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Could Following These Survival Ideas Kill You?
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Survival Institute

Could Following These Survival Ideas Kill You?

by
August 13, 2018

Prepping for a disaster situation is vital if you want to be ready for when the worst happens, but, like anything else, there are a variety of ideas about what is most important to for you to focus on. Now, certainly, what you choose to focus on and prepare for is going to depend on your specific situation while preparing, your specific situation at the time the disaster happens, and what you think is most likely to happen so that you are most likely to prepare for that situation.

Even with those variables, there are some ideas which keep coming up in people’s minds that you need to be aware of so that you can ignore them. Here are five ideas (or “myths”) presented by a writer going by “‘Above Average’ Joe” for your consideration, with our comments:

  1. Your Priority Should Be Looking For Food. As Joe points out, you can survive longer without food than you can without clean drinking water, so Joe advises to focus on finding clean drinking water. Joe also recommends focusing on finding shelter especially if you are in harsh conditions like cold winter weather. Simply put, Joe hits it on the head with this one. Food is important, but it is still secondary to a few other things.
  2. A Shelter Means A Roof Over Your Head. While Joe emphasizes the need for a warm bed to help during cold nights (which I agree with), I would also add that a roof over your head isn’t enough to keep you safe. You need to plan your shelter so that you are sleeping in an area where you are unlikely to be bothered by either people or animals that might attack you (or, at the very least, steal your food). Location of your shelter is vitally important, and a roof only is not enough.
  3. Conserve Your Water For Later. Joe says to drink your water when you are thirsty. Good advice because dehydration has a nasty way of sneaking up on you so that you find yourself suffering from its effects before you realize that it’s happening. So, this hearkens back to point number one: make finding clean water a priority.
  4. You Should Drink Your Urine In An Emergency Situation. Frankly, I can’t see my wife even considering this, and, I suspect, you (or your spouse) aren’t likely to go for it, either. So, for many people, this myth isn’t even an option worth addressing. And, as Joe writes, “If it’s scorching hot and you’re severely overheated, drinking your urine could cause your body’s cooling systems to malfunction. It’s only going to do more bad than good so erase this belief once and for all.” Just say no. Again, read point number one.
  5. You Should Suck The Venom Out Of A Snake Bite. Joe writes that sucking the venom out doesn’t prevent it from spreading. You simply need to seek medical help.

So, there you have it: five survival myths that need to go away (or, at least, be put into perspective). And three of them can (mostly) be fixed by finding clean drinking water. Just doing that one thing will go a long way towards making sure that you survive.

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