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’ve been in the workforce for 30 years and I’ve always had a water bottle on my desk. I carry one with me everywhere. I like to stay hydrated!

i have been working for 40 years
minus a few when dc were young
and i do not OWN a water bottle, far less have one on my desk!

I wouldn’t mind betting a French SiL’s Paris flat has God knows what sort of chaotic antique plumbing - it’s in a huge building of at least a couple of hundred flats - it was built in the year before the French Revolution! And she’s lately experiencing no end of trouble with a leak - nobody has a clue where all the pipes are!

I think this is a good point about being out all day, when I was a child I remember my mum and Grandma declaring it was time to go home for a cup of tea, they would never have bought one out. I can't imagine doing that with my family now.

No my glass will go in the glass recycling box when it eventually breaks.

If I am out all day with no intention of stopping at a cafe then I would also take water with me. I also take water when I do a long drive, but most day trips I do these days include a stop for hot drinks/lunch so I don't need to carry water around as well.

In winter I would rather have a hot cup of tea than a drink of cold water.

I have one cup of coffee in the morning and then I pretty much only drink water. I don’t buy coffee or tea when out because it’s a rip off. Water buying is also a rip off.

So makes perfect sense to take my nice, free water from home.

You could do the same with a metal water bottle… or get a glass bottle. Plenty have them.

I sometimes meet friends in a cafe. I wouldn't then sit there and get my water bottle out while they buy a coffee as it is very rude.

The problem is that when I am cold I don't get thirsty, so I wouldn't want to drink water, but I would drink tea. Therefore I still stay hydrated in colder weather. Basically I never fancy water unless I am hot and/or thirsty.

I rarely buy coffee on the move.

I am not so impecunious that I can't afford a cup of tea or coffee when I am out and about (which isn't very often these days).

I absolutely agree and drink plenty myself, it's the fad of carrying huge vessels around and constantly drinking which is OTT.

I just don’t understand why people have such an issue with people carrying around “huge vessels” of water with them. It doesn’t affect you at all. You don’t have to carry it for them. You’re not responsible for cleaning it (and most are easily cleaned). If the sight of an adult drinking water offends then you can look in another direction. It’s not smelly or noisy or antisocial or offensive. Obviously not everyone’s lifestyle suits it but some people’s do. I like my water bottle because:

• Icy water entices me to drink more so an insulated bottle is nicer
• I prefer drinking from a straw
• Having the bottle is a visual prompt
• I spend a lot a time out of the house so sensible to take water to avoid going most of the day without

Like I said in another post I don’t feel thirsty so the advice to drink to thirst doesn’t work for me. In the early days of breastfeeding I wasn’t peeing every day because I must have been so dehydrated but I still didn’t feel thirsty. I really can’t imagine why anyone would care about my water bottle, just like I don’t care if others prefer a glass of water at home. Everyone is different and if the most annoying thing that happens to you is a stranger is minding their own business and drinking water (even if it is from a Stanley 😱) that’s a pretty great day.

I know that. Probably chronically dehydrated. And should know better as a nurse.

The only time this annoys me is at a class I’m taking where there are 20 minute meditations twice in the course of a two-hour class. We are supposed to remain entirely still in a comfortable position (some people on the floor with cushions, others on chairs) and silent for the 20 minutes. There’s no music or speech guide. Someone in the group picks up a water bottle, unscrews the lid and takes a noisy drink, gives a sigh, screws the lid back on and puts the bottle back on the floor four or five times in the 20-minutes silent meditation. I’ve said nothing, because it’s obviously possible she’s ill and needs to, but if she’s in good health, there seems absolutely no reason other than habit that means she needs to drink water so often while sitting still on a chair for 20 minutes. The noise is annoying.

I used to make mine nasty coffee and tea from a drinks machine at work. That prob kept me hydrated. But dreadfully wired too.

I think it's much more likely that the majority of people have found that they feel better if they drink more water, so they keep doing it.

I honestly can't imagine what tiny, miserable life one must lead to be annoyed by other people carrying a water bottle.

When I was a child I had a milky tea with my cereal. Cup of milk at break. Cordial at lunch and pop with tea. Nothing after tea. Never drank water.
Also breakfast, lunch, dinner. No snacks no supper.

Every time I've been in a classroom since leaving school (as in adult education, uni or even staff training) and needed the loo, I've felt a rush of joy and relief that I don't need to ask permission to go like we did back in school. Body autonomy is a wonderful thing!
Same goes for drinking water also.

That’s a good point about tea. My dm and dsis will ‘always put the kettle on’ when arriving home (abit like Pauline Fowler). Did people drink more tea in the past which kept them quenched? I’ve come to realise that I’m not a big drinker compared to other people.

IMO water bottles should be banned and so should "snacks".

I dunno, as a teen in the 90's I always had headaches and felt shit. Then I read that drinking lots of water helped clear up skin (I was a vain teen) and after that my headaches went and I was able to focus better. I see nothing wrong with staying hydrated!

Plus people were much less likely to obese.

It’s like when you see people claiming they can’t feed their kids through poverty on the news, yet they’re 15 stone.

One word DEMENTIA.
Hydration is key to preventing it.

My dad’s theory is that there is always time for a cup of tea. We have been all packed for holiday with the taxi drawing outside to the accompaniment of the kettle boiling. He can throw it down his throat like he’s a 22 year old downing beer on a stag do if necessary. I have no idea how he has never burnt out his windpipe! 😂

Us normal people - you know, the drink when you’re thirsty types - should encourage these oddballs who down water as a hobby. They’re great fun to watch and analyse. I try to guess which are the pseudo-medical ones (“I get headaches if I don’t drink 2 litres a day”; “Drinking water combats brain degeneration” etc 🙄) and which are the Stanley cup posers.

But then I have a great interest in Victorian municipal engineering and I suspect that the tsunami of dilute wee that these people are flushing all day might be a good thing for upkeep of the sewers.

Nrtft, but when I started work in 1980, the junior staff did a tea/coffee round at least 4 times a day in our small office. It was unheard of to go round with a bottle of water all day!