It’s around this time of summer that kids not only get back to school, but back to sports practice. For older children and teens, especially, preseason can be serious stuff: A time to prove their worth to coaches and teammates after time away. Unfortunately, this annual ritual of excitement, adrenaline and stiff competition takes place amid sweltering temperatures countrywide. It’s a pressure-cooker combo that can set the stage for dehydration, which has played a role in serious sports-related health scares, and even deaths, in recent years.
Photo by: Capt Kodak via photopin cc
HHK advisory board members and moms Julie Kardos, M.D. and Naline Lai, M.D. have written extensively on the subject in their blog Two Peds in a Pod. They advise parents to think beyond just sending kids to practice with a loaded, easy-to-sip-from water bottle (which is of course important too). Kids should not only drink every 20 minutes during a sports activity, but sip from a water bottle throughout the day and up to an hour prior to it. Afterwards, the more competitive players who churn up a sweat should turn to electrolyte replenishers such as Gatorade and Powerade. Though the citric acids in these sports drinks can put kids at higher risk for cavities when swigged regularly, they can be extremely helpful when kids endure 20-30 minutes of sweating, which causes the body can lose more salt and sugar than is healthy.
Even more important is to equip your kids with knowledge about what dehydration feels like. “Because thirst does not always correlate with dehydration, children often misjudge their own hydration status,” says Dr. Lai. “Headache and nausea are some of the first symptoms kids should be aware of.” Arm them, too, with the good sense to ask a coach for a water break if they’re feeling lightheaded or “just not right,” says Dr. Lai. With proper hydration, they’ll come back even stronger in the next drill.
Leave a Reply