When we think of survival, we tend to think that the essential elements are food and water. However, in a life or death situation, there is another element that’s just as important: oxygen.
It’s called the Rule of 3’s, which states that you can go without food for three weeks, water for 3 days, but only three minutes without oxygen.
It is important to note that the Rule Of 3’s For Survival refers specifically to adult humans. Children, seniors, and those with underlying medical conditions will all have different survival times.
The Rule Of 3’s For Survival is as follows:
The first two rules of the Rule Of 3’s For Survival are closely related, as we can live for a few weeks without food – but not much longer. The general rule of thumb is that our stomachs can only digest the contents of a meal about twelve hours after it has been consumed, so if you’ve eaten your last morsel in an emergency situation you should be able to stretch your rations out for about four or five days before complete starvation sets in.
Water is easier to find than food – but if you don’t have access to clean drinking sources, the amount of time you’ll be able to survive will depend on how well your body copes with its lack of fluids.
If your air supply is threatened, you’ll focus on survival first, since you can only survive three minutes without air to breathe.
The Rule Of 3’s For Survival: Three Weeks Without Food
While there have been instances where people survived much longer than this (you may remember Bear Grylls who claims to have survived 47 days without food), you should not attempt going more than three weeks without food under any circumstances. The rule of thumb here is that if you’re hungry enough to start seeing things then it’s already too late and you need to find water immediately.
For the Rule Of 3’s For Survival, a healthy adult male can last approximately 3 weeks without food under sleep-like conditions. Hypothermia and dehydration will often set in before starvation does, which is why your best bet here is to try and find a safe place to shelter from the elements as soon as you realize that you’re going to be stuck where you are for a while.
The Rule Of 3’s For Survival: Three Days Without Water
It’s worth noting that the human body is made up of 60% water so if you can find enough water after three days without it, this will help significantly with the effects of dehydration.
If you are in a life or death situation where food is scarce, then your body can survive three days without water. Human beings typically consume 8 glasses of water per day and this should be replaced through natural sources such as fruits and vegetables or even rainwater.
However, if this is not available, you must avoid saltwater at all costs because it will dehydrate you further due to the high sodium content.
The only exception to the rule here would be if you had some sort of still that was able to distill seawater into clean drinking water (and we’re talking about millions of dollars’ worth of technology here, nothing improvised).
The Rule Of 3’s For Survival: Three Minutes Without Oxygen
In any disaster scenario, there is a very limited amount of resources available to survive. This includes water, food, and -of course- oxygen. Air filtration units provides sufficient amount of oxygen/clean air to your bunker, panic room, or survival shelter, giving you clean air for years on end!
The most common and affordable type of NBC systems is Castellex Air350 and Castellex Air550 air filtration complete sets.
An NBC air filtration system can also be very useful for making sure that biological, nuclear, and chemical contamination won’t get in. Most preppers don’t think about how important this is. However, it is very possible that a terrorist or rogue state like North Korea could get its hands on some WMDs and initiate a catastrophe of epic proportions.
Because NBC air filtration units can scrub out up to 99.99% of particles these devices will also ensure that nothing bad gets in and makes you sick (or worse). Getting one for your shelter or bunker should be quite high on the priority list!
The Castellex Air550 NBC air filter is a very popular choice for this job and with good reason. It can successfully filter out harmful pollutants such as PM0.3 particles (dust) and even smoke from a fire! This way, you can be sure that your family will always have access to clean air no matter what happens.
The Castellex Air550 probably the best available solution for your DIY bunker or DIY survival shelter project. Castellex Air series NBC air filtration systems are easy to install, to operate and to maintain. So, if you had to choose between food and water during a disaster, remember that oxygen is the most important element for survival. Carbon dioxide build-up is the real danger and you need to make sure that there’s oxygen for everyone.
