To wonder how we survived without constantly drinking water while working in previous decades?

[Chinsupmeloves]

A bit lighthearted but also a serious question!

Looking back at all the jobs I've had from age 16, working while at university and career after, it wasn't commonplace to have a Stanley or filled bottle nearby. We had breaks and mostly had a quick coffee and a food, same at lunchtime. No one took bottles of water, hot drinks or cans, that was it! At school also, juice at break and lunch then drink water at home.

A) On the one hand I feel the obsession with keeping hydrated has been propelled by the manufacturers of drinking vessels, especially with the imprinted quantities for times of the day, insulated to keep cool and so on. From this POV it seems OTT when people are walking around a supermarket with their bottles with the fear their bodies may shrivel up. In schools, having them on their desks, the bottle flipping, guzzling down a litre of juice from home in the first 10 mins of a lesson then desperate for the toilet, stating it's a human right to drink til you busrt! In addition the sales of plastic bottles of water to continue to carry around, you should see the bins overflowing with them in every classroom, so much for encouraging environmental values.

B) I've also realised yes it is important to keep hydrated during the day and we need more than a few cups of coffee as fluid to keep us sustained. I was one of the few, as a teacher, who would bring in a small carton of juice to sip at (days before reusable were used for anyrhing than to clip on your bike) as I got thirsty! I was however told off, that I shouldn't be drinking those few sips during lessons, yes truth. It was only a bit as drinking more would mean I would need to go to the loo, which I knew was impossible at break times when on duty or lunch when I had meetings, detentions, extra tuition. To walk to the staff toilets meant 2 blocks away outside, flights of stairs and a queue, so it was a scheduled comfort.

Back to the point...

AIBR Drinking during breaks and lunch is perfectly adequate, no need for constant sipping, especially in schools where it can cause so much disruption by those who take the mick.

AIBU We need to consistently sip to help us with talking, feeling well and focus.

As an adult I now value being able to have a bottle nearby at work, in the car on long journeys, but not a constant need everywhere I go. Xxx

I'm in my 50's and remember having a glass water bottle at primary school. It's not a new concept at all.

I don't carry the ridiculous barrel ones around, but I do have a 500ml one for work & exercise that I can refill at the water station.

Snacking I really don't understand and I am beginning to wonder if it's the key to the obesity problem. We had 3 meals a day, sweets on Sunday evening. That was it.

i cant believe my dd, in their 20s, who cannot go anywhere without their large metal bottles of water
actually my own dh struggles to go anywhere without his flask of coffee
me, i drink at home, plenty of tea and coffee but never need to take anything out with me, let alone stop for a drink!
i am like a camel
when i was a child i remember going somewhere and it was hot and the adults did not want to carry the large bottle of squash around and suggested we drink some now before we head out, like camels

No, they are not dehydrating 🙄 Try drinking 2 litres of tea one day, you'll pee just as much - and the pee will be the same colour - as when you drink water.

You might feel a little more urgency to pee: that's the mildly diuretic effect of the caffeine. I should think 2 litres of water also gives you a fair amount of urgency!

I stand corrected. Thanks for the information with pass agg eyeroll.

I have kidney disease and am actively ENCOURAGED to drink plenty by my nephrologist, so don’t mind if I ignore the person saying it’ll put strain in my kidneys 🤣

It’s only people renal failure that should not.

People love the idea that water is a cure all because drinking it is a free, passive activity that makes you feel you're doing something healthy without going to much trouble. Constant drinking is a habit and social prop. Obviously it's important to be adequately hydrated but it's possible to be just as healthy drinking at set intervals rather than constantly.

It’s nonsense. If you are on a diet and look at chat forums you will see plenty of people solemnly pronouncing that you ‘need’ to drink 2 - 3 litres of water a day, o Nobody ever cites any scientific evidence for this or qualifies it with the recognition that quite a lot of hydration comes from food. I presume all this water aids weight loss because you are in the toilet so often where you can’t eat.

I think the only time this year I've drank anywhere near 2 litres of water was a day i did an 18.5 mile race in 30° heat.i drank a lot during the race, and I felt thirsty all day afterwards.
When I've made a conscious decision to drink more water (maybe 1 litre/day) even after several months I never noticed any difference in hair/skin/tiredness/hunger, literally the only difference was going to the loo about 6 times during the work day which didnt feel like a benefit

Yes that is ridiculous, but that's to do with young kids and teens finding ways to be disruptive which isn't anything new.

