs are okay, and you arent losing a lot of blood, so should you be..
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