would it be best to ration your water or drink as much as you can at once?

this just popped in my head and i dont know why.
i was thinking of an article i read like 20 years ago that said if you are stuck in the desert for for example and you have say a couple liters of water it would benefit you more to drink it all at once vs rationing it out.

i know # about survival so i cant decide if this makes sense to me.

rationing makes sense cause you can kind of stretch out how many days you have water.

i can think of a few reasons why it does not make sense.

1 is safety of the water. you never know. you could fall and bust your canteen open and lose it all.
if it is in you you cant lose it.

that seems like a good reason.

the only other reason i can think of is to guarantee you are fully hydrated even if only for a short time. if you are fully hydrated you are going to sweat. you are going to piss. your body is going to function properly at the high level.

if you ration you may be in a state of not quite dehydration but not optimum hydration so maybe you dont piss like you should. seems like no big deal but if youre not doing that then your body is building up toxins.

so to all those who know about these things. is it best to drink it all at once or ration?

Don't drink the water, period. This existence is terrible, so why bother extending it?

a reply to: TinySickTears

I would think the problem with drinking it all at once is that some of it would be wasted. In other words you'd likely pee out the excess.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Ration it.
Say you had a gallon and drank it all at once you would quickly piss it out as excess.
Ration as best you can to account for natural fluid loss, sweat etc.

Oh, now I get it. This thread was created because it's solar plexus Monday and the theme is yellow/piss/pee, etc. This is why the only other people to reply besides me are using these words. THANKS!

a reply to: TinySickTears

Like anything, water WILL become toxic to the corpus system. If you drink too much you will die. There was a radio station that f’d Up and asked listeners to participate, one died from hydration to the point their cells exploded.

While not a survivalist, id go with the latter

3 days.

You can live 3 days without drinking water.

A couple of liters ?

1 liter every 3 days.

2 liters one could theoretically live 6 days.

Depending on exertion.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Our body tries to balance the content of our blood (serum electrolytes etc) and so drinking all your water at once will dilute things.

Excess dilution can have fairly catastrophic consequences: Hyponatremia From Wikipedia

In response, your body seeks to reduce the dilution, restoring the balance, and so you will end up peeing out the excess, so don't drink it all at once. You would be wasting some.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Whatever you decide, save your pee.

a reply to: TinySickTears

I suppose there would be benefits to both so it would probably depend on the situation. If rationing, somebody could steal it, some could evaporate, it could get infected or go stagnant. I'd just recommend staying out of the desert, I guess. Always be next to a river and know how to find fresh springs. Hydration is very important, so don't put yourself in a situation where you could be without it unless you have some kind of contingency plan. Interesting question though.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Since you posted this under Survival...

It would be best to know where to find water in the desert.

I watched a survival video, and if you are dehydrated with a dry throat, sipping water won't help because it won't reach your stomach. But gulping down a whole bottle won't help either because you'll probably just end up peeing it out.

So it's a balance of taking large enough gulps to reach the stomach but not too much so you'll flush out all your potassium.

I had that problem with my apartment during the last heatwave. Two large glasses of tap water would completely floor me. Got blood tests done and it was low potassium levels.

originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
Don't drink the water, period. This existence is terrible, so why bother extending it?

Well, I don't imagine dying of dehydration the desert is a pleasant or quick way to die. Any kind of lingering death is one you don't want to endure.

a reply to: TinySickTears

a survival expert told me that water is like gas, you can only use it if its in the tank. he said that there are people that die of dehydration in the desert with half a canteen of water because they tried to ration it. best advice was drink when youre thirsty, but dont guzzle as you can only absorb 6oz every 15 minutes, the rest goes through the bowels to be sucked up by the kidneys and expelled. as someone else mentioned, its a balance thing.

also, dont eat if you have limited amounts of water, as digestion uses a lot of water for the breakdown process. once every three days if that is the amount of water you have. the more water you have, the more often you can eat.

save the urine to purify via solar still if you can.