How does an adult choosing to drink their water from a bottle through the day affect you in any way? Why does it seem preferable to fill a glass 8 times instead?

As you said, you had breaks. Way back when in a 9-5 day it was normal to have a tea break, lunch break, then an afternoon tea break. These days on a 12 hour shift you can be given two half hour breaks only, poorly spaced out, and I’ve heard of some places only giving one half hour.

Also work was not the absolute minimal levels of staffing that they could possibly get away with back then. Some senior staff took the issue and had 2 hours for ‘working’ lunchbreak sometimes, ie chatting watching the football. Much easisr to just get a drink of they wanted and some trades were noted for it.

Its quite common to come off shift feeling dehydrated for me and others now, with no time to think or a quick slurp from my water bottle! And by’dehydrated’ I mean causing constipation the next day.

Employment rights have gone in this country, we are back in Victorian times. But the boomers are fine and need to take yet more because they matter more than our kids, ok?? —sarcasm.

Oh OK so you didn’t work somewhere with tea breaks? That would put you in the minority of workers in the 80s. That a “tea break” was enough of a regular thing to have a name should give an indication that it was perfectly normal.

pints of tea were normal for adults to drink, just not water. The amount of tea per head consumed in the 1950s-1990s was insane, and no it wasn’t primarily drunk at breakfast and then after 6pm.

Snacks weren’t as common, sugar in tea was very common though. Milk in tea is also pretty high calorie if you are having multiple cups. (One cup of tea with a sugar and full fat milk is around 60 calories.)

Child of the 70’s. I think I’m trained not drink. Two cups of coffee a day can often do me, I very rarely feel thirsty!

i never had a job with a tea break
we had coffee at our desks.

I agree. My DH takes a (reusable) bottle with him everywhere. I will take a small one if out for the day/to work (tap water is grim there).

I tend to have a small glass before I go out (so I’m not wee-ing every 5 mins). Why do people take massive Stanley cups out - I really cba with that and you don’t need that much water.

At home I use a glass - I much prefer that.

At school we had a squash with lunch (small cup), there was a water fountain (gross) and then we’d buy a drink in the way home! Not particularly healthy but it was the 80s. I can see why you maybe want a small bottle with you at school though to have at break (student or staff),but not chug it so you need to go all day. There has to be a middle ground.

My mum had to take me to the doctor when I was a child because I wasn’t urinating. Turns out I was really dehydrated. Even now I get comments about how much fluid I drink but I really need to. I think I have a long bowel which soaks up a lot of water.

My dad chain drinks tea. He says his mother was the same.

Depends exactly when you are talking about I suppose, however the death of the ‘traditional’ sweet shop was being mourned only in the 1990s- 2000s. Chocolates were not readily available in the 70s for the working class: sweets were.

Sometimes I think there’s something wrong with my brain in that I remember what actually happened in my 70s/ 80s childhood not what the boomers say happened, but I was trained as a historian.

By being dehydrated or drinking an insane amount of tea/coffee. Pick your option.

People need 8 glasses of fluid a day. That includes all drinks except alcohol. But some people need more to feel on top form. And that’s perfectly OK, you really shouldn’t be irritated by something as banal as humans drinking water… it’s quite pathetic really.

What kind of workplace has these rules?

I am a tea drinker. I rarely feel thirsty and rarely feel like having a cold drink at this time of year. If I didn't drink tea I probably would get dehydrated as water just doesn't hit the spot the way tea does.

I don't feel the need to take a bottle of water with me every time I leave the house either. If I am going grocery shopping, for example, I can manage perfectly well for a couple of hours without a drink.

Not feeling thirsty doesn’t mean you’re not dehydrated.

Customer service. It’s just a rule no drinks or food/phones anything at desks

2 litres is a myth.

Alcohol doesn’t count towards your fluids people! Beer does not count! Food does, but not alcohol.

You obviously know more than the people who actually remember it then . 🙄

You also lose credibility points for using 'Boomers' in a derogatory fashion.

Working class people did have access to chocolate in the 60s and 70s - Mars bars, Kit Kats etc were about twice the size they are now. I even remember the adverts 'Maltesers - the sweet you can eat between meals', 'a Mars a day helps you work, rest and play', 'Have a break have a Kit Kat'.

Yes. 🙄

Beer btw - small beer - was regularly used to drink in the medieval period, in cities /towns where water could not be trusted.

I really don’t know where this idea comes from that fluid does not act as fluid.