Do you want to help your child concentrate at school? One easy improvement to make could be to encourage them to drink more water. Good hydration is essential to good brain health as well as your overall wellbeing including helping to boost and maintain concentration levels.
Children have more water in their bodies than adults so it makes sense that drinking enough water will help them to perform at their best, physically and mentally. They are also more susceptible to dehydration as a result of this.
How does water help with my child's concentration?
One of the indicators of dehydration is tiredness and memory loss, which are probably the enemies of concentration and want to be avoided at all costs. Drinking water regularly throughout the day will help to fend off those early signs of dehydration before they become a problem.
Water also ensures the body and the brain can function properly. Fluid helps to transport blood around the body to the major organs, regulates temperature, and controls responses such as histamine levels. While ensuring that blood keeps flowing to the brain, water also supplies oxygen to the brain and supports the function of brain cells.
Did you know? Water makes up more than 70% of the brain.
Water makes up more than 70 percent of the brain, but the brain is unable to store water, which is why good hydration is so important to support brain health. Even only slight levels of dehydration have been found to affect concentration levels as well as causing increased stress and tension.
Drink water to improve concentration at school
The good news is that as little as 25mls of water will help to boost the concentration of a child by 30 percent, while 300mls will restore optimum performance by 25 percent in adults according to a study by the University of Westminster and the University of East London. Such is the improvement in mood and concentration that the study recommends taking water into exams and tests.
The best way to fend off dehydration is to keep drinking water handy and take sips throughout the day as once thirst becomes a factor the chances are that you are already beginning to feel the effects of dehydration.
Why water?
It's not just dehydration that can cause dips in mood and concentration, excessive consumption of sugar or caffeine can result in energy crashes, which is why it makes sense to try to get your child to stick to water. With no extra calories or sugar, water will not harm your child's teeth or add to their daily calorie intake and it is virtually free when drunk from the tap or a water fountain.
The cheapest and most environmentally-friendly way to make sure your child stays hydrated is to fill up a reusable bottle with filtered water at home that they can top up later on if needed.
Using a water filter will help to improve the taste of bottled water, which could help you to encourage your child to drink more.
Along with good nutrition, adequate sleep, and exercise, drinking water will put in place the foundations for a good education by supporting your child's wellbeing and concentration levels.
Want to learn more?
Discover the Doulton difference and find out how we could improve the taste and quality of your drinking water.
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