To think that a lot of people don't drink enough water?

[Chocolatefreak]

Not the most riveting subject but I think it unknowingly causes a lot of health problems, particularly in the older generation. For example, I know several people of my parent's age who have had kidney issues; repeated infections, cystitis, stones, etc. Spending time with people of my parents' and grandparents' generation I've noticed the tiny amount of water they drink compared to the amount younger generations do. My grandmother used to avoid drinking water to avoid needing the loo and unsurprisingly often felt dizzy and sick in the morning. When I remind them, my parents reluctantly serve water with meals (in almost shot-sized glasses!) and consider it to be a chore, when they'd much rather get stuck straight into the wine. My mother hydrates exclusively on tea, coffee and alcohol. As a child I had incredibly dry hair and skin which I'm wondering now was probably due to constant dehydration.

Has anyone else noticed this and why are we drinking more water now? Is it because it's been successfully marketed (mineral water and reusable drinking bottles) or because people are more aware of the benefits? If so, why only in the last few years? I rarely go out without water.

I'd get that looked at, not right.

@Wombats67 it's normal for me. I take around 200 calls a day and can't really have throat sweets as they interfere with talking so I rely on liquids as sort of lubrication!
Then add on to that high intensity sweaty spin classes after work and I hit 3 litres easily

Does anyone remember watching a programme on TV about busting the myth of drinking 8 glasses of water a day?

They took a pair of twins - one drank 8 glasses of water a day on top of her normal food and liquid consumption, and the other just stuck to what she normally ate and drank. I can't remember the time span it was done over, but maybe a week?

Each twin had lots of medical tests before and after the experiment. Both twins had the same outcome at the end of the experiment, and it was concluded that the advice to drink 8 glasses of water on top of your normal liquid consumption was a myth.

”A very respected consultant” and a Consultant Nephrologist holding a Professorship are essentially the same level of professional, y’know.

I think you just didn’t know what a Nephrologist actually is 😂

Not at all surprising. I heard it originated from models in the heroin chic era as a way to stave off hunger.

@YouWithoutEnd

A kidney specialist. You do realise there’s a lot of research in this field and not to just blindly believe what one researcher tells you? Good lord and you’re supposed to be a HCP.

It is basic physiology in terms of our water regulating system. I am sure you should know this. There’s no clinical signs of dehydration when you begin to feel a thirst.

My mother is like this - “oh I can’t drink water” - yes of course you can. You might prefer something else/ to have nothing but it’s like saying I can’t breathe oxygen.

They also often don’t put water on the table with meals either

I remember being a child and saying I liked water/ wanted to drink water and being thought really odd. So up to then I guess I’d just been given squash or something?

Drinking water makes me feel nauseous and also makes me really thirsty. I’m a weird anomaly….

Yeah, in two healthy twins and a period of weeks, their general health and renal function would be adequate to compensate for this, but a lifetime of chronic dehydration (and it’s sequelae - UTI’s, renal stones + colic, obstruction, etc) as in the elderly, does have an impact on renal function.

I think it's crazy too. DC are 5 and 7 and have their water bottles at school and now want to bring them everywhere. DD does a half hour dance class, very gentle and really not a lot of exercise and gets cross if I've forgotten her bottle so she can't drink 3 times during it. She totally doesn't need it, it's just habit.

Have water available at breaktimes and lunchtime of course but I'm sure this constant drinking is really unnecessary.

The human body is really good at telling you when you need to drink. This idea that people need to drink a certain amount of liquid a day to be healthy is largely nonsense.

If you are thirsty, drink something. Easy.

DH, his DS (16) & my DD (14) all have Life360. When I first suggested it last year hubby wasn't keen on us having it for each other. But he had a change of heart - maybe cos I'm ill now & am back & forth to hospital a lot so he wants to check I'm OK. It backfired the other day when I had the kids out for day & my sat nav told me the wrong exit on 3 roundabouts, I couldn't pretend
I'd been competent cos he'd looked at 360 & wondered where on earth I was going.🤣

I only look at his sometimes to see if he's nearly home so I can put the kettle on.

Our kids don't go out often with friends but when they do we like to be able to check in on where they are sometimes. If 16yr old didn't want 360 we'd remove him, but the 14yr old would have to wait a bit.

DD has ASD & anxiety & does like to check in on me if I'm out. On Christmas Eve I had to go into hospital with an infection & was told I needed IV antibiotics for 48hrs. I'd never spent Christmas away from DD & we were devastated. She wouldn't have even been allowed to visit next day as under 16s aren't allowed on the cancer ward. Eventually the doctor decided I could go home with oral antibiotics. DD tracked us all the way home & was standing at the front door with open arms.

I have one child with a tendency to constipation and I have to make sure he drinks enough water during the day. I have kidney stones and thought I drank enough but obviously I don’t!

@doadeer
those statistics are scewed by the incredibly high infant mortality rates.

If you survived through childhood and didn't either die in childbirth, or were male. Then life expectancy wasn't that different to today.

I've recently traced my family tree back to the 1400s and was surprised by the longevity of the people that made it to adulthood. Especially considering many of the women had 10+ children

I remember being in my 20s in the nineties and drinking more water definitely became a “thing” around then. Lots of people I worked with started to drink more water than they had previously. My dad doesn’t like it though and is suffering from uti’s in his 70s because of it. I personally feel better if I drink several refills of my bottle of water a day than when I don’t.

Aside from coffee (which is still hydrating), they are equally hydrating as water.

a small china cup of tea is 150ml so 8 cups 1200 minimum, a small mug is 250ml ( 8 is 2 litres) a large mug 350ml plus maybe milk on cereals gravy, fruit and veg and yes it is probably 1500ml + so yes it is adequate
so any 8 small drinks a day or 6 medium ones is adequate

I disagree….and am relieved that most people on this thread have a functioning brain. My mum is 83 and never drinks water. In fact, too much fluid can be dangerous for older people with low sodium levels. And older people are just prone to UTI’s and kidney issues.

when older people have UTI's they encourage drinking more water by adding nice flavoured squash or similar to it or giving them more tea

I can’t remember my parents or grandparents ever drinking water in in its natural state. My mother is mid 80s. The rest lived until their late eighties or early 90s.

Needless to say, I think the benefits of the current trend for incessant water guzzling are overstated.

They also often don’t put water on the table with meals either

We don't. I never feel the need to drink with my meal. We don't eat a plateful of nothng but dry foods. There will be a gravy or sauce with the meal, or it will be a casserole or a curry. I will always have a cup of tea afterwards though.

Surely centuries ago the water wasn’t fit for drinking unless it was beer/ale/wine? Not everyone could have died from dehydration even though life expectancy would have been a lot lower.

I drink absolutely loads of water every day as I don't like fizzy drinks or squash and I'm pretty active. I also drink around 4 cups of tea a day. I can't ever remember drinking water as a kid though. The odd glass of coke or squash, yes but never water. Not sure how I got through a school day. I'm a bit of a pusher of water on my kids too as I feel it's very important for concentration

I find in cold weather I never get thirsty, and the last thing I fancy is a drink of cold water. That's another reason I drink tea.

I only like water at room temp as I get a chill otherwise unless it's an absolute heatwave.

So my liquid is just tea alcohol and some fizzy juice.

I look young for my age so it can't be doing me much harm.

I only really drink water when I'm hungover.