You can fight off hypothermia by doing additional work, such as jumping around, because the body is inefficient so most of the chemical potential energy used to do the work actually becomes thermal en...You can fight off hypothermia by doing additional work, such as jumping around, because the body is inefficient so most of the chemical potential energy used to do the work actually becomes thermal energy that can replace what was lost as heat. The first boy climbed onto the float and into the plane with some assistance, the thin boy was unable to move and was dragged out of the water just before losing consciousness as we rode back to shore.