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 drink a lot of tea and coffee (maybe 7,8 cups a day). I have a large (750ml, I think) insulated cup of iced water for bedtime to take my tablets and sip on through the night if I wake up and finish the next morning.

Have the occasional can of coke, and if we are out for a walk I will take a bottle of water.

On days where I go to the gym I drink a bottle
Of water (refillable) while im there.

Will sometimes crave a big glass of ice cold milk!

I actually think I sometimes drink too much. I've been checked for diabetes etc and it's clear - I don't know if I've sort of 'trained' my body to need more liquid but I need lots to drink.

I don't go anywhere without a drink- even short walks, trips to the supermarket etc. We always have water with meals. My parents never drank water, just tea and as i didn't drink tea as a child i was thirsty all the time

Seems to be generational and cultural. My inlaws have set times for specific drinks and don’t deviate (it’s not time for a cup of tea). Never serve water with meals. Only ever have my kids milk or squash even though they drank water at home happily. Eastern European colleagues happily drink tea and coffee but won’t drink tap water only bottled because that’s what they’re used to.

I drink loads. At least 4 litres a day. Constantly thirsty and also need a wee loads. Partly medical issues and med side effects partly because I’ve always drunk lots of water as an adult. I might run the tap until it’s cold but otherwise I’m not fussy. Don’t get the “I don’t like the taste of water” people.

Have a litre bottle on my bedside table and drink at least half overnight. Coffee hourly at work all morning plus 2 or 3 of my 750ml water bottles during the day. Then at least another litre of water in the evening. I’m the other end of the water drinking spectrum.

I drink a lot, always have (been tested multiple times across my life for diabetes because of it - all clear) and it definitely makes a difference to my energy levels and skin. The odd times I haven’t drank as much, I feel wretched.

I drink two to three cups of coffee in the morning and around 3l of water through the day, plus a couple of diet cokes or similar if I am going out etc. Maybe a cup of tea before bed. But most of it is water.

Do you feel so thirsty on even a short walk that you need a drink?

I only thought it was my MIL. She never drank because she thought that going for a pee more then a couple of times a day was ‘abnormal’.
she would make cups of coffee and never finish them, only a few small cups a day. She literally thought I was abnormal for drinking water. Unsurprisingly she was constipated. In the end it killed her as she was on medication she was meant to drink lots with, she wouldn’t do it, so she died.

But surely they lived much shorter lives than us too?

'But surely they lived much shorter lives than us too?'

Not really - if you made it through childhood you had every chance of living to a decent age. The average lifespan figures through history are skewed primarily because babies and children, until relatively recently, often died of what are now preventable diseases.

Yanbu. I work with a few people who barely drink water and aren't very healthy. Someone younger than me said they hadn't had any water and it was already 3pm.
I'm sure it's a myth about tea and coffee really hydrating you, I'd feel like crap if I didn't guzzle water every so often.

My inlaws both have bladder issues and frequent the toilet a lot. At least hourly.

Consequently they restrict fluids a lot (and 80% of what they drink is coffee; they have ribena with an evening meal in 200ml glasses which are the tallest they have). I understand it’s different problems but for treating paediatric bedwetting we’re told to drink more, and greater volumes (and definitely not ribena!)…

FIL has ongoing heart palpitations. The first two times he had them and went to hospital, they thought it might be a connection for having driven lots, set up a caravan and awning and all the stuff that goes in it (which is pretty manual work)in the heat and not had a drink. So it’s ok now, they have a water bottle - it’s a tiny ?300ml ?200ml one that they share all day.

I'm sure it's a myth about tea and coffee really hydrating you, I'd feel like crap if I didn't guzzle water every so often.

No it isn't. I get a headache when I'm dehydrated. If I drink enough tea during the working day I don't get a headache.

It is a myth that the only way to stay hydrated requires drinking just pure water.

This is my husband. He is the only person I know who you can ask if he wants a cup of tea and he asks what the time is. If he's had a cup of tea or any drink within the last 3 or 4 hours he says no. He fills a glass of water up and leaves it on the table. He takes the odd sip. It takes a couple of days before it needs re filling. The half pint glass I filled at dinner time yesterday is on the table now, three quarters full. He will empty it by tomorrow or I'll get fed up with it on the table and wash it up. He has a cup of tea first thing. A coffee late morn. Tea after lunch. Another 4pm and that is usually it, along with sips of water. He said he's managed for over 60 years drinking like he does, so he asked why he would change how. He says you can drown from driving too much. I just told told him I'm reading about older people not drinking enough, he said the younger generation need to drink water to flush out all the alcohol they drink. He won't listen and won't change his drinking.

