TEOTWAWKI Scenario: How Long Can You Go Without Food or Water?

It's the End of the World...

Sure, you've pondered how long you would make it in a true apocalypse-type situation while watching your favorite disaster movie. But how long can a person survive without food, water, or air?

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Nuclear apocalypse, total ecological breakdown, asteroid hitting the planet, unstoppable pandemic - these are just a few scenarios that could cause breakdown of institutions and resources that keep human life on Earth running. These (and other) global disaster situations are often called The End of the World as We Know It scenarios, or TEOTWAWKI for short.

We generally overestimate human endurance in a true survival situation. In this article, we'll explore what real-life examples and physiology can show us about the maximum amount of time humans can go without food and water.

01
Survival Limits
02
How Long Can You Go Without Food?
03
How Does Starvation Affect Survival?
04
How Long Can You Go Without Water?
05
Importance of Water Intake
06
w Long Can You Survive Without Both Food and Water?
07
Preparing for TEOTWAWKI Scenarios
08
Additional Resources

Survival Limits

The "Rule of 3" is a handy way to remember basic human limits.

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You can survive:

3 minutes without oxygen
3 hours without shelter
3 days without water
3 weeks without food

This list is useful because it helps you prioritize your needs. If you are stuck outside in a blizzard, you don't need to worry about food because your lack of shelter is the pressing concern.

The Rule of 3 is a generalization. Your endurance may be less depending on what kind of weather, stress, or threats you are surrounded by. Your individual physical condition and health conditions will also play a role.

For example, if you're stranded in a desert in high temperatures, your body will dehydrate much more quickly than in a moderate environment, making water a more urgent need than your diet. Similarly, the "3 weeks without food" guideline assumes that you have shelter and water available. Finally, if you're moving around a lot fighting off threats or building a shelter, your body will need water and food more frequently.

You can expect the Rule of 3 to be the upper limit of your survival capacity. Some survivalists even discourage teaching the Rule of 3 because they believe it can cause people to become overconfident. Although you may be able to stay alive three days without water, you will certainly feel the effects of dehydration after only a few hours. More on that below.

How Long Can You Go Without Food?

How long a person can survive without food depends on many factors.

Assuming proper hydration, the average human can survive between 8-21 days without eating. Your body weight also affects this. There is some evidence that the body can burn fat stores as energy in the absence of proper food intake.

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In 2006, a Japanese hiker reportedly survived 21 days without food. In 2020, an Alaskan man was re s cued after spending 3 weeks with almost no food and the most basic shelter.

Victims of famine tend to eat less and less as food stores run out, skipping one or two meals, then eating every other day, lengthening the ordeal. This kind of starvation is often fatal within a month as malnutrition sets in.

A hunger strike is when people don't eat for a period of time to protest something. The most famous strike was Maha t ma Gandhi's in 1943, which lasted for 21 days. He drank only a few sips of water and almost died, as the body cannot go too long without a balanced diet.

Days Without Food

A person's body begins to feel the effects of hunger very quickly. The physical changes come in specific phases as the body tries to limit damage.

Within the first 1-3 days: Many practice intermittent fasting as a weight loss strategy. Others fast for a day or two for religious reasons. This usually doesn't cause long-term physical changes in a healthy person, and while you may lose a marginal amount of weight, it's mostly just water.

The glucose consumed from food is usually used up within 24 hours. Then the body starts to convert glycogen, its energy reserves, which are stored in the liver and muscles. This continues over long stretches of time, but excessive starvation may prevent other organs from functioning properly.

By 4-7 days:

The glycogen is usually used up within the first 72 hours of starvation. Then, the body makes a major metabolic shift. It begins to access stored fat to produce an energy source called ketones. This process is called ketosis.

8-14 days: It depends on the person, but generally after a week your body must start breaking down muscle to survive if you're not getting enough calories.

Beyond 14 days: While it is possible to survive beyond two weeks without food, permanent damage will occur as the body breaks down muscle mass. People enter the danger zone once they've lost 10% of their body mass index or drop below a BMI of 16.5.

