How Running out of Water Can Kill You
According to the World Health Organization, a person needs about half a gallon of drinking water each day to survive. A couple of problems with this figure. First off, people in cooler, humid clients can survive on slightly less. People in the desert without shelter need quite a bit more. The second problem is that while this is a post about SURVIVAL prepping, we want to take a long-term view. Long-term, if all you have is half a gallon, you won’t have enough to wash your body, prepare food, or any of the other important things we use water for. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that we have at least one gallon per person per day available in case of an emergency. This equates to about 50 gallons for a family of 4 to last a week.
What happens when you don’t enough water? Here are common problems caused by dehydration, best to worst:
- You get thirsty. Duh.
- Your pee will get darker. This isn’t so much a problem as it is an indicator. Your pee should be just slightly tinted yellow if you’re fully hydrated.
- You’ll probably get a headache.
- You’ll be irritable and confused. (Mental impact)
- You’ll start to lose coordination and agility. (Physical impact).
- You’ll eventually faint.
- Your organs start failing. Without enough liquid, your blood pressure drops and your body responds by depriving your organs of blood.
- You die.
Don’t die of Dehydration.
Get this… If you’re dehydrated, you need water. Pay attention to your pee color. ESPECIALLY if you’re working hard. ESPECIALLY if you’re in a hot and/or dry place. When your pee gets darker, drink more water.
Feature Image: Toothy Doc, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
[…] Anyway, water is important. We need it. Fast-forward to modern days and our need for water has only increased. Modern humans have the same biological needs for water as ancient humans, and we’ve grown accustomed to some creature comforts since we crawled out of the mud. Comforts like flushing toilets. Clean clothes. Hygiene. […]