The Survival Rule of 3’s States That You Can:
- Survive Three Seconds Without Hope
- Survive Three Minutes Without Oxygen
- Survive Three Hours Without Shelter
- Survive Three Days Without Water
- Survive Three Weeks Without Food
- Survive Three Months Without Love
A number can have a lot of power. If you’re new to survival or prepping, you may not be familiar with the lingo yet. That’s fine, that’s why you’re here. One of the common rules we have amongst survivalists and preppers is called the Rule of Threes.
Normally, we know and can assume that you can survive for three minutes without oxygen. You can survive three hours without Shelter. You can survive three days without water. And you can survive three weeks without food.
Why did survivalists and preppers make this a rule? Because it’s a very simple set of priorities to go by. The rule of three’s an excellent sequence of care that you need to fix in an emergency.
The Survival Rules Explained
Let’s break down this rule of survival piece by piece so you best understand it and why it’s important for us to remember.
3 Seconds Without Hope
A big part of why preparation is so crucial is so that when SHTF, you don’t panic!
If you panic, you’re done. The first part of the rule of 3’s in survival states that you can only survive three seconds without hope. So be prepared for emergencies before they happen so you’re prepared.
You can’t think and more importantly, you can’t act to get yourself out of danger.
3 Minutes Without Oxygen
First, you need to make sure you can breathe. So without saying, if you’re drowning. Getting above water is priority number one. Before shelter or food, you need to be able to breathe.
3 Hours Without Shelter
After you can breathe without trouble. Next, you should worry about the shelter. Put all of your energy towards the next step in the rule of three’s sequence
3 Days Without Water
One of the questions I see often when families are preparing for emergencies is, how long can you survive without water?
The survival rule of threes states that you can survive 3 days without water. Yes, three days without water. That’s it.
The majority of your body is made up of water. We need it and we need a lot of it every day. Now keep in mind, nearly everything you consume has atleast some water content. So it’s much easier to consume water than you may think.
3 Weeks Without Food
So food is the last priority of importance for you. You can go a long time without food. If you’re stranded in the wilderness, your first instinct might be to go look for food. But in reality, food is the very last thing you should worry about. Shelter and water are first and most important.
3 Months Without Love
This is the last part of the survival rule of three’s. The essence of why we’re on earth. To reproduce and further the human species.
After three months of being alone, loneliness starts to occur. The dreadful feeling of loneliness perhaps may be a form of punishment for not being social and being helpful companions.
Watch this video on a simple explanation of the rule of threes.
Most Important Rule of Survival
With all of these survival rules, guidelines, and steps to follow in emergency situations where your safety is in jeopardy, many wonder what is the most important or what is the first rule of survival?
The first rule is to prepare for disasters and emergencies by gaining knowledge and working on survival skills. Also, I would say to develop a strong survival mindset first as well. Without the right mindset, no piece of wisdom or primitive skill is going to help you.
More Rules of Threes
There’s more rules in survival that are named “rules of threes”. There is also the Water Survival Rules of Three.
When working on your water survival skills such as how to purify water with bleach, you may stumble upon rules of threes in relation to purifying water and drinkable emergency water.
There are two rules to remember when it comes to purifying water to drink. Created by the hydrologist Talal Balaa.
Observation Rule of Three
Before proceeding to water purification, we must observe the water first to make sure it meets certain criteria. Only then should you move on to purifying the water for drinking.
- Does it look good? Is the water clear? If not, what color is it? Is there anything floating or inside it?
- Does it smell good? Do you smell any odors of chemicals or rotten foods that may have contaminated it?
- Does it taste good? Before taking a gulp, taste a drop or two with your tongue.
If after observing those three details, if the water turns out to be impure , then move on to purification.
Water Purification Rule of Three
The water purification rule of 3 is simple. Just follow these 3 steps.
- Filter water through cloth.
- Wait for the sediment and small matter to settle in the water.
- Scoop out the water while being careful not to scoop any sediment. Boil the water to purify for safe drinking. If you can’t purify by boiling the water, use chemicals to purify it. And if you have no chemicals, use the sun or UV light to purify.
Using a shemagh scarf is perfect for filtering water with.
Conclusion
All of the rules of survival are essential to learn and remember in an emergency situation. The rules of 3’s are some of the most important rules and guidelines to learn. Knowing your priorities in a survival situation can make the difference between surviving and not.
We hope this article helped you learn the survival rule of threes so you can be more prepared in a survival scenario.
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