Beyond immediate physical danger (such as injury or threat of injury),
core body temperature should your first concern in a survival situation.
You can live 3 weeks without food and 3 days without water… but you can die from exposer to the elements in as little as 3 hours. So keeping your body warm/cool should be one of your highest priorities in a survival situation. Hypothermia and hyperthermia are much more of an immediate danger in a survival situation than are dehydration or starvation, so keep yourself warm/cool at almost any/all costs.
Principles of Heat Transfer
Most of us “know” innately how to regulate our core body temperature already, whether we realize it or not. We do it every day. If we are hot, we crank up the AC, turn on the ceiling fan, change into some shorts or a tank top, make an icy cold beverage and sit in the shade, eat a snow cone, take a dip in the pool, make a fire in the fire place, put on a sweater or wool cap, slip on some warm socks, grab a blanket, drink a cup of coffee or hot cocoa… you get the idea. Except, we don’t call it “regulating core body temperature”. We refer to it as being “comfortable”.
So if we are all such experts in how to keep warm and cool, why do we even need to learn anything more about how to do this? Well, because in a survival situation, there will likely be now air conditioners. No furnaces or ceiling fans. No ice makers or snow cones. No misters or ice cream cones. The challenge isn’t learning to do what we already do every day. It’s learning how to do it without any of the tools that we are accustomed to using every day.
First line of defense: Clothing
Wicking… Insulation… breathable… built in sun screen…
Fire or Shelter? Which one first?
Fire Quick fix, but short more work in the long term. Fire cannot protect you from wind, water, or heat.
Shelter, invest in longer term and more comprehensive protection from elements. Shelter can protect you from wind, water, and direct sun.
Nature’s Helpers
One other variable you can use to your advantage in terms of core temp regulation if you wisely factor it in is where you choose to locate yourself/your shelter. One of the more obvious examples of this is choosing a location for your shelter in the wind or out of the wind. Or in the shade or out of the shade. Different types of terrain tend to have their own “sub-climates” as well. For example, the south side of a hill will get more sunlight than the north side. That can/will help you… Ridge tops tend to get more airflow because they are more exposed to winds. Heat also rises and cool air sinks, making valleys and creek beds cooler especially when there aren’t any breezes on the ridges. Spring feed bodies of water tend to be much cooler more consistently than run off water.
Your plan of action in terms of core body temperature regulation is going to depend on a couple of basic things: A) The elements you need to compensate for (heat, cold, wind, humidity, precipitation, etc.), and B) what you have on hand to help you accomplish that.
For example, if you are in a hot and humid environment, you definitely need to find protection from the sun and locate yourself in a breeze to help you achieve some evaporative cooling. Caves, while they can present other dangers, are like nature’s “basement”. Ever notice how your basement is so much cooler than the rest of your house? Well, caves, like basements, tend to stay consistently cooler (or warmer) than the world outside.
Other ways you can keep yourself warm or cool is with eating and drinking. Calories can boost your body temperature and help keep you warm, and drinking water can help keep you cool… or warm if you drink hot water or beverage.
Another great backpacking trick to keep warm in the winter is to boil some water and pour it in a leak proof bottle, then wrap it in a fleece and put it in your sleeping back at your feet or in the small of your back. It can help keep you warm for hours!
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