Sports drinks and rehydration drinks have sugar and salt in them...

Yes, that's how water gets absorbed from your small intestine. Sodium absorption depends on the presence of glucose and/or amino acids, as there are co-transporters that carry sodium and glucose/amino acids across membranes from the lumen into the cells lining your intestine, so they can move into your bloodstream. Water follows the sodium and glucose/amino acids by passive diffusion. It isn't absorbed otherwise.

See, for example, www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/absorb_water.html#:~:text=Sodium%20is%20absorbed%20from%20the,the%20lumen%20into%20the%20enterocyte.

However hydrating coffee and tea might be... The breath of people who don't drink water (or enough water) can peel paint. Drink a bit of water. Same hydration levels, less sugar, salt and caffeine.

I'm another one who is always refilling my water bottle, it's the best drink available!

He said he's managed for over 60 years drinking like he does, so he asked why he would change how.

He's absolutely right. More to the point, we have evolved over millions of years to be able to balance our water intake and output. If your body needs water, (a) your pituitary gland tells your kidneys to excrete less of it and (b) your hypothalamus makes you feel thirsty so you drink.

courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ap2/chapter/water-balance/

Not relevant to the the thread, but get the shoe size thing too - I'm quite tall so people assume I have correspondingly big feet. When I say I'm actually a size 5, I get "you're not!" in response.

Um, would you like to check my shoes?!

Back on topic, I started drinking a lot more water - between 2-3 litres a day - once I hit my 40s. Before that I only really drank coffee and wine! I notice really quickly now if I've not had enough, get a dry mouth and a headache, which never used to happen. I've becone water dependent.

But when I'm cold and not thirsty I don't want a drink of water, so I drink tea. Drinking tea is better than not drinking anything at all.

6 to 8 cups of liquid which can be tea or coffee - doesn't have to be water -NHS

Only need to avoid the tea and coffee if it does make you pee a lot - it depends on the actual drink and your personal metabolism

Yes older people in particular often drink too little
Abs yes younger people are often quite funny in their need to always have a drink in hand

You lot are so contrary it’s hilarious.

Drink to thirst is not helpful for everyone. I rarely get thirsty, only when I’ve been exercising or when it’s very hot. So my health suffers if I don’t make a conscious effort to drink water, despite not being thirsty. I don’t drink tea, coffee or juice so it’s water or bust.

I rarely get thirsty @UdoU either.

I once spoke to my doctor as I was concerned that I was constantly running to the loo. There was absolutely nothing wrong with me, I was just drinking too much water and my body didn't need it. We don't all need to drink water constantly. I drink lots of tea and a glass of water with meals.

I'm in my 50s and when I was growing up the only bottled water I remember was Perrier which was a luxury purchase. At school as a teen we didn't have water bottles, we had a glass of water at lunchtime. I don't ever remember being thirsty except when playing outside on a hot day and we'd run in to get a drink from the kitchen.

I agree some older people don't drink as much as they should, but they probably need a lot less than you think.

@icanbewhatiwant This resonates! And purely from an observational perspective (before anyone asks for the peer-reviewed research!) whenever we have people for dinner, i always set the table with water glasses alongside the wine ones. I'll then pour some water from the jug at at the start of the meal into all glasses.
Without fail, when clearing up at the end, all the men's glasses will be untouched.
Another observation is the link between dehydration and UTIs in older people. Sepsis link is there too. As PP said, it's not just about liquid though which is why a food and fluid chart is a nursing staple.
I had quite a lot of fluid last night () so am off to find a bacon sandwich.

We have had several older, 80+, relatives ill from not drinking enough. One was hallucinating very badly, and ended up in hospital. A day later, after being rehydrated, she was fine. Having cared for one 90+ MIL and my own mother now 93, what stops them at first is the physical difficulty in getting up to go to the toilet, and later, when incontinent, trying to stop from wetting themselves. It was a constant battle with both. However, I think the current trend for carrying a bottle if water with you everytime you step out of the house to be ridiculous, marketing driven crap, that has caused an enormous amount of unnecessary pollution both from the bottles themselves and transporting round the country. If you must take water with you, get a recyclable, reusable bottle and use tap water. If you must, filter it at home, but tap water in the UK is (usually) perfectly safe.

@Rebel2 what does being tall have to do with it??