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Keeping cool
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Learn how to tackle dehydration in kids during summer
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Keep dehydration at bay: Restrict play to mornings and evenings
SUMMER IS upon us and parents are having a tough time keeping children indoors. TV, computer games, movies and indoor games can help parents for only so long. Eventually, restless young legs will head outdoors, where heatstroke and dehydration lurk.
Children are more susceptible to dehydration because water forms a greater percentage of their body weight and even a small absolute loss represents a substantial loss for a kid.
Teenagers on a diet are also at increased risk because most crash diets actually involve starvation, dehydration and the use of diuretics.
Dehydration in healthy children is usually due to a combination of not drinking enough fluids and excessive loss in urine and sweat.
For every 100 calories expended in normal conditions, a child loses 65 ml of water in urine and 40 ml in sweat.
Tough task
The loss in sweat increases dramatically in hot and dry conditions and during play. Preventing it is a tough task for parents during the holidays, but a few simple measures can help. First, despite what the ads say, eliminate colas and other caffeinated drinks from your household purchases.
Caffeinated soft drinks are actually harmful because they increase urine output, decrease body water and worsen dehydration. The same is true for caffeinated sodas, tea and coffee. Tell your kids that while their favourite cricketers get millions to say that drinking colas quench thirst, they do not actually drink them on the field. Cricketers stick to water, fruit juices and electrolyte drinks during play, and so should their young fans.
Appropriate attire
Parents should ensure their kids stay out of the sun in the afternoons and restrict play to mornings and evenings.
Send them out in appropriate attire for the weather: loose fitting, light-coloured cottons are best. A water-soaked cap helps keep the head cool.
Make sure they carry a bottle of cool water or fruit juice to the field, and tell them to drink frequently even when not thirsty. They should take drinks breaks more often — every 20 minutes or so.
Parents should teach kids to recognise dehydration in themselves and in their friends. Thirst is the earliest symptom; dryness of mouth, decreased sweating, low urine output, dizziness, light-headedness and ultimately, loss of consciousness could follow. Thirst, dryness of mouth and dark coloured urine are signals that one is not drinking enough, and the best treatment is to drink fluids slowly and in substantial amounts.
Mild dehydration like this is something children can and should be able to deal with by themselves. But tell them to call an adult to deal with more serious symptoms of dehydration, like light-headedness and loss of consciousness.
RAJIV M.
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