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Language: en-GB

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Someone I don't know called Kieran has ice-bucket-challenged
me. And while I'm fairly sure that anyone

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who's going to donate to ALS -- motor neurone
disease is a rough translation in the UK -- has

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already donated, well, it would be rude to
refuse.

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Only I figured I'd teach something as well,
so I have not a bucket, but a bathtub full

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of very cold ice water and a heart rate monitor.
Which is currently showing 112, because I'll

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be honest, I'm not looking forward to this.
And you'd expect that getting dunked in ice

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water, or getting it specifically on your
face, would start a fight-or-flight response,

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an adrenalin response, but that's not the
case.

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What it does is activate something called
the Mammalian Diving Reflex. Something that

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most mammals have, to one extent or another,
and humans still have thanks to a quirk of

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evolution being held over millions and millions
of years.

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If you get cold water on your face, what happens
is that your heart rate goes down. Seriously.

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Blood gets pulled in from all your extremities
just to keep the heart and the brain alive

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and working. Because, for all your brain knows,
you might have to be there for a very long time.

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So. 108. Let's see what happens.

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(PANICKED BREATHING) Wow. That...

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is...

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incredibly unpleasant.

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And my heart rate... is 91.

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There you go. Mammalian diving reflex. Actually
works. And now I'm going to move my phone

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away from the cold water and I am going to
turn a hot shower on. Because it's really

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cold in here.

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I can now feel the blood coming in from my
extremities because my hands and feet are

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absolutely numb. And I am just going to turn
on a...

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Oh god that's also cold. Agh!

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