From nanny state to naggy state

Or to be told by Victoria beckham on twitter to wear sunscreen! Drives me nuts

Apparently the army don't know that you have to drink lots when it's hot.

Believe me, as a GP's wife, people do need to be told the simplest things. Huge amounts of their time are taken up with dealing with the simplest things that just require a ha'porth of nouse!

mishap, I find that about the army very hard to believe.

Can people really not tell when they are thirsty? If so, it's obviously time we went extinct because of the crass stupidity of the species. An animal that doesn't know to drink when it is thirsty deserves to die.

Die out, I should say.

Common sense is actually very uncommon!

Is it because we are nagged at every turn - told what are "healthy options", when food should be eaten by, how much fat/sugar/protein/carbohydrate to consume, how much liquid to drink, when to go out in the sun - or not - ("Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun") how many fruit and veggies to eat per day, etc etc etc - all of these seem designed to undermine our own ability to think for ourselves or trust our own judgement.As you know - use it or lose it.

You don't need any common sense to sense thirst. You just need an animal brain that works in the most basic way. All other mammals manage perfectly well. Why shouldn't we?

Maybe we need to start telling the naggers to shut the F up.

I agree Bags, but nearly 15,000 people, most of them elderly, died here in the heatwave of August 2003. This was mostly because the rest of France had gone on holiday and nobody checked. If the warnings save just a few lives, it is surely worthwhile.

Presumably they were not compos mentis, or perhaps physically unable to get water for themselves?

I think many of them were perfectly OK before, but became over-heated, dehydrated and then confused.
Families were away and came back to find the bodies.
It was very, very hot, we were in the Pyrenees and have a photo of the thermometer at 37 degrees at 7.30am.

We lose our sens of thirst as we age

Just read the Wiki article about heat exhaustion and the complications of the 2003 heatwave. Here is a telling paragraph:

Not everyone blamed the government. "The French family structure is more dislocated than elsewhere in Europe, and prevailing social attitudes hold that once older people are closed behind their apartment doors or in nursing homes, they are someone else's problem," said Stéphane Mantion, an official with the French Red Cross. "These thousands of elderly victims didn't die from a heat wave as such, but from the isolation and insufficient assistance they lived with day in and out, and which almost any crisis situation could render fatal."[7]

Not simple thirst then, but not knowing how to keep body temperature normal in tropical heat. Very sad.

Ana, just seen your post. I didn't know that!

Yes I read that Bags, but to me the French family ties seem to be much stronger than in the UK, which is not to say that there aren't older people who have no family, especially in cities. Here in the village it is part of my role as a local Councillor to check on people.
I think in the aftermath everyone blamed everyone else. I also think the paragraph about how the most frail who were in nursing and care homes survived better than the next group up was interesting.

I can't say I have lost my sense of thirst - I drink about ten cups of tea a day, plus orange juice or water when I am on a walk. Perhaps it is just that I like the taste of tea, or it is a habit.

Sounds as if it might be a good habit to keep, greatnan!

Good post Ana .

Not all elderly people lead such an active lifestyle. I'd imagine it's quite easy not to notice thirst if you're housebound or can't get around much. The article just refers to recruiting 'healthy' senior citizens to take part in the study.

We are not all the same. Many older people will have different changes in their lives. I have noticed some people who are losing their hearing but they are not aware of it.

My comment about the army referred to the sad deaths of two young soldiers who were on a yomping exercise in the Brecon Beacons the day before yesterday and who died of dehydration. It beggars belief that the army functions in hot places like Iraq and yet cannot work out that people need fluid on hot days.

It makes me very angry when this happens - it is not the first time.

Yes, I thought that was what you were referring to, Mishap. The trouble is, we don't know enough details to be sure that they actually died because of a lack of water - at least, none of the reports I've read have been able to confirm or deny that.

My DD1 has just written a press release for a hospital trust who have had to treat and admit a large number of sun burned children..youngest 4 weeks. 80% of bay's body burned by the sun! Don't say we do not need reminders!!