The moment you start feeling thirsty, your body is most likely already insufficiently hydrated. Especially children tend to forget to drink enough and are at a high risk to become dehydrated. When the kids are outside and playing with their friends, they can easily risk lacking of water intake, as they are often not aware of the significance of drinking enough water. Parents, therefore, should encourage their children to drink enough and take water breaks, especially if they are physically very active.
Generally saying, drinking sufficient amount of water is one of the most important things to stay healthy. Adding to that, it has various other (health) benefits.
Water is good for the whole body
Since 70% of human body consists of water, the majority of the blood and every cell in the body are composed of water. Human body simply needs enough water to function properly. Drinking enough also boots the internal metabolism and helps the body to properly break down food.
Water helps with headaches
When having a headache or migraine, drinking plenty of water is the first thing that should be done. As these are commonly caused by dehydration, water can bring some relief. A good way to prevent headaches is to stay hydrated throughout the day.
Water keeps you awake, fit and concentrated
One of the most common symptoms of dehydration is tiredness. Drinking enough water therefore can help the body stay refreshed and awake. When muscle cells don’t have adequate fluids, they don’t work as well and performance can suffer. Drinking water can help energize these tired muscles. Dehydration can lead to an impairment of attention span, memory and motor skills. As the brain consists of mostly water, drinking helps it work, think and concentrate better and be more alert. When children drink enough, they are more able to follow in school and focus on assignments and test.
Water saves calories
Water has no calories, fat, carbohydrates or sugar – in comparison with the often very sugary soft drinks. Consuming soft drinks at a high rate can cause a variety of negative impacts on the body such as obesity to diabetes. High calorie and sugary drinks are especially popular with children, so parents need to explain to their kids why soft drinks should be the exception and not the norm to relief the children´s thirst.
Water helps save money
Drinking water from water dispensers is cheap and convenient. People can save the most if they use the water dispenser with refillable bottles and take them wherever. Therefore, buying plastic bottles in the supermarket could be avoidable which then could prevent another plastic garbage.
Project Child Indonesia knows how important sufficient hydration is, especially for children. Hence, we established Drinking Water Program in Yogyakarta and Pacitan. We don’t only provide water filters in schools but also an educational program. Currently, Project Child Indonesia is expanding the program to Fakfak, West Papua. To find more information about our programs in Yogyakarta, Pacitan and Fakfak, check out our website!
written by Sophia Abigmann
