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

A finger of fudge is just enough until it’s time to eat!

A couple of colleagues still don't drink much / any water and wonder why they have headaches in the middle of the day.
My grandparents used to drink way too much tea. It didn't do them any good as they'd have UTI's. Water would have been better.

This!

I don’t understand the people who have a problem with other people drinking 😂 I just can’t imagine myself ever caring how much anyone else drinks (other than being concerned my 95yo grandmother getting recurrent UTIs for example).

If you don’t want a drink then don’t have one. People have different bodies and different requirements in life. Literally couldn’t be more basic.

we definitely wouldnt have been eating a mars bar every day!

But research is easy to find eg…

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7966133/

https://www.thelancet.com/campaigns/kidney/updates/can-water-intake-prevent-ckd

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1279770724004147

There is plenty of research which says that drinking to thirst is all that is needed and that fluid replenishment can come from many sources including food.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24464774 is just one of many articles discussing why.
Don't forget that the explosion in advice to drink 8 glasses of water a day (or more) came with the introduction of bottled water.

I could see xMIL starting this thread.
She literally drinks 8 mugs of tea a day, but would see that as "normal" and not the same thing at all, oh no...

This is what they do at my son's school. The box idea, not the liqueur

coffee, tea, alcohol, fizzy drinks, orange juice - they can all irritate the bladder

We had a water fountain at school - next to the outside loos, I suppose because that's where the plumbing was. We were only meant to use the loos at breaktimes/lunchtimes, unless an emergency. We did have indoor loos in the more modern extension of the school. Sometime in the '80s, though small squarish flasks became fashionable, which I think usually had squash in. It was a step up from the warm squash in a Tupperware beaker that family picnics all seemed to have.

My father was a farmer and would take a flask of water or squash in the summer. Once the '80s came,he mostly reused 2l PET bottles which had had Coke or lemonade in, which could be frozen overnight in the freezer, then melted over the day. On a hot day of harvest, he did need rehydration quite frequently. In winter, he sometimes took a flask of coffee, but would be more likely to have the time to pop into the house for a fresh one.

These days, I have a glass of water at my desk, which I refill as needed. Colleagues mostly have tea or coffee, but I've never drunk either. At least that's not seen as weird these days as it was when I was younger.

I don’t really get your issue, no one is forcing you to drink constantly and why would it remotely bother you if others do.

no one said if you don’t you will die, so I really don’t understand why you’re asking how people survived either,

you should consume 1.5 to 2 litres,
4 to 6 mug sizes a day
for the sake of your bladder

Tea drinking doesn't cause UTIs, especially if you drink decaffeinated tea.

Tea. It was tea! Coffee dehydrates, but tea doesn’t (unless you put too much milk in it).

I rarely drink water except for a pint overnight, but I will drink at least 8 cups of tea per working day - sometimes more. When I’m out on my bike, exercising, is the only time I carry a water bottle (2 actually), but them I need it. Not while working at a computer!

I’ve been doing this for over 40 years now, and most people my age at work do the same…

tea can irritate the bladder, it is a diuretic

It can, true. It still hydrates you though. You don't have a net loss of fluid by drinking tea. I am well hydrated because my urine is pale and I don't get headachey.

I do drink water, but when I am at work in a cold air conditioned office the last thing I fancy is a cold drink, so I drink tea.

Drinking tea from a cup or water from a glass isn't going to leaves billions of plastic bottles littering the world. The massive ones are ridiculous and are just not needed in the workplace. You're not going on a hike in 30c.
8 glasses is recommended in a day but you don't have to drink your entire days quota at work! They're just more landfill.

We use to take flasks with (weak milky disgusting) tea out as a family or bottles of squash. And had a carton of juice with lunch at school and there were plastic awful water jugs too that always had sticky handles. When I started work in the 90s there was still a tea trolley that came round 6 times a day.

'For the sake of your bladder' you should drink enough so your pee is the right colour (not too dark, not too pale).

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

Awww diddums try living since then. A boomer tried to tell me last week that the idea they are living longer than previous generations was a myth.

Obviously lifestyles can be very different depending on time and location and wealth but I was brought up poor in the 70s/ 80s - which you didn’t bother to read - surviving on porridge made with hot water, no milk, and hand me down clothing, and we only had chocolate as Christmas presents. However there were half a dozen sweet shops and we used those more regularly than once a year.

But these children would find a way to be disruptive even without drinking water. Thats always been the way with some teens.

A myth? Care to elaborate or do you prefer to keep us guessing?

But most of water bottles being talked about aren’t single use, people use the same water bottles for years. (And metal bottles are increasingly common).

Completely agree. In average weather conditions (unless we're experiencing particularly hot weather) I never go out on a run of up to 10K with any water and manage to keep myself perfectly well hydrated despite sweating.

Tea and coffee aren’t dehydrating - they’re diuretics so will make you wee more but you’ll still be net positive hydrated.

Eg Drink 100ml water - wee out 50ml.
Drink 100ml tea - wee out 60ml. Still 40ml up. Obviously not the actual figures!

Alcohol is actually dehydrating. Meaning you lose more than you take in.