10 Ways to Prevent Dehydration for Elderly and Children
Dehydration should not be underestimated because lack of fluids can cause health problems. There are 3 levels of degree or seriousness of a person’s dehydration condition.
Here are the levels:
- Light Dehydration – At this stage, the body’s fluid deficiency reaches 1500 ml or 10 percent and is usually felt only thirst. But according to research from the Tufts University of America, it shows that mood and mental performance will decrease because of this kind of dehydration.
- Medium Level Dehydration – At this level, fluid deficiency in our body is higher, ie 3000 ml or 20 percent. If it happens suddenly, then the consequences can be dangerous. The symptoms of this condition are headaches and it could lead to faint. Read more about Ways to Prevent Color Blindness
- High Level Dehydration– At this stage, fluid deficiency in the body has reached more than 4000 ml or 30 percent of normal body fluids. When it is at a severe stage, a person can die from running out of fluids in the body.
Below is how to prevent dehydration which may help you. Especially for children and the elderly, here are the ways that can be taken:
Dehydration for Elderly
There are some things we need to be more aware of about dehydration if you or someone you know has reach the age of 50 years old. Make sure your loved one are not dehydrated by doing the things below:
- Drink Small Amount of Water Regularly
If an adult at a productive age can directly consume lots of water, the elderly should not. To prevent dehydration, the elderly should drink water in small amounts. Little but often will be safer and beneficial for them rather than having to drink in large quantities at once. Read more about Dangers of Peanuts for Health
- Avoid Drinking Coffee
People, who are older, should no longer consume coffee and other caffeine drinks too much. Instead of limiting, it should indeed stay away altogether if you can. This is due to the diuretic effect given by the coffee. The elderly who already have dehydration symptoms could be worsened when consuming coffee.
You might want to read:Negative Effects of Drinking Coffee on an Empty Stomach
- Avoid Drinking Alcohol Drinks
In addition to coffee, alcoholic beverages should not be consumed because it will not be good for the body. In large amounts of consumption, the diuretic effect of alcoholic drinks will cause the body to lose more fluid. Dehydration was eventually even become worse and difficult to handle when you are older.
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- Eating Fruits that Rich of Water
In order not to have dehydration easily, other ways besides drinking enough water is eating fruit that contains a lot of water such as pears, tomatoes, grapes, watermelons, oranges, strawberries and cantaloupe. To balance the fruit, eating vegetables with high water content is also good for you.
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- Drinking Milk
In addition to fruits, vegetables and water, drinking milk is also recommended. Not only helps prevent dehydration, milk is also useful for maintaining healthy bones of the elderly and prevents osteoporosis. Choose milk according to taste or in accordance with the condition of medical history.
Dehydration for Children
Children can also be threatened by dehydration. Because of their active activities and play all day long, sometimes they forget to drink. To avoid getting dehydrated, these are the steps that need to be done:
- Know the Child’s Physical Condition
Children who lack physical fitness levels could have a hard time playing outside on the broad daylight. Dehydration conditions above 3 percent of a child’s body weight will trigger a health disorder associated with heat.
You might want to read: Causes of Excessive Sweating
- Providing Enough Water All the Time
Drinking water here can be either water or a type of electrolyte drink, especially for very active kids. Make sure to give your kids enough water to drink. In order to make your kids drink their water, try to put in the water in a tumbler or water bottle with cute and attractive design, so that your kid would like to carry the bottle and drink it from time to time.
- Adapt Them with Outdoor Activities
Children who are accustomed to do outdoor activities will not be easy to get thirsty let alone dehydration. Thus, take your kids to do some fun activities outside but do not forget to carry a bottle of water so that your kids will get rid of their thirst during play time right away.
- Eating Soup
Children always need high stamina to play and do their activities. Therefore, try to make them a warm and tasty soup with enough broth and any other watery dish with great taste.
The soup itself is essentially water and most appropriate when eaten during the rainy season. In order for your kids to like eating soup even more, you can try to add their favorite vegetables or meat and cut it into cute pieces, so that their eating experience would be more fun and enjoyable. Read more about Causes of Body Weakness Continuously
- Drink Fruit Juice
Kids love sugary drinks, so it would not hurt to give them healthy fruit juice. In addition to preventing dehydration, fruit juice will provide nutrients for their bodies. Automatic immune system will also increase along with metabolic processes. Make sure not to add too much sugar or do not add it at all.
In order for dehydration to be prevented, that is the applicable way. Especially for the elderly and children who are susceptible age to get sick. That being said, make sure to take care of your family and children, remind each other to drink water regularly because some people tend to not realize that they have dehydration until it is too late, which usually result in fainting.
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