Calendargirl
Yes MayBeMaw, we all seemed to grow up perfectly well without having a bottle of water always to hand. I know it is now accepted that it is good for us to drink more water, but do we have to have a bottle to hand when we pop to the shops, sit in church for an hour’s service, or keep having a top up when swimming for half an hour in the local pool?
All observed recently.
The answer to all of the above is, as I am sure you're saying yourself, is 'no'. In fact, there is no scientific evidence that drinking when you're not thirsty is of any benefit, unless you happen to have a small range of illnesses. Even the original 1945 study that started this myth states that most of the water you need will come from food.
And don’t get me started on ‘flushing toxins’, we all have these things called kidneys that filter about 180 litres of blood a day or, to put another way, your entire blood supply every 40 minutes. An extra couple of litres of water makes no difference.
The only point of caution that I’d raise is that, in some older people (are there any of those around here?) your sense of thirst may not function properly.
So drink lots of water if you want to, but it’s a personal preference.