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

originally posted by: dragonridr
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.

isnt that rationing water though?

The problem with rationing is that it is easy to under-use the water and become dehydrated despite having enough water to not do so. The best thing to do is to drink enough, but not necessarily all of it at once. You then pace yourself and try to make it to better circumstances.

Urinating is not always wasting water. Those kidneys do an awful lot more than get rid of water... they are also responsible for quite a bit of the chemical balances in the body. They use water as needed to control these chemical balances as part of the biochemical process. One important reaction is the production of arginine from citruline. Citruline is the end result when arginine is used to create nitric oxide, which is needed for normal physical exertion. The reverse reaction also occurs in the kidneys themselves, and uses a lot of water. The stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline stop the body's production of nitric oxide by blocking the synthase responsible. That's where the pacing comes in. You want to exert yourself enough to slow the production of nitric oxide, but not so much as to make you sweat profusely, and hydrate as needed when needed.

If you're doing it right, your urine will be dark and you will sweat only superficially.

The water balance inside your body is critical. Once dehydration starts to occur, blood volume drops and the blood thickens. The results of that are obviously pretty severe: extreme muscle fatigue and mental confusion can result. It also places a larger load on the heart and raises blood pressure. That starts an endless spiral because more water is needed to counteract the effects of dehydration. So once a person starts to feel the effects of dehydration, it will take more water to recover than it would to maintain proper function. A dry, cracked throat is a sure sign that you are becoming dehydrated... so if that starts to happen, start drinking, a sip or two at a time, until you feel the effect diminish. Then start breathing through your nose, not your mouth; that's wasting water.

If you do have to eat something, use small portions and only eat at night. The temperature will be cooler and your body will not need to perspire as much, freeing up water to use in the digestion process. Digestion uses a lot of water, but it does not remove much from your body.

Incidentally, it does not matter if the water gets absorbed in your throat or your stomach. Most water never makes it to the stomach anyway; it is absorbed quickly en route. All that matters is that it gets inside you and stays inside you as long as possible. Your body will use it as/where needed.

TheRedneck

I'd say it's best to take small mouthfuls and swish before swallowing. Your tongue is like a sponge and guzzling when dehydrated will likely see you throw up your precious water.

On the strange side of things: on your third day without water you will have bizarre hallucinations. Surviving that, I guess you will know just how much of a friend to yourself that you are. Because the mind will create some interesting stuff to convince you to survive.

Personally, I ended up sitting on the edge of a precipice in a grey barren plain with features worn smooth not by wind or water but time itself. And there I spoke with an entity without form that came up from the void about life and our purpose. And it dissipated leaving me with the choice to get up and walk back or push myself off the edge into the void. Obviously I walked back. I remember the whole conversation 20 some years later. And I have to say the experience changed me a bit because I feel that I have an idea of what eternity is like. Or perhaps what purgatory is. But I would not recommend anyone else go through it.

I live in the Sonoran Desert. I have lived and hunted and hiked here all my life. Never ever ration your water out here. You drink as you get thirsty no more no less.

I can't even begin to tell you how many bodies they find out here with half their canteen still full because they thought rationing their water would keep them alive.

Now the same principle may not apply to other regions but in the desert, you don't ration your water. I am a member ofthe Superstition Mountain SAR team. We find treasure hunters bodies often

I remember when Pope John Paul II was coming to visit San Antonio in the late 80s, a young man experienced a demon possessing him and trying to get him to assassinate the pope. The guy tried various methods to exercise the demon, but nothing worked.

So he decided to "dilute the demon."

He drank 6 gallons of water in under an hour. The electrolytes in his blood stream were so diluted that his heart stopped beating.

So yeah; sip it slow.

Save your pee as well. If you are in a hot climate, you can pour urine on your clothes, and as it evaporates it will cool you. And give you privacy from other people near you.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Net weight is the same, yes, but arms fatigue faster than legs. So if you don't have a backpack, and you have to carry the water using your arms, the "net fatigue" is not the same.

Chuckle away.

a reply to: scojak
One leg of a pair of knee length short trousers can easily be fashioned into a rudimentary water container harness/strap so your 'arms fatigue' argument is mute to anyone with a hint of common sense.
Drinking your entire supply of water in one go is a ridiculous idea because you will piss out the excess the body does not process at that moment.
I can't believe anyone has actually suggested doing so to the OP.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

First of all, the weight was the secondary argument. And as stupid as you think it may be, it is still a factor.

Secondly, you're making assumptions about the capabilities of the person and their resources. You should always assume the worst in a survival scenario.

Thirdly, I didn't say "drink your entire supply". I said, "you'll want to drink more of it initially" with the main argument being that you want to maintain your body's ability to function at a higher level.

So you don't have to believe that anyone suggested to drink the entire supply, because nobody did. You just need to brush up on your reading comprehension.

BTW, it's "moot", not "mute".

a reply to: scojak
So you agree that rationing your water is better than drinking as much as you can as the question asked in the OP then?
Excellent.
Drinking it when it is not needed would be ridiculous. Nothing I said suggests reading comprehension fella, just that I was answering on topic to the OP.
On-topic I have asserted nothing which is incorrect, of course that is assuming your reading comprehension is up to par.


EDIT
Yes, moot, not mute, I failed badly and bow down to your superior mind...I'm not worthy...I'm not worthy, but I will ration my water in an emergency lol