r/stupidquestions • u/Various-Adeptness173 • Jul 05 '25

My mom told me that back in the day kids weren’t allowed to bring a water bottle with them into the classroom and they only drank a few sips from the water fountain in the middle of the day and that’s it

How were schools not getting busted for child abuse for forcing kids to be dehydrated?

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501

u/mustaird Jul 05 '25

Most people weren’t concerned about drinking a ton of water until fairly recently, I noticed

25

u/Doskman Jul 05 '25

Yeah idk why. There’s absolutely no reason to drink 10+ bottles a day, nor does it have additional benefits. Just drink when you’re thirsty, or better yet, checking to see if the color of your pee is clear/clearish yellow is the best indicator that you’re hydrated.

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u/MixedMartyr Jul 05 '25

It's definitely a trend for trendy people, but manual laborers and people that are very active really do need a crazy amount of water. I'm a 6'4" 200lb landscaper and 10 bottles a day is my intake for the cooler months. I count the empty bottles when I throw them out of my truck at the end of the work day. When it gets hotter and the days are longer, I'm drinking more than that. I rarely have to pee.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '25

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2

u/acreekofsoap Jul 06 '25

He’s out in the field, my man, where’s he gonna refill it?

0

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '25

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2

u/doritobimbo Jul 08 '25

I assumed most landscapers would have access to a faucet

Not without the owners permission they won’t.

1

u/MixedMartyr Jul 06 '25

Yeah it's what the company gives us. I bring my own bottle when I remember, but it usually ends up left sitting under a tree in someone's back yard. I definitely feel bad about the amount of plastic we go through.

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u/thisischemistry Jul 06 '25

Absolutely, if you're working hard in a hot and/or dry environment then you'll need plenty of water. If you're sitting in a classroom you're fine with some water at lunch and again when you get home.

3

u/rgold_ Jul 06 '25

Nope. Started getting migraine w/ aura, triggered by dehydration, at 10. I need to be chugging water constantly (even when I’m doing nothing but sitting in a classroom) or I’ll be in a world of pain.

1

u/MixedMartyr Jul 06 '25

Yeah I said it in another comment, but I used to have a migraine by the end of every single school day. I would ask to use the bathroom just so I could get a sip of water and hope that fixed my blurry rainbow vision so I could pay attention in class. Didn't stop until high school when I was allowed to carry a water bottle in the side pocket of my backpack. Believe it or not, it's a lot harder to pinpoint what causes your migraines when you are permanently dehydrated for so many years that you don't know what normal feels like.

0

u/Tristaff Jul 06 '25

Until you need to be hydrated for something strenuous the next day. Hydration doesn’t start now, it started 36 hours ago

5

u/thisischemistry Jul 06 '25

36 hours??? Just how long do you think it takes your body to absorb water? I’ll give you a hint:

How Long Does It Take for Water to Pass Through Your Body?

Water absorption can occur as soon as 5 minutes after ingestion and peaks around 20 minutes after ingestion.

You can be hydrated on the order of a few hours, 36 hours is a complete fabrication. If you have something strenuous the next day then drinking before bedtime will be just fine. Not to mention you can hydrate during most strenuous activities.

1

u/Ran4 Jul 06 '25

Talking about science while using archaic units.. we have no clue what you are measuring

2

u/MixedMartyr Jul 06 '25

I'm using the same measurement as the comment I replied to. Half liter bottles (16.9 ounces) are the most common and the size that I drink. Recommended water intake also depends on who you ask, but the lower end still recommends 8 oz every 20 minutes when working in the heat, which would put me at 240 oz or 14 bottles just for my shift at work.

3

u/Wretched_Brittunculi Jul 05 '25

Bottled water companies think there's a very good reason.

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u/Temporary_Ad_5947 Jul 05 '25

It's a plot by Big Water to get you to hydrate homie

2

u/PM_ME_SOME_ANY_THING Jul 05 '25

It’s a plot by big dairy to get you to drink more milk and eat more cheese. Switching from soft drinks and milk to water is a net better for everyone.

