Drinking your own pee for survival: does the science bear it out?
Shijiazhuang Asa Technology Co., Ltd. , https://www.hskinlift.com
June 30 07:30:41, 2025
If you've ever spent any time online, you've probably come across the infamous Bear Grylls meme. But long before he became a viral sensation for guzzling his own urine on a survival show, the idea of drinking pee had already been part of survival folklore — seen as a last resort when all else failed.
It’s not just survivalists who have dabbled in this practice. Ancient Ayurvedic texts mention it, and even modern athletes have experimented with it. So why would anyone want to drink their own urine? Well, aside from the occasional eccentric, humans are naturally curious. We try things out, hoping they might be useful — even if they aren’t. And since drinking pee doesn’t immediately kill you, some people keep doing it, even when it's pointless.
Historically, urine had a few practical uses, like whitening teeth thanks to its ammonia content. There was even a "cocktail guide" that advised collecting only the middle part of the stream, avoiding the more impure head and tail. While that might sound odd, it shows how deeply ingrained the idea was.
Here’s what you need to know: there’s no health benefit to drinking your own urine, according to science. It’s mostly water, urea, and salt, with a few other trace substances. In a real survival situation, it won’t help much — and could actually make things worse. The more dehydrated you are, the more dangerous it becomes. To safely drink urine, you’d need to purify it through reverse osmosis or distillation, which most people don’t have access to in an emergency.
Drinking your own urine is essentially a false sense of action — like slacktivism. It feels like you're doing something, but it doesn’t actually solve the problem. Like seawater, it adds more salt to your system, making dehydration worse. Even in extreme situations, experts say it's not a reliable solution.
Some sources suggest that in life-threatening dehydration, drinking urine might seem logical, but it’s only a temporary fix. As your body gets more dehydrated, your kidneys stop producing urine, so it becomes less effective over time. Plus, the high concentration of salts and toxins in your urine can cause further harm.
Outdoor gear companies like Mountain Safety Research strongly advise against it, warning that it could speed up dehydration rather than slow it down. They explain that urine contains dissolved salts, minerals, and traces of toxins — all of which can be harmful when consumed, especially when you’re already severely dehydrated.
So, while it might not kill you outright, drinking urine in a survival scenario could lead to serious health issues. Unless you have the right equipment to filter and purify it, like reverse osmosis or distillation, it’s not a safe option.
In short, drinking your own urine isn’t helpful and can be risky. If you’re ever in a survival situation, stick to proven methods of finding clean water — and avoid the urge to sip from your own waste.