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

We do need water and many people especially the very old can be dehydrated

taking a refillable bottle or an unbreakable mug if you are out all day isn’t daft

but really there does seem to be a strange obsession lugging litres of water around , grabbing quick swigs every few minutes

Well they're marginally better than single use but it's really not a good idea to drink from the same plastic bottle for years.
They'll still all end up in landfill as will the metal ones. I'll stick to a glass.

Many tea bags have plastic in the sealant and aren't Biodegradable. Loose leaf tea is better.

I remember being absolutely parched in summer at school and queuing for the water fountain - kids were so desperate for a drink they’d push each other out of the way. Madness!

I actually had a water bottle at work in the 90s and I have used one ever since. I had a gym-buddy friend who said we should drink 2 litres of water a day to stay healthy and so we all tried to!

I agree that straws are impossible to clean, but I think we used to have more regular tea breaks in the past. I know several teachers and nurses with recurrent UTIs and kidney infections from not drinking enough fluids.

I grew up in the 80s, cup of tea with toast before primary school, free milk at snack time, jugs of water at lunch and still remember being thirsty a lot. Hated pe mainly because of thirst. My parents had a constant stream of cups of tea. Office jobs in late 90s early noufhties we had water dispensers in the office, there was a whole congregating at the water cooler culture. Later clinical jobs constant cups of tea. Loads of fizzy juice as a kid and squash. This idea we never drank is a weird false memory

I am in my 60s and wish I had drunk more when I was younger. 30+ year olds look a lot younger with zero wrinkles than my generation looked .
Healthy heart and kidneys are capable of coping with 1.5 litres water a day.

Yep will be interesting to see how these hydrated people fair in old age. Ditto if obesity levels come down with WLI, interested to see long term how things go on a population level!

People also used to marry their siblings, doctors used to smoke while delivering babies and people used to throw their shit out of the window onto the street…. Just because it used to happen doesn’t mean it was right. Every adult should drink at least 1.5 litres of water to stay healthy. Other methods of hydration include fruit, veg and hot drinks.

Have you heard of Botox? I really don't think the younger generations line free faces are down to water 🤣

i am not talking about 1.5 litres which is nearer what people used to drink and nearer what seems a reasonable amount. I am talking about people of today drinking 4, 5, 6+ litres a day.

You can drink plenty of water without lugging it around with you / that’s the point

no one is saying don’t drink

but without lugging it about and swigging it every few minutes

Well all those saying we dont need to drink much water should really visit older people in hospital with severe constipation and constant uti problems.
But they will still only drink tea or coffee and odd sip of water when pushed.
To be fair both of those things happen you people of any age everyday. And water does make a big difference to both.
Who cares what sort of bottle/cup its drunk out of.

YANBU. I was thinking this the other day. I realised I felt better drinking up to approximately 1L of liquid a day which may be a mix of coffee, juice and water instead of 1L of water separately and then coffee and juice on top of that. Drinking so much water means I get hugely bloated and am running for the loo inconveniently many times during the day.

In the late 90's I worked in an office with a water cooler where water was drank at an impressive rate so we were all very hydrated however there were ashtrays on all the desks too and people could smoke in the open office at their leisure.

I think the current trend of staying as hydrated as possible is mostly just anxiety about ageing. Some intuition that if you fill yourself up with fluid, your skin will be naturally youthful and moisturised.

The problem is the lack of drinking fountains. If you don’t take a bottle of water with you, you often have no access to a drink without buying one, a bottle of water or a tea/coffee or can of something. Sitting in a cafe to have a cup of tea isn’t particularly cheap anymore.

Obviously fine if you plan to just be out of the house for an hour or so, but if you are planning a full morning/day out then taking a drink with you saves money.

Bottled water only suddenly became ‘fashionable’ in the U.K. when we were living in a Middle Eastern desert in the 80s. Our water came in a bowser and came out of the tap hot and brown. We had to filter it, boil it, and keep it in the fridge.
So we were startled, on our next leave to the U.K - where clean, cold water came out of the tap - to see so many people shelling out for bottled water!

I still put it down to very clever marketing by the French bottled water companies - it had been a ‘thing’ in France for a long time, at least partly because their tap water often wasn’t ‘potable’ - we were warned about it on my first trip to France at 14.

And no doubt the French producers thought the stupid Brits would fall for it.

We still hardly ever buy bottled water many decades later.

Back in my home country we didn't bring any water bottles with us to school and we never got any free water at school either (except of 6 year olds in Reception who got a cup of warm tea with their sandwich at the table). There was a school shop where you had to buy stuff or you just drank water straight from a tap. Also, there was no lunch facility - that was just for really disadvantaged kids or kids whose parents worked at the school. The rest of us just ate our home sandwich while running or standing and chatting. We survived, lol.

Yes and they still have lead pipes in buildings in France to this day which we don't.
I agree that it's a clever marketing ploy. Smart water being completely unnecessary for the vast majority of the population who can adequately hydrate themselves by drinking tap water and consuming electrolytes through their diet.

But if I’m out all day I don’t want to have to buy water. So I’d rather lug it around with me…

I don’t really eat in restaurants so would need to wait until I was home. When I’m at university or work that would mean 8-10 hours without any water including my commute. I’d have a raging headache at that point.

Your glass will also eventually end up in landfill just like a metal bottle…

I agree. I think in some people they are the equivalent of a security blanket.

on the subject of snacks- I live near a zoo and sometimes I walk my dog through the car park on a Saturday morning and I can’t believe the amount of bags of food and snacks people are unpacking from their cars to take in with them, it’s like they are going camping for a weekend.

Small beer was mostly water. Beer now is much stronger - some are 8%! The higher the alcohol content the stronger the diuretic effect and the more fluid you excrete instead of absorb. Yes you might net a bit of water by drinking alcohol but the net fluid balance is poor compared to every other fluid. Hence why when people are hungover they’re very dehydrated.

I drink at least 3 litres of liquid a day. I do a lot of exercise though and have had kidney stones so you won’t be able to convince me it’s not a good thing.