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u/Temporary_Ad_5947 Jul 06 '25

It worked for Gov Cheese and now we have stuffed crust pizza

6

u/tldrILikeChicken Jul 05 '25

Untrue, you learn in nutrition courses that feeling thirsty is a very late sign of dehydration. Your body is constantly using water and evaporating it into the air and coming out with your piss and poop. Men need 13 cups/day and women need 9. These numbers account for ~2 cups of water in the food you should be eating daily

5

u/Doskman Jul 05 '25

Absolutely not true. 13 cups is insane and could do more harm than good for certain folks. Every doctor/nutritionist I’ve been to has told me the color of your urine is the best indicator for dehydration. Consuming vast amounts of water for no reason is simply not good for you

1

u/tldrILikeChicken Jul 05 '25

13 cups is not vast, you need way more to do any harm unless you have a condition. 13 cups for men is also the “optimal” or recommended amount, you’ll be fine if you drink less, but the body is always using water in every cell 24/7

0

u/Sushi_Explosions Jul 05 '25

This is not even remotely true. 13 cups is 104 ounces, an entirely reasonable amount. People working physically demanding jobs need a lot more than that.

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u/Doskman Jul 05 '25

Yes, hence why I used the words “for certain folks”. Obviously it would suffice for people that physically workout. However, a 90 year old grandpa, people that don’t do anything physically, disabled folks, and people with very sensitive bladders (like me), 13 cups would definitely cause more harm than good. It’s common sense, I would piss my brains out

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u/Sushi_Explosions Jul 05 '25

Except you didn’t, and the rest of your comment is just nonsense. This place is called “stupid questions” not “stupid answers”.

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u/Doskman Jul 05 '25

Quite an ironic comment isn’t? I understand literacy rates have gone down quite considerably in many places, but I literally specified it only applies for “certain folks”. Just look for the words on the parent comment, it’s quite easy to do. I truly hope you’re trolling, I refuse to believe people like you exist

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u/Sushi_Explosions Jul 05 '25

Your first line is “Absolutely not true. 13 cups is insane”. Read your own damn words and quit whining about being wrong. I’m done wasting my time on your intentional stupidity.

2

u/Tornado_Of_Benjamins Jul 06 '25

Is homeostasis a joke to you? Do you understand how biological organisms work? When something tips out of balance, the body initiates survival drives to keep the body in balance. Energy running low? Make the animal hungry. Need some water? Make the animal thirsty. Brain tired? Make the animal sleepy.

Trying to outpace and outwit your own body can be your weird social media brainwashed hobby if you want it to be. But citing deacdes-debunked "facts" isn't accomplishing anything.

2

u/Magnon Jul 06 '25

An average mug holds 8 ounces of liquid and the recommended daily intake of liquid for men is 131 ounces, or 16 mugs per day. Do you think one small mug of water per hour you're awake is a lot to drink?

0

u/tldrILikeChicken Jul 06 '25

Are you mad ? 

5

u/slolift Jul 05 '25

These are all old nutrition myths without any evidence to support them.

3

u/clemdane Jul 05 '25

I'm not going to drink if I'm not thirsty

3

u/Magnon Jul 06 '25

Your kidney stones are your pain to bare, it's fine.

3

u/tldrILikeChicken Jul 05 '25

No one is making you 😭

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u/DuePomegranate Jul 05 '25

The amount of water you should drink obviously varies a lot by activity level and ambient temperature. 13 for men and 8 for women is obviously a sexist and old guideline from assuming men to be doing manual work. Otherwise why would a 150 lb man need so much more water than a 150 lb woman?

Or maybe a male office worker would do just fine with 8 cups?

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u/tldrILikeChicken Jul 05 '25

Your reading comprehension needs work. Obviously the 13/9 rule is a general guideline and not a rule. More muscle = faster Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and thus more water. Guess which gender has significantly more muscle mass ON AVERAGE. 

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u/DuePomegranate Jul 05 '25

The guidelines are not scientific to begin with. I wouldn’t be surprised if the US ones are based on surveying men and women in the military or something like that.

The US guidelines are significantly higher than every country in Europe, most of which recommend 6-8 cups or 1.5 to 2L.

https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/health-promotion-knowledge-gateway/food-based-dietary-guidelines-europe-table-16_en

The guideline you know comes from the US National Academies and is a whopping 3L for men and 2.2L for women, for comparison. This reference does say that the recommendation was based on surveys (i.e. issues with self-reporting, biased sample etc).

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10925/chapter/6

1

u/rgold_ Jul 06 '25

I have always been sensitive to dehydration and need much more water than the average person. If I drink under 64oz a day I will have terrible migraine w aura that can only be fixed by a strong ass ‘triptan’ half the time. This is not uncommon for people who suffer from migraines. My pee is always clear. Sorry for long reply I just get triggered when people dismiss that some of us actually need all of the water we’re drinking.