Insufficient water intake can cause reduced mental performance 

December 5th, 2019; Dubai, UAE:   Encouraging children to drink water at regular intervals, British Orchard Nursery, UAE’s premier and the largest pre-school chain, has launched the Water Bell Initiative. The scheme aims to drive home the importance of staying hydrated and ensuring that the children and the staff drink water at regular intervals and for this the nursery would be ringing the bell every two hours as a reminder to drink water.

The Water Bell will ring at the beginning of the day, break time and then around noon. For those attending full day school, the bell will further ring three times at regular intervals until the end of day. 

Staying hydrated is essential for the body as water has many important functions including regulating body temperature, digesting food, excretion etc. Our body loses water throughout the day when we breathe, urinate and sweat, hence it’s critical to replace the water lost to prevent dehydration.

“Even though all of us are at the risk of dehydration, children are at a greater risk as they have higher water requirement in relation to their body weight than adults. Moreover, we have observed that children go long periods of time without drinking water as they usually don’t recognize that they are thirsty and often forget. The insufficient water intake can lead to dehydration, which can cause tiredness, headaches, lack of concentration, dry skin and reduced mental performance”, commented Dr Vandana Gandhi, CEO and Founder of British Orchard Nursery pre-school chain.

“This scheme will be just as beneficial in summer months, since dehydration is a big concern among UAE residents,” added Dr Gandhi  

According to studies, mental performance which includes attention, concentration and memory decreases by 10% once the thirst is felt. Research also says that toddlers aged 1 to 3 need approximately 1.3 liters of water in a day – give and take a glass depending on the weather and level of physical activity. 

“Drawing inspiration from a similar campaign in India, we thought of immediately implementing the Water Bell Scheme across our 22 nurseries, ensuring children are reminded and encouraged to drink water at regular intervals. The bell would ring on regular intervals and it would be mandatory for students to drink water during that time”, added Dr Gandhi.