Short-Term Effects

Even short term fasting can have uncomfortable symptoms. If you are stuck without food, you can expect the following effects:

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Headache
Irritability
Stomach cramps
Fatigue
Weakness
Weakened immunity
Slower wound healing
Feeling cold
Long Term Effects
Prolonged starvation requires hospitalization to recover from. Hunger strikers or stranded hikers rescued can't immediately sit down to a steak dinner. They usually need IV treatment before they can start eating normal meals..

Complications of long-term food deprivation can include:

Cardiovascular disease
Stroke
Impaired metabolic function
Convulsions
Hallucinations
Abnormal behavior
Organ shrinkage
Reproductive damage

How Does Starvation Affect Survival?

Obviously, the lists of symptoms above have some serious implications for your ability to survive.

In the short-term, lethargy, weakness, and cold can make it harder for you to take care of yourself in a survival situation. You might not have enough energy to build a shelter or defend yourself, and it will be harder to stay warm.

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If you continue to go days or weeks without food, the psychological effects can be extreme. You might become obsessive about food, shredding what little you have or hoarding it. You might become paranoid and see threats that aren't there, or even have full-blown hallucinations.

Early Stages of Starvation

The human body is fairly resilient and will adapt to keep itself protected and productive as long as possible. Even so, symptoms of starvation appear early:

Weight loss
Fatigue
Depression or hopelessness
Dizziness

If you are in the early stages of starvation, you might notice that after a few days you are less interested in food than you previously were. This is a bad sign as the body will begin to break down. It means that your body is eating into its fat stores, which puts a lot of extra stress on your pancreas and liver.

Feeling light-headed or finding it hard to think is often an early sign as well. Remember, you might not actually "feel hungry" in the way you're used to. That's why it's important to know the above symptoms, because the physical signs you're used to will change as part of your body's adaptive response to starvation.

Advanced Stages of Starvation

In an advanced stage of food deprivation, you might not be able to do anything other than lie there.

Humanitarians working in starvation-affected populations have reported victims who could barely stand as the body goes into survival mode. Once the body's reserves of glucose and glycogen are gone, the body literally starts consuming itself.

Once this happens, all the organs are affected. Eventually, the damage is too extensive to repair and death due to starvation is the result.

How Long Can You Go Without Water?

We can live at most three days without water. In a survival situation, where you're deprived of food and possibly under extreme physical stress, the likely time will be much lower.

An adult body is 60% water. Even a short time without water shows severe symptoms. Body temperature rises, digestion and elimination are impaired, the blood thickens, and dizziness, fatigue, and disorientation result.

These symptoms are even more pronounced if it's hot or if the person is exerting energy, like hiking or building a shelter.

Days Without Water

First Day: Dehydration kicks in very quickly. Once the body has lost about 2% of its water, you will feel thirsty, sweat less, and produce less urine. Most people have experienced symptoms of mild dehydration on a hot day or when they forget to drink enough water.

If this isn't addressed quickly, you will feel dizzy and develop a headache. Your mouth will feel dry, your body temperature will rise, your blood pressure will be affected and you may get cramps or stiff joints.

Second and Third Days: The symptoms will be severe. If you are consuming some food with water content, you might be able to survive. Organ failure and death are likely by the third day.

Fourth to Fifth Days: It's unlikely that you'll make it to the fourth day of total water deprivation. Those who survive often experience seizures, hallucinations, or total unconsciousness. The damage may be permanent, as the blood chemistry is altered.

Short-Term Effects of Dehydration

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Within just a few hours, dehydration will make you feel thirsty, irritable, and lightheaded.

Other symptoms include:

Sweating less
Rise in body temperature
Fatigue
Headache
Less urination
Craving sweets

In an emergency scenario, dealing with your thirst is an urgent priority. Unless you're actively on fire or a Grizzly bear is running at you, water should be your first concern.

Every single body function relies on staying hydrated. If you need to seek shelter, find food, or defend yourself, your body needs water to do it.

Long-Term Effects of Dehydration

Severe dehydration sets in after only a day, and sometimes faster if you're exerting yourself or in a hot climate. The lessened blow flow to your brain can actually cause you to make worse choices in an emergency situation.

