pain on the top of one foot. It turned out to be a teddy-bear cactus making
its way through my leather boots. The only scorpion sting I ever got was
while wearing sandals in the desert. The scorpion also stung me on my
index finger as I pulled it off my foot (and the numbness lingered for nearly
two years).
Lack of Sleep
IT MAY SEEM BENIGN IN THE CONTEXT OF HUGE WEATHER EVENTS, predators,
and deadly plants, but lack of sleep may well pose a more significant threat
than any of these other hazards. Though it takes significant sleep depri-
vation to kill a human, the risk from it lies in how it affects your ability to
function in the wild. Lack of sleep has been shown to adversely affect brain
function, growth, healing, and general ability.
We tend to sleep poorly in survival situations, but it is important
to try to get as much sleep as possible. Sleep keeps you fresh, alert, and
well-functioning, and it cuts down on your energy requirements when
you are awake.
As survival instructor Dave Arama likes to say, “If you don’t have to
walk, sit down, and if you don’t have to sit down, lie down.” To that I add
that if you don’t have to be awake (particularly to signal for rescue), sleep.
My most restful naps happen at around 2 p.m., during the warmth of the
day. It’s the wrong time to sleep if you want to be rescued, but when sleep-
ing at night is often so difficult, I’ll take what I can get to keep my sanity.
Starvation
HUMAN BEINGS CERTAINLY NEED FOOD TO SURVIVE, but most of us overesti-
mate the significance of food in a survival situation. This, I’ve found, is one
of the greatest risks you’ll encounter regarding food in the wild: thinking
you need three meals a day to function properly.
The truth is, you can survive for a very long time without food, some-
times as long as a month. You won’t be functioning very well after the first
couple of weeks, but you won’t necessarily die, either.
(^266) | Survive!