Without which a person lives the least time. How long can you live without water

Starving always and everywhere: Cambodian monks declared a year in front of the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh in 2014, protesting against the construction of a dam by China and the violation of human rights in Tibet. Hunger strike is a desperate and most likely last step of people who rebel against something and want to achieve set goals even at the cost of your own life!

Although, in our time, adherents of healthy lifestyle (healthy lifestyle) quite often practice a dry fast, when you can’t even drink. However, they boast that it is supposedly useful. Ok, maybe so, just read first what happens to you during your hunger strike, and how it affects the life processes that take place inside it.

Experts believe that after more than two weeks of fasting, the human body begins to collapse.
  Keti Kaubrau of the British Nutrition Association says a dry hunger strike after 8-10 days leads to death from dehydration. If the starving man continues to take water, then he has a chance to live up to two months.

First days
  Nadezhda Savchenko's hunger strike has been going on for the second month. During the first days, the body uses its own energy reserves. First, glycogen, and then adipose tissue can provide the necessary energy.
  But soon the starving skin begins to lose color, there is a smell from the mouth. Saliva kills bacteria, and during a hunger strike, the body saves saliva while waiting for food.
  A person experiences headaches and breakdown.
  In the early days, despite a strong feeling of hunger, there is still no significant threat to the body.

3-7 days
  After three to four days, the feeling of hunger begins to weaken.
  At the same time, glucose stores in the body are depleted.
  The body takes the fact of hunger for granted and begins to use any remaining energy sources: fat, and then muscle tissue. There is a sharp weight loss.
  At this stage, the body produces ketones, a large amount of which is harmful to the body.
  According to Sharman Russell, who wrote a book on a hunger strike, in the early stages of fasting, the biggest threat is low blood pressure. A person can lose consciousness and hit his head, which can lead to death.
  However, death may already occur at this stage if the hunger strike is dry.

Second week
  Antidiuretic hormone regulates the amount of urine excreted, thus participating in maintaining a constant water-salt metabolism in the body. An exhausted body begins to consume tissues of vital organs such as the heart and liver.
  It all depends on the constitution of the body of a particular person. If, for example, a person has a lot of fatty tissue, then a hunger strike can last longer.
  If a person has health problems, then a hunger strike will only aggravate them.

3-4 week
  After two weeks of fasting, the symptoms worsen, health begins to deteriorate rapidly.
  Muscle atrophy, general weakening, difficulties of the musculoskeletal system are observed.
  Slows the heart rate (bradycardia), starving freezes. The effects of a lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) begin to manifest.
  In a starving man, vomiting consists of gastric juice, problems with vision and consciousness appear.

4-5 week
  In May 1989, Chinese students began a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, demanding reform. Thiamine deficiency worsens.
  There is an involuntary movement of the eyes, dizziness, a person begins to double in the eyes.

More than 6 weeks
  At this stage, there is a direct threat to the life of the starving. There are problems of brain activity, most of the time a person is unconscious and does not respond to others.
  After the body has depleted all reserves of vitamins and minerals, a starving person becomes ill with jaundice and scurvy.
  Some people have deafness and blindness at this stage.
  After six weeks of starvation, people die from heart failure or an excess of toxins in the body.
  In some countries, when there is a threat to the life of a hunger strike prisoner, he is force-fed.

It's no secret: a person is 80% water. Much in our body depends on water, for example, the quality and structure of the skin, strong teeth, metabolism, growth rate and thickness of nails - human health is literally based on water and its consumption. An interesting fact, but without food a person can live several times longer than without water. Scientists conducted a number of studies and experiments, and history also has curious cases that confirm their words. By the way, a person needs to not only drink, but also to allocate. In this article, you will learn the records for survival without water, the possible consequences, as well as the reasons for such a strong human sensitivity to water.

  How long have people lived without water

History knows the amazing cases in which people survived in extreme situations after technological disasters or injuries, without getting a drop of water for all these days. Of course, this affects their general health, climate, mental state, as well as a number of other important reasons, therefore, such cases can be called a miracle.

