DENVER -- With the extreme cold on its way to Colorado, here are some tips to help you and your family stay safe and warm.

During the cold weather, please don't forget your pets and animals. It is also important for you to take the necessary precautions to protect your home.

PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR HOME

Dress in layers and try to cover all exposed skin

Limit your time outside and stay indoors as much as possible

Check your vehicle's battery as extreme cold will lead to dead batteries

Have a winter survival kit in your car with extra blankets and clothes

Break out the extra blankets at night

Use plastic coverings on windows to help prevent drafts

Place towels at the foot of your exterior doors to prevent drafts

Try to reduce heat consumption by setting the thermostat to a lower temperature and keeping warm with extra clothing and blankets (using as little electricity as possible will help ease the strain on the powergrid, hopefully preventing rolling blackouts)

Disconnect the garden hose from the outside of your house

Let water drip from a few indoor faucets and open cabinet doors where pipes are located to let them stay at room temperature

Have plenty of life-dependent medications on hand (blood pressure, heart pills, insulin, etc.) just in case you are unable to travel for a few days

PROTECT ALL PETS

Keep pets inside -- cuddle with them -- they'll help keep you warm and will be very thankful

If for some reason they must remain outdoors, make sure they have adequate shelter to get out of the cold

Keep them supplied with food

Be sure to check and replace outside water frequently as it will freeze quickly

Check on them frequently -- at least hourly

PROTECT ANIMALS, LIVESTOCK

Make sure they are sheltered from the wind and cold

Keep them fed well with plenty of food and hay -- large animals such as horses keep warm by the fermentation process of digesting hay

Be sure to check and replace outside water frequently as it will freeze

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

Water pipes may freeze

Car batteries may be drained quickly

Higher usage of electricity could result in rolling blackouts

With temperatures in the single digits above and below zero, your body can experience hypothermia when out in the elements for any extended period of time.

Shivering is the first symptom that something is wrong.

So just what is hypothermia?

Hypothermia refers to any condition in which the temperature of a body drops below the level required for normal metabolism and bodily function to take place.

In warm-blooded animals, core body temperature is maintained at or near a constant level through biologic homeostasis. When the body is exposed to colder temperatures, however, its internal mechanisms may be unable to replenish the heat that is being lost to the body's surroundings. Hypothermia is the opposite of hyperthermia. Because the words sound alike, they are easily confused.

Stages Of Hypothermia In Humans

Stage 1 -- The body temperature drops by 2 to 4 degrees and mild to strong shivering occurs. You will be unable to perform complex tasks with the hands; the hands become numb. Blood vessels in the outer extremities contract, lessening heat loss to the outside air. Breathing becomes quick and shallow. Goose bumps form, raising body hair on end in an attempt to create a insulating layer of air around the body.

Stage 2 -- The body temperature drops by 4 to 7 degrees. Shivering becomes more violent. Muscle miscoordination becomes apparent. Movements are slow and labored, accompanied by a stumbling pace and mild confusion, although the victim may appear alert. Surface blood vessels contract further as the body focuses its remaining resources on keeping the vital organs warm. Victims becomes pale and lips, ears, fingers and toes may become blue.

Stage 3 -- The body temperature drops 90 degrees; normal is 98.6 degrees. Shivering usually stops and the victim will have difficulty speaking, sluggish thinking, and signs of amnesia. There is an obvious inability to use hands and stumbling is present. Cellular metabolic processes shut down. The exposed skin becomes blue and puffy, muscle coordination is very poor, walking is nearly impossible, and the victim exhibits incoherent or irrational behavior. Pulse and respiration rates decrease significantly but fast heart rates can occur. Major organs fail and clinical death occurs. Because of decreased cellular activity in stage 3 hypothermia, the body will actually take longer to undergo brain death.

First Aid

If any symptoms of hypothermia are present, especially confusion or changes in mental status, the local emergency service should be immediately contacted.

If the person is unconscious, check their airway, breathing, and circulation. If necessary, begin rescue breathing or CPR. If the victim is breathing less than 6 breaths per minute, begin rescue breathing.

Take the person inside to room temperature and cover him or her with warm blankets. If going indoors is not possible, get the person out of the wind and use a blanket to provide insulation from the cold ground. Cover the person's head and neck to help retain body heat.

Once inside, remove any wet or constricting clothes and replace them with dry clothing. Warm the person. If necessary, use your own body heat to aid the warming.

Apply warm compresses to the neck, chest wall, and groin. If the person is alert and can easily swallow, give warm, sweetened, nonalcoholic fluids to aid the warming.

Stay with the person until medical help arrives.

Assume that you should obtain a doctor if the victim has been exposed for 24 hours or more.

DO NOT assume that someone found lying motionless in the cold is already dead.

DO NOT use direct heat (such as hot water, a heating pad, or a heat lamp) to warm the person.

DO NOT give the person alcohol.

Hospital Treatment

In a hospital, warming is accomplished by external techniques (blankets, warming devices) for mild hypothermia and by more invasive techniques such as warm intravenous fluids or even lavage of the bladder, stomach, chest and abdominal cavities with warmed fluids for severely hypothermic patients.

These patients are at high risk for arrhythmias and care must be taken to minimize jostling and other disturbances until they have been sufficiently warmed, as these arrhythmias are very difficult to treat while the victim is still cold.

An important tenet of treatment is that a person is not dead until they are warm and dead. Remarkable accounts of recovery after prolonged cardiac arrest have been reported in patients with hypothermia.

Prevention

In air, most heat is lost through the head; hypothermia can thus be most effectively prevented by covering the head. Having appropriate clothing for the environment is another important prevention.

Fluid-retaining materials like cotton can be a hypothermia risk; if the wearer gets sweaty on a cold day, then cools down, they will have sweat-soaked clothing in the cold air.

For outdoor exercise on a cold day, it is advisable to wear fabrics which can "wick" away sweat moisture. These include wool or synthetic fabrics designed specifically for rapid drying.

Heat is lost much more quickly in water. Children can die of hypothermia in as little as two hours in water as warm 61 degrees, typical of sea surface temperatures in temperate countries such as Great Britain.

Many seaside safety information sources fail to quote survival times in water, as well as the consequent importance of diving suits. This is possibly because the original research into hypothermia mortality in water was carried out in wartime Germany on unwilling subjects.

There is an ongoing debate as to the ethical basis of using the data thus acquired. There is considerable evidence, however, that children who suffer near-drowning accidents in water near 32 degrees can be revived up to two hours after losing consciousness.

The cold water considerably lowers metabolism, allowing the brain to withstand a much longer period of hypoxia.