What is this need to drink water constantly? Even in 'intimate moments'?

[taratiaras]

Provoked by an item in today's Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jul/31/you-be-the-judge-should-my-boyfriend-stop-drinking-from-a-water-bladder-during-sex

I was reflecting on what is this need some people have to drink water almost constantly and the whole performance of carting around containers for this water even if they will be away for a short period. Growing up in the 1980s and 90s I dont remember this at all and we largely survived!

By all means carry water when away hiking in rural areas but going to the shops, a short walk or similar there is surely no need. Even my children going to school where there are water fountains in the playground seem to feel the need to take a metal bottle with them.

As regards the Guardian question this looks a bit pathetic -at home you are never more than a two or three minute walk from the tap! I think the boyfriend clearly has too much time on his hands and a 'building fortresses' need - clearly spent too much time playing Minecraft and similar when younger?

I was teaching in the early 2000’s,

A massive study came out that children learnt better when properly hydrated. They were told to bring water bottles instead of a 1000 kids sharing one water fountain.

I think that’s where it started.

One of the biggest scams of our generation.

Practically all of the research is paid for by bottled water companies. Bottled water is incredibly damaging to the environment.

Me, I absolutely love mine. I half fill it with ice and then top it up with filtered water and take it to bed as I have sjogrens and use a cpap so get a debilitatingly dry mouth. I still have ice in it in the morning and even in the evening when I empty away what’s left and wash and refill it. We have used Stanley products for almost 3 decades. my DH has the huge flask and a packed lunch box and smaller flask. They all have a life time warranty and I’ve claimed on the warranty and they have sent spare parts and replaced the item where necessary. For example my DHs seal went and they sent a replacement seal . A year later the handle snapped off his 12yo flask and they replaced it. I bought my dd a quencher like mine and the bracket failed on the handle, they replaced it without quibble. Yes it’s expensive but their stuff is extremely durable and has a lifetime warranty.

I don't get the need to be clutching a bottle when you go for a 30 minute jog round the park. It's not the Marathon des Sables 🙄

I have a fake Stanley type one for the gym as I was refilling my previous 500ml bottle in there most of the time. Usually have a pint glass on my desk and drink 3-4 a day, but hardly have anything else - just a couple of espressos. Some people are having multiple cups of tea and I hardly ever drink tea.

Plus I have cut down what I eat by around a third or more to lose weight, and we get a lot of water from our food, so I can get thirsty more easily otherwise.

My pee is the right colour when I go to the toilet so I don't have any concerns. It's tap or filtered water though (we have a filter machine/cooler at work as the tap water is warm and disgusting) I do love a glass of San Pellegrino at home. I'm drinking that instead of carbonated beverages or alcohol though so there is no additional packaging there.

The whole 'need constant access to water' thing is just something dreamt up by industries thinking of yet another way to persuade people to spend money. First, the bottled water, then the reusable water bottles, then special filters and fancier, more expensive bottles etc. It's a shame our railways seem to have caught the bug - it's so irritating to be constantly reminded on station announcements to remember to 'stay hydrated'. When was the last time someone died of dehydration in the UK?

I paid £30 for a Chilly bottle 5 or so years ago and have never bought another bottle of water since. And it'll probably last the rest of my life. Investing in good quality things saves money.

There are a lot of things on MN that rile people that I don't agree with but can sort of see poster's point of view on (toilet brushes, unregulated knocking of doors, no children at weddings etc).

But I just cannot fathom why something like drinking water would annoy people, simply because 'they didn't have it growing up'. Can you actually hear yourself?

I use a reusable water bottle, though at my desk or home, I just use a glass. I mostly drink water, because I don't like tea or coffee.

Childhood picnics were Tupperware beakers with a lid, with warm, weak orange squash. This is probably the main reason I don't drink squash now.

My first job was a tea lady with a proper tea trolley. I'd do four rounds a day on each floor and a lot of people would have tea every time, and another cup at lunch time.

I don't have five cups of tea a day but I drink the equivalent in water plus a bit more on days I do strenuous exercise or hotter days, and am also not faffing about downing tools to have a load of tea breaks and just have some water on my desk instead. What of it?

I can remember having Tupperware rubber cups with leaky lids.
Added to the taste of the Kia-Ora…
Or a big bottle of dandelion & burdock from the ‘pop’ man that you shared between you in the park.
Water became a trend in the 80’s with the fitness fad and promotion of Evian.
I had never seen bottled water until we went abroad, it was fascinating to me.

I did take a brief pause for a drink of water during intimate proceedings recently, but out of a glass on the bedside table, not a water bladder. I was thirsty. It was a natural break in activities, I didn't stop especially for it.