With all things, situation dictates decisions. Were you otherwise normally hydrated and your car broke down and you have a fresh gallon of water that you just bought at the store? Does the road have frequent traffic for quick easy rescue? Stay with the car and wait it out, drink when thirsty.

Or did your plane crash in the middle of nowhere and you were the sole survivor? Again stay with the wreckage unless it is unsafe (burning and may explode).

Air is always the first priority in any situation. And usually the easiest to check off the list. Shelter is second. Water, then food. Shelter isn’t a problem on a nice temperate day. Cold rainy day or looking at a 40+ degree temperature change between day and night in the desert is a problem to address as well as the blazing sun that over activity means more water consumption. Key to rationing is don’t be stupid. Dying by not drinking is just as poor of a choice as dying by drinking excessively and running out by morning.

First thing to do is take stock of what you have and what you need. Act accordingly. Take stock periodically because things change or become clearer as to wants and needs as your situation changes.

Survival in an emergency is really not too different than everyday life. Stress changes perceptions.

originally posted by: stormson
a reply to: TinySickTears

a survival expert told me that water is like gas, you can only use it if its in the tank. he said that there are people that die of dehydration in the desert with half a canteen of water because they tried to ration it. best advice was drink when youre thirsty, but dont guzzle as you can only absorb 6oz every 15 minutes, the rest goes through the bowels to be sucked up by the kidneys and expelled. as someone else mentioned, its a balance thing.

also, dont eat if you have limited amounts of water, as digestion uses a lot of water for the breakdown process. once every three days if that is the amount of water you have. the more water you have, the more often you can eat.

save the urine to purify via solar still if you can.

This is the best advice I have seen. Now this can change based on the situation at hand but good advice to know. On my trip I only drank when thirsty during the day. At night when it was cooler and I didn’t sweat as much I drank more. But with that said I had reached a water source as to the plan. If that had not been planned than I would have only drank when thirsty. In a desperate survival situation and are in a desert terrain then water can be hard to come by if you don’t know how to find it. I was in Sedona so brushes are common. If you come across a group of them then go towards the center and dig. Eventually you will find some water. Next thing to know is how to purify it. More than likely that water will be good to drink from the get go.

a reply to: TinySickTears

Depends on your means of rescue. Are you going to try to walk to your rescue? Then you'll want to drink more of it initially.
1) so your body can remain functional and
2) you have less weight to carry while you are walking.

On the other hand, if you have found shade and anticipate rescue, you're better off rationing since you're body doesn't have to do much else than stay alive.

There are likely other factors, but the answer to your question is, it depends on your situation.

originally posted by: slatesteam
a reply to: TinySickTears

Like anything, water WILL become toxic to the corpus system. If you drink too much you will die. There was a radio station that f’d Up and asked listeners to participate, one died from hydration to the point their cells exploded.

While not a survivalist, id go with the latter

That incident was actually caused by a salt and electrolyte imbalance due to excessive consumption of liquid. If memory serves me correctly it was milk and not water they were using for the contest. Milk is mostly water.

originally posted by: scojak
a reply to: TinySickTears
...
2) you have less weight to carry while you are walking. ...

I always chuckle when I see this.

How does that work exactly?

Maybe less (items) to carry in your hands or on your belt, but the net weight is the same (not less)

a reply to: TinySickTears

Ok in the military you are told not to ration water. What you do is set up times to drink you could say i will drink one ounce every 2 hour. You may not be thirsty but stick to the schedule. So in survival water should be drank at set times only. By the time you hit early stages of dehydration your body is in shock and wastes water trying to balance your system. You will find your body wastes hyge amounts of water trying to balance your system after dehydration sets in.The other reason is heat stroke can hit you without warning in a survival situation thats a death sentence.

Just set a schedule stick to it and hope for rescue or finding a suitable water supply.