I have wondered why humans don't really have much of a water buffering capacity, mostly prompted by a line in Dune about "water-fat" Atreides. Would be great to be able to chug like two liters of water and go about your day reasonably hydrated.
Actually this very practice is described in the book "The Old Way". The natives in a dry region in Africa would drink massive amounts at a watering hole before setting off for a journey. It was probably more than 2 liters.
I try to take a similar approach when hiking of drinking as much water as I can before starting a hike. In a hot and dry climate you don't end up urinating out as much as you might think.
Exposure to this practice over time in a particular environment might be able to alter gene expression to better support the practice much like the hunter reflex develops with cold exposure. People often make the mistake of thinking their personal modern experience is close to some human limit.
"The Old Way" also points out that persistence hunting (mentioned in this article) could only be used under particular environmental conditions (mud after rain that slows down animals) with a particular animal that overheats more than others so it didn't seem a reliable hunting method.
To others reading this there needs to be a big bold WARNING: Do not drink liters of water as people have died doing just that. Google it and you’ll find horror stories of people in competition to chug tons of water only to make an ER trip and die on the way.
There is a myth on the internet that drinking shitload of water beyond comfort is acceptable and has zero risks because hey it’s just water right?
To be more precise: do not chug liters of water without supplemental electrolytes. What kills people is the fact that salts are water-soluble and are flushed out as you drink water. It's not the volume of water that's inherently dangerous. It's that it flushes out water-soluble electrolytes that are necessary to muscle function.
I can't edit my comment anymore but did upvote yours. I agree with those warnings about imitating this practice. My "drinking as much water as I can" is perhaps 1 liter, much less than what seemed to be described in "The Old Way".
In the article you point to the main issue seems to come from inhibition of urination. I think native people knew their bodies extremely well and could avoid any problem here whereas in modern times we have been training ourselves since being a small child to ignore or hold back urination. Combining that with other suppressors mentioned in that article can end in tragedy.
Water is pretty heavy (eg, denser than wood, denser than oil, denser than fat, etc).
Weight is costly (eg, mv^2 energy to accelerate). I guess human bodies have spent a lot of time trying to find the minimum amount of water necessary rather than trying to build up a reserve.
The little micro-optimisations add up over time. The penalty for excess weight doesn't have to be large before evolution tries to get rid of it. Historically, fat people are an anomaly.
> Would be great to be able to chug like two liters of water and go about your day reasonably hydrated.
During Ramadan (not Eid as someone pointed out!), most Muslims refrain from eating or drinking during the day, and Muslims are highly overrepresented in warmer countries, so it's definitely possible, though maybe not comfortable.
During the lunar month of Ramadan. Eid is the first day of the following month when Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan. (There is an unrelated separate Eid at a different point in the year).
When I lived with Saudis during Ramadan in college, their fasting strategy was mostly to just sleep all day and wake up a little before sundown. I ate some really delicious food during that month!
I have often visited Morocco and lived in Malaysia for some time.
Sort of, yes. During noon and afternoon most shops, restaurants, and other places were closed. Certain essential things were open. There was also a divide between rural vs urban, with urban have more open stores.
Especially in Morocco this didn't seem too uncommon even outside of Ramadan though as its often simply too hot to really work during the day.
Depends on the country. When we lived in Saudi, during Ramadan most stores took the morning off and were open well into the night (like midnight). Many businesses (banks etc) did a morning shift (9-1) and then an evening shift (6-10).
No. Rather productivity is down 50% or more for the entire month.
Imagine two civilizations otherwise equal. One works 12/12=100% of the year, and the other 11.5/12=96% of the years. Then compound the gains over 14 centuries!
Not just uncomfortable. I remember reading that women who are in early stage of pregnancy during that time are more likely to have disabled kids. (Women who know about pregnancy dont have to fast, so it affects early stages the most).
In the outdoors community, there is an emerging breed of ultralight backpacker that wants to shed carried weight so much that they refuse to carry water. Instead, they chug as much as they need when they reach a water source, and continue on the trail without any reserve in water bottles.
So it’s in their bodies instead of carried on their bodies? Maybe the few grams of plastic for the container means that much to them?
It’s seems like this is kind of related to where bikers (cyclists) pay double for a component to save 100 grams instead of losing a bit of body weight.