• One little boy in the capital of Mexico, Mexico City, lived without water for 13 days. For almost two weeks, a nine-year-old student was lying under the rubble of buildings after the earthquake, until a group of rescuers discovered him. All this time he remained conscious and survived.
• Another striking incident happened with a resident of the city of Frunze. It was in 1947, then a fifty-year-old man received a head injury and could not move independently. He spent 20 days without food, water, or other amenities. When he was finally found, the man had no pulse, there was practically no breathing. However, the next day he regained consciousness and regained the ability to speak.

To date, this twenty-day break in drinking water is an exceptional record. Of course, on the Internet and newspapers you can find many stories about longer records, but not one of them has been confirmed and documented.

  How many people can live without water - expert opinion

A number of physiologists conducted tests and came to a certain conclusion about how long a person can live without drinking water:

• An average healthy person can live ten days at rest if the air temperature does not go beyond 16-23 degrees Celsius.
• If the temperature rises to 26 degrees, then the survival period immediately drops to nine days.
• Only a week you can live without water at a temperature of 29 degrees.
• Already at 36 degrees Celsius, a person will not be able to live longer than three days at rest.

Keep in mind that all of the above calculations apply only to healthy people who do not move at all all the time, and are quite approximate. If you add dry air, an unfavorable climate and stress to these criteria, then survival is greatly reduced.

  What happens when a person does not drink water for a long time

All the processes of your body suffer, except for this, after a few days a person begins to die, just slowly and painfully enough.

First, a person may begin to suffer and kidney failure, a strong dry cough will begin, there will be almost no moisture left on the formation of saliva, as well as on washing the eyes with a tear. The skin and especially the lips will crack to blood, and the protective functions of your immunity will be greatly weakened, as a result of which even a minor infection will be fatal. After that, problems with the autonomic system begin: the heart rate quickens, pressure jumps, breathing becomes more complicated. In this situation, a person does not live very long, especially if, due to stress, he spends moisture on tears.

As you can see, water is one of the most important components of our life, which is much more important than even food. That is why all over the world so much fresh water is valued and invented new desalination systems.

How many days can a person live without food? About 20-25 days, if it is a man with a body weight of 70 kg and he maintains water balance in the body. Women or older people will live a little longer without food. Why is this so, and not otherwise, read under the cut.

Content:

How long can a person live without food?

The maximum duration of fasting depends on many factors. Scientists and doctors give a person two months under ideal conditions for the body. But even in ideal climatic conditions, if you do not drink water, the body will die from dehydration in 5-7 days. In addition to climatic conditions, for the longest possible period of human existence without food, the following factors are important:

• current state of health;
• body mass;
• willpower.

Naturally, a person in good physical shape can do without food for a long time, but you need to remember that without fat reserves, the body will take energy from the muscles. The human body is designed so that when digesting food, carbohydrates, fats and proteins remain in reserve. If necessary, take energy, he will break down fat reserves, if food is not at hand. And if the body has nowhere to draw energy from, it will begin to die.

What happens in the body during fasting?

First four days  without food, a general malaise and an urgent need for the stomach to fill it with something begins to appear. There are pains in the lower abdomen, as well as excessive salivation.

Five to eight days  without food, they can dull the appetite. White plaque appears on the tongue, bad breath appears, urine becomes dark, cloudy, muscles begin to weaken, pulse slows and blood pressure decreases, malaise of the whole body worsens well-being.

During this period, the body’s fat reserves are consumed, then the body draws energy, spending muscle reserves. The glucose level decreases and sharp weight loss begins.

Important!  Given the adverse conditions: cold, excessive heat, stress, viral infections - the body spends twice as many calories.

Ninth to twelfth day  Without food, the human body goes into a completely different mode of life support. The so-called acidotic crisis sets in - the body learns to draw energy from the tissues of vital organs - the liver and heart. Immunity does not cope with its functions. Chronic diseases (if any) are significantly exacerbated.

Thirteenth to Twentieth Day  the general condition is stabilized and health is improved, because the body is rebuilt and draws energy autonomously. Pressure and pulse are noticeably reduced, constant drowsiness is noticeable.

Twenty to twenty five days  muscles begin to atrophy, moving becomes more and more difficult. A constant feeling of hunger does not give rest, vomiting consisting of gastric juice is manifested, vision and consciousness become dull.

