The term ‘paradoxical undressing’ describes the behavior among many victims of extreme hypothermia of peeling off most or all of their clothing, increasing heat loss.
To shut down the loss of heat from the extremities, the body induces vasoconstriction, the reflexive contraction of blood vessels. Over time, however, the muscles necessary for inducing vasoconstriction become exhausted and fail, causing warm blood to rush from the core to the extremities. This results in a kind of “hot flash” that makes victims of severe hypothermia — who are already confused and disoriented — feel as though they’re burning up, so they remove their clothes, researchers have concluded.
“When the rescue teams found him, he was wearing nothing but his thermals. He was found in a sitting position,” says Lt. Gen. S.D. Duhan, Director and Commandant of the Army hospital.
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