Focused Fitness Blog

By Karoline Gore

The nation's children and teenagers aren't drinking enough water, according to research in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers found a worrying trend among the country's boys, with males 76% more likely to be poorly hydrated than girls. For youngsters participating in regular sporting and physical activity, hydration is especially important as it keeps their brains and bodies functioning correctly. Therefore, as a teacher who is dedicated to children’s health and fitness, it's best to include fun hydration sessions alongside your nutrition and fitness education.

Hydration, nutrition, and fitness

Kids need to understand that hydration, nutrition, and fitness go hand in hand. Eating well is crucial for kids who thrive for good physical performance, for staying healthy and for fighting off disease. But children exercise, they sweat up to 1.4 liters in an hour. Therefore, this fluid loss needs to be replaced with good quality water. Get a selection of water from different sources together and perform tests with your class to determine which of the fluids is the safest to drink. You can then split your class into two and have one group run around the track with sipping from water bottles and the other without. Then compare the lap results and physical feelings of the two groups to prove how hydration is a vital part of life.

Making hydration fun 

Learning about hydration needn't be boring. Fun, interactive sessions can include comparing a tomato plant which has received adequate hydration compared to one that has gone without. Encourage the kids to get their hands dirty by getting them to feel the physical effects of dehydration on the plant, in addition to noting the visual impact of a lack of water. Another way to demonstrate the effects of hydration and dehydration is by soaking sponges in a bucket of water to highlight how they dry up at different rates in different conditions.

Knowledge is wisdom 

30% of youngsters drink two or more sugary drinks every day, according to the CDC. With drinks such as soda available in fun colors, kids see it as nothing more than an exciting drink. So it's important to teach children that these drinks contribute to poor performance as they can lead to dehydration due to the caffeine in them acting as a diuretic, which in turn can lead to fatigue. Ply kids with the knowledge that water is the only method of hydration that they need to achieve their fitness goals and they'll flock to fill up their water bottles.

As a teacher, it’s your role to educate children on all aspects of physical education, including the link to fitness, nutrition, and adequate hydration. By introducing this notion in the form of fun, interactive and knowledge sessions, you’ll ensure that the children you teach are as healthy as can be.