Over 30 days  for the hungry one is fraught with a direct threat to life. A new attack of acidotic crisis causes: persistent dizziness, double eyes, fainting, and complete disregard for surrounding stimuli.

Important!  When the body runs out of its own supply of resources, jaundice and scurvy begin. Less commonly, a person becomes deaf and blind. If a person is not helped, and the process of starvation continues further, he will die from an excess of toxins in the body and heart failure.

How many days can you do without food without harming your health?

Two to three days of fastingable to cleanse your body of toxins and toxins. But do not abuse it, as well as starving yourself over the norm - in addition to causing harm to your health, you will not get anything.

Who will live longer without food?

Even taking into account statistics, it is difficult to give an accurate forecast, since this is all purely individual. Statistics report that losing up to 40% of his body weight during a hunger strike, a person dies.

The same statistics say that with sufficient drinking, during starvation, young men and women under 17 are the first to die, the next are men, then the elderly and women at the end of the list.

Continuing the theme of personality:

1. One African woman got into the Guinness Book of Records with a fasting record of 102 days.
2. And an organism unprepared for such stress is not able to hold out for two weeks.

Situations in life are different, but be that as it may, do not bring your body to prolonged starvation. Take care of yourself and be healthy!

Photos from open sources

Survival experts say that without food you can live for three weeks, without water - three days and without air - three minutes.

What, in the end, kills us when we are deprived of the most necessary and how long we can actually live without food, water, sleep or air?

How long can you live without food

It depends on factors that include general health, age, and body fat stores. According to one medical study, on average, adults can survive 8 to 12 weeks without food. There are documented cases where several people lasted 25 weeks.

It’s not just killing hunger, sometimes death comes from dehydration, because a hungry person is less sensitive to thirst. Due to a weakened immune system, there is also a greater likelihood of contracting a fatal infection. Vitamin deficiency can also lead to death. If a person goes hungry for a long time, the body begins to use protein from the muscles (including the heart) as a source of energy. Then the cause of death may be cardiac arrest due to tissue damage and an imbalance of electrolytes.

Fatal thirst

Depending on your age, gender and weight, you consist of 50-65% of the water that is needed to digest food, transport oxygen and nutrients through the circulatory system, remove waste products and protect internal organs. Since we need water so much, it’s not surprising that dying from dehydration is a painful process.

At first you experience unbearable thirst. Kidneys suffer because not enough fluid to produce urine. Attempting to urinate can result in a burning sensation in the bladder and urethra. The skin becomes dry and cracking. Coughing throat. The increased acidity of the stomach can lead to vomiting. Blood coagulates, increasing the heart rate. As a result of dehydration, the tongue swells, and the eyes and brain dry out. The head just breaks. Dehydration ultimately leads to hallucinations, cramps, and coma. Death can occur as a result of liver failure, kidney failure, or cardiac arrest.

It is believed that they die of thirst after three days without water. But there are numerous reports of people who lasted a week or longer. It depends on several factors, including weight, health, stamina, temperature and humidity. The record is 18 days without water - only one prisoner who was accidentally forgotten managed to hold out so much. However, he may have licked condensate from the walls of his cell, which allowed him to do without water for so long.

How many people can survive without sleep

Sleep, as you know, plays an important role. Lack of sleep leads to a decrease in concentration, a slowdown in mental processes, a decrease in motivation and a distorted perception of reality.

It was experimentally confirmed that normal people can not sleep for 8-10 days without any obvious damage to their health.

The world record belongs to Randy Gardner, a 17-year-old student who stayed awake for 264 hours (about 11 days) during a scientific experiment in 1965.

However, there are rare disorders, such as Morvan syndrome, in which a person may not sleep for several months! The question of how long people can stay awake ultimately remains unanswered.

I can not breathe

How long can a person do without air, or rather, without oxygen? When oxygen is not delivered to the brain, death occurs due to a lack of glucose to supply brain cells.

Brain death occurs approximately six minutes after the heart stops beating. If help arrives in time, the brain cells will not suffer significant damage.

However, people can train to use oxygen more efficiently. The world freediving record holder held his breath for 22 minutes and 22 seconds without harming his brain!