FROM DROPPING €50 on a Stanley quencher water cup to buying a ‘water bottle’ that resembles a keg and is bigger than the size of a human head, I feel as though we’ve reached peak water drinking obsession lately – and I have to wonder if it’s all more about the fancy water bottles than the actual drinking of water?

A few weeks ago, when we were knee-deep in back-to-school preparations, my eldest, who was desperate to get an Air Up water bottle (a snip at a starting price of €34.99), innocently asked what kind of water bottle I had when I was in school. I laughed and shook my head as I told him I didn’t have a water bottle in school. No one did.

In fact, as a child of the 80s and 90s, I didn’t start drinking water without a meal until I was in my late teens or in college. It just wasn’t a thing. Bottles of Evian and Perrier were seen as a luxury and something American yuppies on TV carried, while they walked along clutching their mobile phones the size of bricks with ariels sticking out the top that could be seen from outer space.

We, on the other hand, spent our school days surviving on one Capri Sun or juice box that likely had a glut of preservatives, colours and E-numbers inside. If you were lucky, you might have gotten a carton of milk too. Still, it didn’t mean we weren’t thirsty. I can remember regularly coming in from PE parched and waiting in a huge queue of equally dehydrated kids hoping to get a go for a single gulp of water from a bacteria-encrusted water fountain, only to be told to hurry up without ever even getting one drop. Hydration was just not high on the agenda back then.

Everyone would queue to drink from this for their hydration in school. Shutterstock


Shutterstock

In stark contrast, we now live in a world where people cannot leave the house without always clutching a giant water bottle, picked from their array of equally huge, trendy water bottles. What happened to just drinking when we’re thirsty, instead of turning it into some torturous challenge where we have to reach a certain target, often spurred on by really naff motivational quotes on the side of the bottle or suffer failure?

“While carrying a water bottle around can help us drink more throughout the day, we don’t need the super-sized bottles that are popping up everywhere,” explains dietitian Fiona Finneran.

“I’ve seen bottles that hold three and four litres. Not only is this an excessive amount for most of us to drink, it’s also a crazy weight to be carrying around. In my opinion, a one-litre bottle is enough to carry around and you can always refill it.”

Daily intake

Wise words, but how much H20 should we all be drinking a day?

According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), women need two litres and men need two and a half litres. Of course, that’s a rough guide and water intake depends on so many factors – age, exercise and even how warm the weather is.

“A person’s ‘daily fluid intake’ is more important than their daily water intake,” clarifies Finneran.

“Between 50-70% of our body weight is made up of water, so our body needs it to survive. A good guide is to aim for at least eight cups of fluid per day,and this can be a mix of water, juice, milk, tea, and even coffee. It’s important not to rely on thirst as a reminder to drink, as when we are thirsty, we are already about 2% dehydrated.”

The way influencers go on sharing videos of their vats of water on social media, you’d swear we need many, many multiples more of the guidelines per day, or face imminent shrivelling up from dehydration. How their bladders survive, and they are not simply chained to the toilet all day I do not know.

Call me crazy, but it’s almost as if they just have these bottles for show and don’t actually drink the water butt-levels of liquid found inside.

Water is by far the healthy choice as opposed to juices, soft drinks, energy drinks, and smoothies. It’s proven to be good for our overall health and is the efficient at hydrating us, yet despite my large array of water bottles, I’m still the first to admit that I don’t drink enough water. I exist on a conveyor belt of coffee and tea, only to get to 8pm and realise I’ve not had a sip of water all day, and then wonder why I’ve got a headache.

Bacteria

I’ve tried all the water bottles that have ever graced the shelves. I’ve tried the ones where you add the tea or fruit for flavour. The bottles with the motivational quotes on them. The ones with straws. The ones with no straws. The metal ones. The BPA-free ones. The quencher cups. I’ve even tried just reusing old plastic water bottles. None have stayed the course.

The price of some of these bottles beggars’ belief, from the high-end Stanleys to the hot right now Air Ups that all the kids want. Fun fact: these particular bottles also come with the caveat of being locked into forever buying flavour pods, which emit a flavour scent alongside the water in order to encourage more water drinking. Truth be told, I’ve countless water bottles languishing in the press, each having had its day basking in the sun of the latest trend, only to eventually be left to gather dust or mould.

One of the trendy Air Up water bottles. Alamy Stock Photo


Alamy Stock Photo

Yes, it’s the thing none of us want to hear, but the truth is our reusable water bottles are breeding grounds for bacteria. Studies show that reusable water bottles have fourteen times more bacteria than a dog bowl and 40,000 times more bacteria than found on a toilet seat. Plus, heads up, that slimy film on the inside of the water bottle or straw that we all like to pretend is just water, is not just water. It’s more likely to be microfilm of bacteria.

Many of us aren’t cleaning our many reusable water bottles often or thoroughly enough, and every time we take a swig, we introduce bacteria into the water inside – and let’s not even go into whether our hands our clean when we grab our water bottles all the time.

It’s a rabbit hole most water bottle users don’t want to go down, and who can blame them?

Reusable water bottles in themselves aren’t the enemy here. They are preferable to single use elastics, although one could argue the sheer amount of viral water quenchers, tumblers, bottles and kegs people are purchasing is sort of defeating that particular purpose. And as I said on that, I’m guilty as charged.

Overhydration

But is there a need for these ginormous bottles? Because – believe it or not – there is such a thing as drinking too much water.

“Water intoxication is possible, but it is quite rare,” explains Finneran. “It happens when we drink more than our kidneys can pass out. This causes the electrolytes in our body to become diluted, leading to symptoms such as headaches, nausea, vomiting, and muscle twitching, and can be fatal.”

“There have been some cases of it in athletes who did not replace electrolytes along with their fluids in long endurance events. Water drinking contests are another high risk for it and should be avoided,” she cautions.

“The most important thing is knowing your own body – look at your pee – if it’s completely clear like water, then slow down a little on the fluids – aim for pale straw pee.”

Ultimately, when it comes to drinking water, like most of the best nutritional advice, it’s the same old line that moderation is probably best, and maybe we don’t need to be dragging around water bottles the size of kegs everywhere we go.