Our body consists of over 60% water. So, if you’re ever caught in a disaster, then you definitely need to understand why it is important to conserve water.
Water is vital to the body. In fact, water is sometimes considered to be “life” itself. Even our blood, which is necessary to live, contains water.
This is why we have these 6 tips to conserve water for survival, to make sure that you have enough water supply for the long haul.
6 Tips to Conserve Water
Tip #1: Limit how much you drink
The first thing that you should always do whenever you are lacking water supply is to reduce your water intake.
Depending on how long you need that water to last for, or when you will be able to get water again, should determine how much you limit yourself.
If you don’t have any idea of when you will receive fresh water, then it is advisable that you limit yourself for the long run, just in case.
If you continue to drink water normally during an emergency, your problem will not only be the fact that you will run out of water quickly, but that your body will dehydrate sooner.
When you drink often, you will also urinate often and when you urinate, your body loses precious fluids.
So, by limiting your water intake, your body will utilize the body’s stored water before having to expel it through urination.
Tip #2: Avoid diuretic drinks and food
This tip is very important. The normal process of urinating is already a danger when the water supply is low, so you certainly don’t want to worsen this further.
Therefore, you should avoid having drinks and foods that have diuretic chemicals, such as alcohol, caffeine, or ginger, just to name a few.
When you consume diuretic foods or drinks, the body expels water even more. This is because these foods or drinks that contain the diuretic chemical reduces the body’s ability to hold your water content.
This leads to forcing your kidneys to lose its proper function control and thus results in losing a lot of water when urinating.
Tip #3: Don’t overexert yourself
One of the obvious and common tips, when water is limited, is to reduce your physical activity. When you exercise, your muscles will naturally generate heat, which then leads to sweat.
When you sweat, you are losing valuable water from your body. You can never prevent yourself from sweating as it is the body’s natural reaction to heat to cool you down.
So, if you avoid any unnecessary physical activity or work too hard, then you can preserve a lot of body fluids.
Tip #4: Maintain a normal body temperature
Whenever possible, try to maintain regular body temperature. For example, if you are too cold, then this can lead to shivering and your body will have to work harder to generate itself heat in order to keep warm.
If you are in a warm or hot environment, you can lose up to 5 gallons of water alone. So, even if you cannot drink the water by the ocean or at the lake, then you can at least go for a short dip to cool off.
Whatever you can do, utilize your resources to conserve water.
Tip #5: Consume carbohydrates
Foods that are high in protein or fat require a lot more water than carbohydrate foods. This is because they take more effort to break down, unlike carbohydrates, which only require a little moisture.
Carbohydrates are perfect survival foods and are great solutions whenever you are feeling dehydrated.
In addition, your muscles benefit highly from carbohydrates because they primarily run on glucose, so these foods are good sources for energy that’s needed in a disaster situation.
Tip #6: Practice proper breathing
The final tip is a very simple one – to breathe normally.
This kind of thing might never enter your mind, but when it comes down to all seriousness, though, every little bit of help counts. Naturally, everyone breathes through their nose.
However, when you are in a state of panic, shock, or even out of breath, it is best to focus your breathing through the nose. Breathing through the mouth actually uses up more water than through the nose, especially when exhaling.
Proper breathing techniques can also help you feel more emotionally calm. This can be a great comfort when suffering from a disaster event.
Conclusion
Thankfully, we can survive for a long time without food because our body has plenty of protein and fat storage to use in emergency situations. Unfortunately, this is not the same with water.
Due to our body consisting of mostly water, we cannot live too long without it. These 6 tips to conserve water for survival will no doubt save you plenty of fluid loss, until you can finally search for water.
Learn about how you can purify drinking water in this article: How to Purify Water 8 Ways and Survive
