W-O-W Part Five: Turn off that TV and go play! Wiseup-On-Water! Children need to be active in order to stay healthy. The increase in childhood obesity has been linked to declining activity levels.29 Poor hydration can cause feelings of tiredness and reduced alertness, leading to reluctance to exercise.30 When exercise is taken, even mild dehydration can impair physical performance.31 In adults, there is a reduction in physical work capacity at 2 per cent dehydration of between 8-25 per cent. When exercising in hot conditions at 1-2 per cent dehydration, children experience a greater increase in core body temperature than adults.32 This suggests that the same level of dehydration may have greater adverse effects on children’s physical performance.1 Children should be well hydrated before prolonged physical exercise in a hot environment.
Every 20 minutes during the activity:
• a 40kg child should be encouraged to drink 150ml of water, and
• a 60kg adolescent should be encouraged to drink 250ml of water even if they do not feel thirsty.33
Children exercising in warm weather are at particular risk of dehydration because, compared with adults, they are less efficient at thermoregulation,33 produce more metabolic heat relative to their weight,34 are less sensitive to thirst, and may not understand the need for increased fluid consumption.35 Swimmers need to maintain good hydration levels since water immersion reduces the thirst response. This coupled with exercise makes them susceptible to dehydration.36
Luna and Lara want to encourage children to go outside and play. Try limiting the amount of time your child watches television or internet. Sounds crazy, but offer to go out and play with them! You have a million other things to do, but you will never look back and wish you had spent more time cleaning or working. Invest in play equipment or install good fencing instead of upgrading your computer. You, and more importantly your child, will be better for it. And while you're out there, drink plenty of water! Whether it's Luna and Lara or tap water, we just want to get more water down ya so you and yours can be healthier and happier! Luna and Lara were created to make it more attractive and fun for children to drink water because, let's face it, water can be a bit boring. That's where your new play set comes in! Enjoy!
Luna and Lara
29 Livingstone MB. Robson PJ. Wallace JM. McKinley MC. How
active are we? Levels of routine physical activity in children
and adults. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society.
2003;62:681-701
30 Maughan RJ. Impact of mild dehydration on wellness and on
exercise performance. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2003;57 (Suppl 2):S19-23
31 Barr SI. Effects of dehydration on exercise performance.
Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology 1999;24:164-72
32 Bar-Or O, Dotan R, Inbar O, Rotshtein A and Zonder H.
Voluntary hypohydration in 10 to 12 year-old boys. Journal of
Applied Physiology: Respiratory, Environmental & Exercise
Physiology 1980;48:104-8
33 American Academy of Paediatrics Committee on Sports
Medicine position paper: climatic heat stress and the
exercising child. Pediatrics 1982;69:808-809
34 American Academy of Paediatrics. Policy Statement. Climatic
Heat Stress and the exercising child and adolescent.
Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness. Paediatrics
2000;106:158-159
35 Maughan RJ. Impact of mild dehydration on wellness and on
exercise performance. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2003;57 (Suppl 2):S19-23
36 Convertino VA, Armstrong LE, Copyle EF, Mack GW, Swaka
MN, Senay LC Jr, Sherman WM. American College of Sports
Medicine, Exercise and fluid replacement. Medicine & Science
in Sports and Exercise 1996;28:i-vii
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