Rationing and Preserving Water in Your Body
ALMOST AS IMPORTANT AS PROCURING WATER TO DRINK is the ability to preserve
the water stores in your body. The best way to do this is to minimize your
exertion, if at all possible. With this in mind, I have one simple rule from
my friend Dave Arama: If you don’t have to stand, sit; if you don’t have to
sit, lie down. You also lose more water when you talk than when you don’t,
and when you breathe through your mouth as opposed to your nose.
Of course, when you’re in a survival situation and trying to build a
shelter, gather food, find water, or just get out, you don’t have the luxury of
sitting around. Nevertheless, there are measures you can take to keep your
body’s water loss to a minimum.
First, although you will have to work, try to keep your workload to
a consistent level that minimizes perspiration. After all, through sweat
ing, one of your body’s primary methods of cooling itself, you lose mois
ture through your pores. In hot, windy conditions, you may find yourself
tempted to strip down to all but the bare minimum of clothing. Don’t! One
of the fastest ways to have water sucked from your body is through convec
tion: those warm breezes will only serve to dehydrate you more. So wear
a loosefitting shirt to slow the process, and get out of the wind if you can.
You also lose a fair bit of moisture through your head, so cover it to help
slow the loss of moisture, as long as you can do so without overheating.
What about rationing any water supplies you have on hand? Like
many topics I cover in this book, this one is bound to spark debate among
survivalists. Let’s say you have enough water to drink 8 ounces (237 ml) a
day for one week, but you think you may be on your own for two weeks.
You have a couple of choices: Drink the water in a week and hope you find
another primary water source in the meantime, or cut your daily intake
down to 4 ounces (118 ml) and stretch it out for two weeks.
Some survivalists argue that you’re better off drinking the 8 ounces a
day, thus keeping the water in your body and your organs fully hydrated. But
I believe that if you’re stuck for a long period of time and are unable to find
an ample water supply, having those 4 ounces every day can be an incredible
physical and psychological boost. Although I can’t prove that physiologically
this is the best strategy, personally I would opt for rationing.
(^72) | Survive!