How long can a human go without water? https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/864c32ca-144e-436c-ac48-04473e8e4f53.jpeg

  • Pons_Aelius
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    3711 months ago

    How long can a human go without water?

    Remember the rule of 3s for survival:

    3 minutes without air
    3 hours without shelter
    3 days without water
    3 weeks without food
    
    
      • themeatbridge
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        1311 months ago

        Weather extremes. Blizzards, deserts, hurricanes, life rafts… If you’re stranded on a cool summer afternoon, obviously you can be outside for more than 3 hours, but without shade you might get a sunburn.

        It’s meant as a survivalist priority list. Build a shelter, find water, make fire if you can. Food can wait until tomorrow or the next day.

        • @[email protected]
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          311 months ago

          Been there, done that. That’s why I questioned the 3 hours thing. Then again my training/service was temperate and jungle.

          • themeatbridge
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            211 months ago

            Sure, and if you had done your training at a Golden Corral, you probably wouldn’t have worried about food.

    • @SpaceNoodle
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      911 months ago

      I’ve been outside for far longer than three hours without dying.

      • Pons_Aelius
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        911 months ago

        That one is about extremes.

        If you are in sub zero Celsius temps without proper clothing three hours is plenty to kill you especially if there is windchill in play.

        On the other extreme three hours in full sun with a heat index above 40 can cause heat stroke or dehydrate you enough to be deadly as well.

        • @[email protected]
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          -611 months ago

          Still sounds implausible and far fetched. Why would you be outside without adequate clothing? (Also below zero can be fine in jeans and sweatshirt if the sun is shining and there isn’t much wind). And in that case it would be more a heat issue and less like a shelter issue.

          The other case also sounds more like a heat/water issue and less like a shelter issue.

          • @Maalus
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            811 months ago

            “3s for survival” “why would you be in a survival situation”

            Why would you be outside without having eaten in 3 weeks? Or drunk water for 3 days?

    • @0xb
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      211 months ago

      I’ve seen that before and the 3 hours without shelter always cracks me up. Someone really needs to come up with a suitable replacement for the 3 hours part.

      • Pons_Aelius
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        1011 months ago

        That one is about extremes.

        If you are in sub zero Celsius temps without proper clothing three hours is plenty to kill you especially if there is windchill in play.

        On the other extreme three hours in full sun with a heat index above 40 can cause heat stroke or dehydrate you enough to be deadly as well.

        • @0xb
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          211 months ago

          Ahh that makes sense. Seriously I have seen all kinds of jokes and justifications but haven’t really seen an actual explanation. Thanks.

        • SokathHisEyesOpen
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          -311 months ago

          Heat index above 40? That’s ridiculously low. 80 degrees F and 40% humidity is an 80 index and that’s perfectly comfortable weather. Heck, I used to work manual labor outside for 8 hours per day in a heat index of 136+. It wasn’t fun, and I was hot as fuck, but I did it every day.

          • Pons_Aelius
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            11 months ago

            If you are in sub zero Celsius

            Sorry. I live where Celsius is used. I have no idea what 80F is.

            I was talking about a heat index of 40C. I thought that was obvious since I mentioned Celsius in the previous sentence.

            Apologies for the confusion.

            • SokathHisEyesOpen
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              111 months ago

              The confusion is because you said “a heat index above 40”, so I thought you meant the actual index, not the index of 40C with whatever humidity. 80f is 26.66c (sorry, idk if you use decimals in Celsius or not). The heat index of 136 that I used to work in would be 43.33c and 40% humidity, so about what your index would be. I guess it could be fatal if you didn’t stay hydrated, but probably not in 3 hours. At least not for someone who’s used to it. I did get heat exhaustion a few times when the temperatures rose to 46.11 C, thankfully never heat stroke. I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m trying to argue with you. I’m just trying to have a friendly conversation. Sometimes it’s hard to tell how things read on the other end.