> It’s seems like this is kind of related to where bikers (cyclists) pay double for a component to save 100 grams instead of losing a bit of body weight.
Is kind of dumb argument. There is no tradeoff between the two. You can do both of these or neither. The additional weight in equipment will be there regardless of what happens to your bodyweight.
Which is why when I went hiking, I attached a couple of home-made carriers to the front straps of my rucksack. One to carry a water bottle, and the other to carry a camera. Having some of the weight on the front (rather than all of it on the back) helps. There's (quite old now) research that shows that people in Africa who carry immense loads on their heads actually have a more efficient walking gait than people who carry loads on their backs.
I suspect the amount you can "carry" in your body (ie. not including the amount you'll urinate 1 hour later) is in the order of 1-2kg tops, so ease of carrying isn't noticeable.
1-2kg can be a big fraction of the total weight an ultralight backbacker packs. I'm by no means an ultralight backpacker and my backpacks are usually around 10-15kg. A 10% saving is definitely noticable on longer hikes.
I think this is extremely dangerous because of what happens when you don't find water.
Getting lost on the trail, somebody getting injured, relying on water along the trail, just being sweatier than you expected, all of these end with somebody being very uncomfortable or worse.
OK - show me someone who's done a thruhike with just a Lifestraw.
Sorry, but not bringing a bottle or a flask because of weight is known as Stupid Light. Yeah, you could probably do it, but it's stupid to do. Another example is using a keychain light as your only light. You could do it, but it's stupid to do, and if you end up in an emergency situation, you're going to get little sympathy for the team of rescuers that save your stupid light butt. These ideas are what happens when you are sitting and looking at a spreadsheet of gear weights in a far larger proportion then actually being out and seeing what actually works.
I can't imagine doing any multi day hiking without carrying water, unless you are ABSOLUTELY SURE that water is available on the trail in regular intervals.
We probably could if we didn't sweat. Sweating (combined with hairless-ness) is a competitive advantage in thermal regulation, that enables long, long runs during hunting (or maybe foraging too, I don't know). But, you lose a lot of water.
I wonder if our closest living relatives have lesser or greater water capacities? You'd think persistence hunting in the savannah would select pretty hard for such an advantage, but perhaps that particular need was already offset by early tool-use? (portable water containers, wet furs)
Sure. Also you hydrate your whole body so all the processes that need water have water. And then you can last some time without water(without perceived negative effect), but I do prefer to always have water around.
half a liter and I'm going to the WC in 15 minutes. But then I weigh little. If you drink 2 liters and don't need to check the toilette for several hours, I'd visit a doctor.
Whats wrong with going to the toilet? Thats part of the body process to flush out unwanted substances. So if you drink enough, you flush out enough - and then you do not need so much water anymore. So you can drink lots of water and then not needing more water. So the storage of water you have when you are hydrated, lasts some time. That was my point.
But you are correct, that when you drink more and more, despite your body being already hydrated - then it pretty much comes out like it is soon after.
": Our findings agree with the long held notion that each gram of glycogen is stored in human muscle with at least 3 g of water. Higher ratios are possible (e.g., during REHFULL) likely due to water storage not bound to glycogen. "
If you want to store extra water for short periods drink/eat carbs
starch can also stimulate the uptake of water in your small intestine. Oral Rehydration Salts combine some dextrose and salts to mix into a liter of water. When properly mixed the salts are in a homeostatic quantity and won’t affect the salt balance of existing tissue. So you can drink them to recover from severe dehydration without risking hyponatremia.
You need to replace the salts in your body if you're drinking large amounts of water. Sodium and potassium are what signal muscles to fire. If you drink excessive amounts of water without supplementing electrolytes, you end up with water toxicity, which can be fatal.
Sports drinks are generally water with sodium chloride and potassium chloride added, often with sugar as well. Trust me, if you're sweating a lot and drinking a lot of water, you need a source of the appropriate salts.
We do store water in our fat. Dry fasting will cause your body to more aggressively break down the fat to get this water. Unfortunately, your body won't/can't always break down fat.
In Russia there are dry fasting resorts that allow people to fast without drinking water for 7-11 days under medical supervision. Most people do it for medical conditions, but some indeed as a way to quickly drop weight. Note that such fasting does not avoid all contacts with water. People still bath and brush teeth.
