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?

Here's another article for those interested. ki.se/en/research/popular-science-and-dialogue/spotlight-on/spotlight-on-food-and-health/stop-gulping-away-youre-not-short-of-water

The thing with the 'in my day' crowd that bugs the most is they seem to forget that also 'in their day' it was perfectly normal to smoke inside around lots of other people, to be disciplined with a belt, to turn a blind eye to to DV. Marital rape wasn't recognised!!

But they didn't carry water bottles so...guess we'd better not either?

Well I'm prone to kidney stones so need to drink a lot of water. I'm sorry if my water bottle offends you but you can kindly get a fucking grip.

Nobody seems to be addressing the environmental issue.

Surely everyone knows by now that most of the water you need to stay hydrated (2 litres a day) comes from your food. The amount of water you need to drink on top of that is tiny.

If people want to buy expensive water and lug it round everywhere in expensive chiller bottles, good luck to them!

I hadn’t considered that and it’s an interesting thought. It’s almost like a comfort thing. If I’m sipping from my bottle, I’ve got something to focus on rather than standing not knowing what to do with my hands and feeling socially awkward.

Not dissimilar to constantly checking one’s phone. Doesn’t do anyone else any harm, and is rather self soothing but also gives legitimacy to someone who wants to “check out” from a situation.

Perhaps we should rename these fluid containers, “emotional support water bottles”?

(tongue firmly in cheek before I get flamed!)

That would make sense as I'm sure all this started in the early 2000s. I had always thought it was an American fad though?

I am also wondering why anyone cares what other people drink.

I used to get home from school and gulp down glasses of water. I’m sure I’d have loved a water bottle.

Ive always drank loads of water and always have a water bottle with me if Im out and I’ll always have a pint glass of water with me at home. If I realise I’ve forgotten to bring water I’ll go and buy a bottle.

I take a fresh glass of water with me to bed every night. I like coffee and tea but only have a cup of each each day and I don’t drink any other drinks apart from the very occasional glass of OJ or milk.

Pretty sure I haven’t drank during sex but I bet I have immediately afterwards.

Since going on HRT I feel a lot less thirsty than I did before but I still like to have water with me.

I don't drink water because I "need" it, I drink it because I want to. I also don't buy expensive water, or have an expensive bottle.
Now is it OK that I carry a water bottle around and drink from it as I want?

I also drink red wine because I want to, and I definitely don't need that 🍷😁

The judgement on this thread on something that impacts other people in no way whatsoever is crazy!

Edit: removed name as wasn't aiming at that poster in particular.

I care when the faffing about it disrupts me; when children use it as an excuse to sneak off to the corners for a drink as an avoidance tactic... then the toilet trips... and once one person asks...
I care when they're playing around with them, they spill, or they're upset because they broke.

It's generally good that people drink more than in the 20th century, but having got through an 80s-90s childhood on a drink at breakfast, 200ml on the lunch tray at school and access to a fountain at break, it's a reality that generally healthy people in temperate conditions don't have to have constant access to a water bottle and can go a couple hours at a time of light activity without a drink.

I tend to find it simpler to have a drink from a glass by the sink that's easy to wash at the end of the day than faff with cleaning bottles by hand, and refilling them carefully to prevent leaks, then having something extra to carry/ put in a bag.

The shift to reusable bottles away from single-use bottled water is good, but when people (a minority) treat bottles as status symbols and collections, that benefit is undermined. Some brands have become symbols of consumerism rather than being a practical tool.

Drinking water is not the problem, but people fussing around about it, or having excessive or badly designed bottles can be an issue.

What will be interesting in the future is if the water-generations stay better hydrated for good health in old age than the nice-cup-of-tea age generations. Is habit a major influence or is it more of a changing regulation issue?

The only time I've seen mould in my water bottle is if it's had something other than water in it and on the rare occasion it does it gets washed after or if it's gone mouldy.

I'm fine with washing it once a week and it's my cup so big deal. I have yet to come down with a flesh eating illness caused by a week old water bottle.

Not doubting the study here, but I drank only when thirsty for years and had all the symptoms of dehydration, skin and digestion wise. I would drink maybe 2 glasses of liquid a day, left to my own devices and i know others who were similar who also showed signs of dehydration. I started drinking 2l a day and all these symptoms are gone. I assume everyone who sees skin or digestion improvements is in the same boat as me. So thats interesting to hear as its definitely improved things for me.

Me. I have two - one for the gym and one for home 🙈

What is this need for people to keep on posting "Why do people need to drink water all the time?" ? Drinking water makes people well, makes them perform better even under tested conditions. If people didn't drink the water they wouldn't take it with them.

This is one of the most stupid arguments I have ever read on here.

@Funnywonder thanks! I'll wear that badge of honour the way people are wearing their 'we survived the 80s with two spoons of water a day' badge.

I was born in the 80s and when I was growing up we always carried water and there were taps and water fountains at school. It’s total BS that people didn’t used to drink water in the 90s. I was always really hydrated and drank loads.

Bacteria-surface interactions is a whole area of study. this is the reason anyone testing water from sea/rivers/lakes has to test immediatly on site - you can't put water into a small container and then test it later, the bacteria react to the confinement in a small conatiner and within minutes everything is changing.

Once you have taken a sip of water, you have introduced bacteria into the bottle. two hours later there could be more than 60x more bacteria in the water, at the rate they can reproduce in small containers.

It isn't going to happen to anything like the same extent in pipes, water is flowing there

Here is an example for you, but there are endless research papers on how bacteria are stimulated by sloshing against surfaces in small containers

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3733390/

well, most research is that it doesn't. People are not healthier or better performing with a water bottle in their hand

As to why it matters, I don't like the disruption it causes, particularly in schools, and I don't like to see so many people being conned

I tend to take it for my kids but it's more of a not wanting to pay overinflated prices if they are thirsty thing!

As a massive tea drinker I am taking this and having it made into a cross stitch, I may have it as a tattoo. Love it!!

No one would be seen dead buying a bottle of water 😂😂 I’ve heard it all now!

Surely the point of drinking is to pee it out so your body can drop all its unwanted waste in it?

Also on Mumsnet "Why won't elderly people drink enough?" Probably because they don't have the habit of drinking all the time.

Research Vs research Vs research. What about autonomy and letting people decide?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17741653

If schools have a problem with water being a disruption maybe they need to stop being so Victorian and accommodate drinking. My kid spent a month in classrooms.over 25 degrees C. Behaviour has to change to cope with changing environments.

I grew up in the 80s and drank loads. Tea every morning, cocoa at bedtime, lemon barley water with meals (in a flask for school dinner), water fountain at breaks, tea at Granny’s house after school, blackcurrant squash at BFFs house, a can of shandy from the corner shop, those plastic cups you jabbed a straw through and endless ice pops in summer. We didn’t carry water with us but often bought drinks when playing out or all piled into someone’s kitchen or drank from someone’s hosepipe. In my first job I got 2 breaks plus lunch when everyone piled into the tea room and had drinks. Now I don’t leave my desk and have a bottle of water with me.