One British expedition guide experienced this when he was stranded in Zambia without water. After only a few hours of hiking in an extremely hot climate without water, heat exhaustion set in. He ultimately chose to climb down a dangerously steep gorge to reach a river instead of waiting for rescue. Luckily, he made it and help arrived soon after.

Importance of Water Intake

Every body function requires water. Men require about 3.7 liters of water per day. Women require about 2.7 liters. It provides energy, but also ensures smooth bodily function. Simply put, the body runs on water!

Source: Juicing for Health

While performing physical work in a hot environment, it's recommended to drink about 1 liter per hour gradually during work. It's important not to chug it all at once, as this can make the salt concentration in the blood drop too quickly, leading to blood pressure imbalance and possible fainting.

As you can see, the amount of water needed to survive while passively sitting around is much less than the amount you will need if you are busy finding food, constructing shelter, fighting off threats, or surviving a harsh climate.

To conserve water, you may decide to ration it. You can also prioritize working during the cool hours so you don't overheat as quickly.

Maximizing Limited Water Resources

In a true TEOTWAWKI scenario, the water system will definitely not be working and natural sources may be polluted.

Some strategies for finding safe water:

Using test strips to identify safe water sources
Boiling water
Using a portable filtration system
Using rehydration tablets

Source: Na t ional Health Service

How Long Can You Survive Without Both Food and Water?

As we've seen, a reliable source of water makes it possible to survive longer without food. If you're missing both sources, your chances of survival drop down to a day or two under the stresses of an emergency situation.

Recently, 100 Chin e se miners survived for 8 days without food or water, some even eating sawdust to help them feel full.

In 1979, Andreas Mihavecz survived for 18 days without food or water after being forgotten in a prison cell.

Importantly, in both of these situations the survivors weren't required to exert a lot of energy, thereby conserving some calories and body fat.

Practical Tips for Surviving Without Food and Water

Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. If you want to know how to get started with an emergency food stockpile, check out article on long-term food storage. Understand high-calorie foods and include them in your stockpile.

You can also ration food to survive longer. Eating small portions throughout the day is better than hoarding it all for one meal in the evening. This keeps your blood sugar, blood pressure, and circulation more consistent.

Surviving scarcity over the long haul takes a mental toll as well. Distraction is an effective technique to keep you from focusing on food. Making mental lists and focusing on the task in front of you also helps maintain mental resilience.

Physical strategies involve resting as much as possible to conserve energy, working during cooler parts of the day, and eating and drinking more slowly to feel more full.

Long-Term Survival Solutions

There are a number of off-grid water solutions that could increase your chances of survival in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. All of these depend on the ability to safely recycle water. These include:

Rainwater harvesting
Buried cisterns
River filtration systems
Wells

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A survival garden and hunting skills are another way to ensure a sustainable food source. Knowing regional edible plants can also help fill the gaps. Knowing off-grid preservation techniques, like smoking and drying, can also help preserve food.

While you can make preparations, no human can be truly individualistic. We all need the support of others and making it during TEOTWAWKI would absolutely depend on pooling resources to help build shelter, secure food, and provide basic medical care. While one person can survive for weeks or months on their stockpiled supplies and personal ingenuity, making it for years or decades would be very unlikely without help from the surrounding community and at least a rudimentary amount of specialization and trade.

In general, a healthy human adult can survive about three days without any water. It will be less if there is a lot of physical activity, stress, or hot conditions.

With adequate hydration, people have been known to survive up to a month without food, but this is pretty rare and results in ongoing health problems.

Preparing for TEOTWAWKI Scenarios

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In this day and age, the possibility of TEOTWAWKI can seem less like sci-fi and more like a very likely scenario.

Preparedness can help save your life during the crucial first few days of a disaster. Creating the resources necessary to cooperate with others and sustain a reliable level of subsistence can make a huge difference in the ability to carry on after a larger societal breakdown.

In the midst of your preparation, don't forget to realize that human needs remain the same regardless of what's happening in the wider world. The ability to work, obtain food, and help those around us will remain central no matter what.

Additional Resources

Further Reading and References

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