21 life-saving facts that everyone should know

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But life can also throw situations at us that we don't have a quick, handy response for.

Commenters in a recent Quora thread about life-saving facts offered their best tips, which are easy to remember and could have a huge effect if you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation.

You might want to save these for later.

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Murali Krishnan says walking and using your phone both demand large amounts of cognitive effort.

As a result, you can't fully focus on both at the same time in the same way you can with walking and gum-chewing, for instance. You could suffer "inattention blindness," where you may see an object but not process that it's a car speeding toward you, Krishnan says.

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Blind spots aren't inevitable in all vehicles, says Kristen Rush.

By adjusting your mirrors so that you barely see the edges of your own car, you can effectively eliminate the blind spots on the sides of the vehicle, she says. The rear-view mirror should be able to locate any car behind yours. It's worth the few seconds it takes to adjust these when you get in the driver's seat.


There's a connection between being wet and getting cold, says engineer Ian Lavoie.


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Lavoie also says your body uses a great deal of energy to convert matter from one state to another.

That's why he says you should eat snow as a substitute for water only as a last resort. In gaining that small amount of hydration, you'll give up precious body heat.

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Alvin Yip warns against the impulse to inflate your life jacket immediately if a plane is making an emergency landing on water. The buoyancy of the jacket could make it harder for you to run inside the cabin if water rushes in, Yip says.


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People often build societies around nearby water sources, and since water flows downhill, you'll increase your chances of finding help if you're able to walk downhill, Ernest Adams says.

Adams uses the example of Juliane Koepcke, a plane crash survivor who floated down a river for nine days in 1971 before finding shelter. Several hours later, she was rescued.

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Naman Mitruka explains how to perform the Heimlich on yourself:


2. "Drive your fist in and up in the diaphragm area (the top of your stomach) forcefully and repeat several times till the object stuck in your throat is dislodged."

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You never know when you'll encounter something that you didn't know you're allergic to, especially when camping or hiking, according to Ryan Borek.

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Binitha George Mathai correctly points out that chewing one full-strength aspirin tablet when you feel symptoms of a heart attack can delay or prevent potentially fatal blood clots.

In one study of the theory, participants who ate a 325-milligram aspirin on an empty stomach saw 50% slower platelet response in five than people who didn't chew the aspirin. For people who swallowed the tablet whole, it took 12 minutes to achieve that effect.



People can generally go three minutes without air, three hours without shelter in extreme weather environments, three days without water, and three weeks without food, Agarwal says.

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Pulling out an object that has been lodged in your body will increase the rate of blood loss, Thomas Mei says. Instead, try to cover the wound and do anything you can to stop the bleeding until you find a medical professional.

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According to Sanket Shah, the +3/-8 rule encourages people to be vigilant immediately after takeoff and right before landing because about 80% of crashes happen during those windows.

You can use that time to stay alert and locate exits rather than getting lost in a podcast or movie.

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Sharma also explains the well-studied psychological phenomenon that says crowds of people fail to help somebody because everyone thinks someone else will intervene.


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An extremely bright flashlight could ward off a mugger just as effectively as mace or a weapon, Shah says.

"If you have someone approaching you that seems aggressive, in the gravest extreme, a blast of 300+ lumen to the eyes (especially at night) will give you the opportunity to get out," he quotes in his answer. "And suppose you misread the situation — no one is really harmed, and you can't get in trouble for it."

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If you don't have a first aid kit to seal an open wound, super glue can act as a temporary substitute for stitches, says Janis Butevics.

It might irritate the skin, but the main chemical found in most super glues — cyanoacrylate — will stop minor bleeding almost instantly.

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"The stream always flows downhill and invariably will reach a larger tributary or a body of water," says Jon Mixon. And "the fence will almost always lead to a road or a structure."

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Condoms are incredibly elastic. As Janis Butevics says, you can use that to your advantage if you need a quick way to store a large volume of water. They essentially act like bladders and are capable of holding a gallon of water," Butevics says.


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When warnings are sent about natural disasters, many people stay put even when told to evacuate. As John Ewing says, psychologists call the phenomenon the "normalcy bias." It refers to people's tendency to think everything will turn out OK even when they're clearly in danger.

Ewing says people can counteract the normalcy bias by locating multiple exits when they're in public places, such as at the movies or out to eat. Mentally preparing yourself to act if a dangerous situation arises will train you to be vigilant, Ewing says.

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Hyperlipidemia, or essentially high levels of fat in the blood, has a telltale sign, Rakesh Ranjan explains. Typically, it occurs among the middle-aged.

The condition could also have implications for heart health. Arteries can clog when there is excessive fat in the blood, possibly leading to heart attack.

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