Do you pay attention to how much water your children drink each day? If you’re like most parents – probably not. But a recent article from CNN has many people rethinking the importance of making sure their children are drinking plenty of water on a daily basis and gives some startling data on the truth about kids’ drinking water habits. In fact, more than half of children and teenagers in the United States might not be properly hydrated, according to a nationwide study from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Half of children and teenagers in this country is a huge amount, especially when we have access to pretty decent water unlike many other countries around the world. The article states that In fact, 54.5% of the students in the study had urine concentrations that qualified them as well below their minimum daily water intake. What exactly are your children drinking then? Are they drinking at all? Some children drink hardly any or no water at all in the course of a day as the study found. Whether at home or at school, they are either not drinking enough or drinking beverages which could dehydrate them more thanks to the ingredients.
Do you have boys? Boys surveyed were 76% more likely to be inadequately hydrated than girls, which was a statistically significant finding. This means not all children are equally dehydrated so making sure your boys drink plenty of water is important.
Not drinking enough water can lead to mild dehydration and poorer performance in school. Likewise, it can cause cognitive impairment, headaches and even nausea in severe cases. With younger children, symptoms of mild dehydration could include fussiness, infrequent urination, dry mouth and a lack of tears when the child is crying.
According to this article, experts suggest that kids 1 to 3 years old need roughly four cups of drinking water daily. For kids 4 to 8, five cups is recommended a day. Once kids reach 9, the requirements differ by sex. For boys 9 to 13, eight cups of water is recommended daily, while girls need about seven cups.
We also believe that WHAT water you drink is important, too. Drinking contaminated water is also bad for your child’s health. Choosing high-quality drinking water such as reverse osmosis (RO System) could purify water to a natural state and taste great, enticing your children to drink more of it. As the summer days go by, now is the perfect time to start healthy habits. But healthy habits of drinking more water start at home – the perfect place for a drinking water system. Providing safe drinking water is one more way you can provide better opportunities for your children to drink a little bit more each day and live a healthy, happy life.