There was another Guardian article recently about things people don't clean, which included water bottles- I was surprised, as I always do after a day out etc. But I also clean my hairbrush every now and then, and a couple of other things on the list.

Exactly. My partner is a water obsessed bottle clutcher.

I understand it if we re going for a the hike somewhere. We both like hiking and you need water. But he won't go anywhere without a bottle of water. Even on his morning commutes to work. I don't understand why he can't go one hour to work on the train without a bottle of water. Are there no taps or fountains in his office?

You can do without a drink of water. Just walking around shops until you sit down and have a something to eat and you can ask for tap water.

Water bottles are disgusting anyway. They get full of bacteria and they get far too hot in the summer. My partners had an incident of mould growth in it. It's the ones with the sport bottle type Where you just suck on it. They tend to get riddled with mould and it's very difficult to clean them out.

We evolved on this planet without access to water constantly. Human race got this far without having a plastic bottle attached to your hand. You can go a couple of hours without a drink.

Since starting a weight loss kick a year ago I have upped my water drinking and it’s the one thing that without fail influences my weight loss. If I have a week of not drinking 2lts a day then I do not lose weight, if it’s hot weather and I don’t up my water to compensate then I don’t lose weight, if I eat saltier than normal foods and don’t have more water then I don’t lose weight, if I do more exercise and don’t up my water then I don’t lose weight. If those things happen and I do up my water then I do lose weight. This tells me that water is really important to our bodily functions and we should make sure we stay hydrated.

I drink plenty of liquids at home, all day long, not just water though, plenty of tea, coffee, juice in the mix.

But if you are a woman of a certain age, like me - water/drinks consumption outside the home is verboten unless there is a decent loo available every five minutes. 😊

The million litres a day people either have bladders like hammocks or don't go anywhere outside the home. It's one or the other!

I have an autoimmune disease and the daily symptoms are noticeably better the more water I drink. It's objectively measurable, not just in my mind. I take daily medication that manages it, but combining this with around 2l water a day is what gives me a near-normal quality of life back. Based on this experience, I fully believe drinking a good amount of water is a good thing for most people as clearly it helps internal systems to function at their best, whether it was normal in the past or not, and a water bottle helps with this so not sure why carrying one is a big deal (currently sipping from a litre-sized metal one that I clean each morning at it saves buying bottles so cheaper and better for the environment!).

😀

The requirement for fluids had been massively overstated by the media, the scientific evidence does not support it. You can't convince people of this though, I have tried many a time on here under different user names. I have linked to multiple sources of evidence, people still insist constant hydration is essential.

www.cbc.ca/news/health/hydration-myths-debunked-in-5-easy-sips-1.3155705

50 quid water bottle owner here. In fact, I have two. I work in 3 offices. Number 1 the water is grim. Number 2 we cannot drink, the lead levels are too high. Number 3 the kitchen is 4 floors downstairs and quite frankly I just don't have time for that.

My 2x 1 litre bottles see me through an 8 hour work day with nicely chilled water. Some posters are reacting like it's akin to snorting cocaine off a babies head though 🤨

Goodness knows how the human race evolved. 🤣

I don't get it either. Don't need to be constantly sipping water.And we won't die without it.

I made a conscious effort to increase the amount of water I drank in a day. Not for any reason, just because I felt like it wasn't enough. I track my consumption via my garmin because it has given me HUGE relief from a lifetime of migraines. I've battled since I was 13, tried everything under the sun medication wise and it all came down to simply making sure I drink a min 2l of water a day. I felt like an utter idiot when I admitted it to my GP. So yes, I'm the stanley toting, Yeti swigging wanker who has seen an 80% reduction in migraines - i will happily take that 🤣🤣

I'm terrible at drinking water ... well, drinking anything really. I keep meaning to get a water bottle of some description. I had a cup of tea this morning and haven't had anything since. I just .... forget to drink.

Last night I did feel thirsty, which is a rarity and had a glass of water. But I think I need to up my game.

I remember in the 80s, when I was at school, I would put a bottle of orange squash in the freezer when it was hot. Fill the bottle up 3/4 of the way, and it would defrost throughout the day. Perfect.

It has become a little out of hand I feel.

So much so, that my dd (who has an eating disorder) was advised to stop drinking so much as she was drinking too much! I think all this pushing to be hydrated stuff can be taken overboard, as was in our case.

Thinking back to when we were young, we just had one of those lunch box bottles with squash or whatever to take to school. I lived in a hot country, and we could refill our bottle (which probably held 250ml max) at the water fountain. Or just drink from the fountain, but only at break time.

I see posts here all the time of parents moaning that their child is not allowed a water bottle on their desk 24/7. That was never happening back then, as first, the kid would need the loo all the time, its distracting and something to fiddle with, and then there is the inevitable spill factor.