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 must admit when i see people carrying water bottles about when not doing sport or dressed in sport gear or have them at their side when working on a shop til for instance i do think "dick".

I must be one of the few people that doesn't own a water bottle of any kind. Kids have them for their lunches at school.

Absolutely no need for them - its a marketing ploy.

I am. Actually, I buy the 2 litre bottles of Aldi fizzy water - 39p. And I don't think I'm dead. Maybe I'm just lucky that other shoppers in there aren't massive snobs.

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.

Totally agree @BogRollBOGOF

The recent coy use of “intimacy” and “intimate moments” makes me heave 🤢

Very sensible post.

Of course people with health conditions or breast feeding will need more hydration, no one is denying that.

When I was a TA, water bottles in school were such a huge distraction and a source of conflict at the table, we had to put them on a tray on a side bench and the pupils then asked when they needed a drink. They were never denied access but because the bottles weren’t in front of them, there wasn’t the constant and unnecessary slurping and consequent excuses for toilet breaks. I actually worked with Y6 pupils and until the containers were removed, they were like toddlers with baby bottles sucking away.

As has been said before, it isn’t only water that hydrates - and I do agree, nothing beats chilled water when you’re thirsty - but tea, coffee, yoghurt, fruit, vegetables, scrambled eggs, jelly, cereal with milk and soup all contribute to fluid intake. The 2ltr must only be water consumption thing has all become a bit OTT.

Blimey, who pissed in your water bottle?

No one would be seen dead buying a bottle of disposable water these days…although people clearly still do cos Evian etc are still in business and shops are always stocked with them…so it does make me wonder, who’s buying them?..

Me. I know this makes me an Environmental Disaster Wanker, but there you go. I love sparkling water. I am not really bothered about folk drinking loads of water from their special bottles, but a woman I work with lugs around one of those gigantic buckets of water and is very performative about it (about most things, really. We all had to sit and watch her demonstrate her superior lunge technique one lunch time - Christ, is there anything more tedious than a Gym Wanker?).

Why does it impact you so much that you need to call other people dicks purely because they're drinking water?
Like what exactly are you objecting to? 🙄 Tells me more about you than them.

Another thread of women bashing women for something harmless- this time it's because they carry water bottles that happen to be decorative.

Child of the (late 90s), grew up in the early 2000s. I also wasn’t accustomed to drinking water all day either. Would drink something in the morning and at lunch and dinner but that was about it. In my late teens though I started to get chronic UTIs, so I decided to up my water intake. Always have a bottle of water with me now, take at least one sip every 20 mins or so. I must go through about 3 litres a day. Not had a UTI in years now, think it helps to flush everything through. I do need to pee an awful lot though.

I carry a small bottle in my bag on hot days as even on a 15 min walk i can get really thirsty and i find it uncomfortable. I cant carry one around in my hands though, I know it sounds ridiculous but after a very short time i get really fed up of holding it!
I remember when i was a kid (early 90s) my parents used to joke about the fact i would never pee and I was like a camel, but looking back it was because i never drank anything! Used to play out all day with no drink, no water bottle at school I don't even remember drinks at the dinner table, I just used to get a glass of squash when I was really thirsty!

I remember being dehydrated alot and needing water when I got home from school and when playing out. I actually got lots of headaches because of it. I've bought mine stanley cups to encourage them to drink at home and it works, they do. I think it's good to keep drinking water. One of mine has a medical condition that flairs when she hasn't drank enough water.

I remember being dehydrated alot and needing water when I got home from school and when playing out. I actually got lots of headaches because of it. I've bought mine stanley cups to encourage them to drink at home and it works, they do. I think it's good to keep drinking water. One of mine has a medical condition that flairs when she hasn't drank enough water.

I was constantly thirsty as a kid. Now I carry a water bottle, I’m not. Feels like a win.

I can also now remember coming home from school and drinking gallons.

My MIL actively thought drinking water was bad for you and ‘fattening’. It exasperated many of her health problems, when she was in hospital and forced to drink things got better. She then stopped as soon as she got home. She destroyed her kidneys by refusing to drink on medication.

Damage to the environment still being ignored, I see!

From drinking water?

I remember constantly being desperate for a drink during my childhood in 80's. I wouldn't use the drinking fountain at school, located in the cloakroom, as the boys were known to pee in it and older kids would kick the younger ones.

Days out would be a flask of tea for adults and a tiny carton of orange juice for me. Never water.

I won't leave the house without a water bottle in my handbag nowadays.

Drink all the water you want and wave your barrel (must weigh a ton) all around you, but don't aim it at me. And don't preach. I am well aware of what's good for me, but I'll decide thank you!

Anyway, my theory is, that when smoking became unfashionable and banned etc., people needed something to do with their hands, hence the water bottle, and to a lesser extent the take away coffee.

I must be one of the few people that doesn't own a water bottle of any kind. Kids have them for their lunches at school.

How have you managed that? I've never bought one, but I've got a small collection of plastic and metal ones from various conferences and work-related events.

They really really aren't made up.
Dehydration is a massive issue with the elderly for example
It leads to falls, kidney problems,constipation,hypotension, utis leading to delirium and with the current era of high temps there is an increase in deaths
Usually it's to avoid going to the loo

I take a bottle of tap water out if I'm shopping or running errands and drink water at work, if I don't I get headaches and hypotension
WHY do some people have an issue with this?
It's so wierd to be so invested in what other people do , like it is a personal affront to you if they do something different 😂

I mentioned the elderly as a specific exception above

DH like to sip constantly from a sports bottle. It's just an ordinary cycling bidon which seems pointless as the water gets warm and tastes of plastic.

The sucking slurping noise drives me round the fucking bend - sometimes I have to leave the room!

He can't understand why this is anti social. I have even entertain murderous fantasies to make it stop...

Drinking water doesn't annnoy me at all. Claiming that most people don't drink enough, that you need to drink x amount, that dehydration is a real issue in UK, thirst is a sign that you are aready dehydrated, etc, these claims really do annoy me because they are just made up out of thin air. But drinking water per se, that's a pretty standard human thing that doesn't annoy me at all

I was replying to this -no mention of elderly

Being well hydrated is akin to being well nourished in health terms -ridiculous to say otherwise

And for the overwhelming majority, dehydration is simply not a risk in our temperate islands. We get loads of fluid in our food. And a modest amount of water, tea, coffee, juice or whatever will do the job. But look, as you say, it's up to folks what they want to do. I just won't agree that's it's necessary, as opposed to something harmless that they just want to do.