by Fern Shaw | Dec 13, 2012 | Health and Hydration
Encourage your children to eat water-rich foods
At home and in the lunchbox, encourage your child to eat water-rich foods like grapes, watermelon, cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes.
Float slices of fruit (such as lemons or limes) in a jug of water
Or be creative with strawberries, clementine segments and any other colourful fruit.
Let your children drink what they want – within reason
Water is always going to be the healthiest drink for both children and adults, but if plain water makes them turn their noses up, give your children a little more freedom. Milk, natural juice, and flavoured water all work. However, to help them avoid a caffeine or sugar addiction early in life; never let them try fizzy drinks (or worse, take one to school). Hydrated children are happy children.
Give your child a straw.
It may sound strange, but we actually drink more when we’re drinking through a straw. With a straw, kids will be encouraged to drink more fluids, and they may enjoy the fun factor of having a straw in their favourite colour.
Use ice cube trays that make fun shapes and use those ice cubes in your child’s water
Nothing quite like the fascination of watching an ice cube shape melt while drinking your water and should the ice cube drop or fall, no mess apart from a little puddle!
Take your child to pick out a new, special cup
Young children are big on ‘ownership’, especially when there are siblings, so once they have their own individual drinking cup, this will encourage them to use their cup for drinking from.
by Fern Shaw | May 27, 2012
Are you dehydrated?
A massive 96% of UK office workers are reported to be dehydrated. A mere 2% drop in hydration can lead to a 20% drop in concentration.
Staying hydrated is crucial for maintaining your physical and mental well being. A simple way of determining your hydration status is by looking at the colour of your urine and comparing it with the colour chart on the left.
When you are drinking enough water your body is in balance and your urine will be a pale straw yellow colour (hydrated).
When you have not drank enough water your kidneys try to save as much water as they can and cause your urine to be darker in colour (Dehydrated).
Below are just some of the effects of dehydration:
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Confusion
- Painful urination
Thankfully, regaining hydration is simple. One or two cups of water will quickly give the body the water it needs and help you maintain a healthy and active life.
Why not download our PDF and enable yourself to put a chart up in your toilets to help your staff stay hydrated – Download the pdf here.
by Fern Shaw | Jul 8, 2024 | Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
I know I’m always blathering on about drink water, keep hydrated, drink water, hydration, drink water, but honest-to-goodness, when you do the type of research that I do, trust me, there are monster-sized reasons for this advice.
But, to switch things up a little, I’m going to reverse the blather and look at it from another perspective.
Not Drinking Water Means:
- A mere two percent drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic maths and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
- Even mild dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism by as much as three percent.
- Lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue.
- A mere two percent drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic maths and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
- Preliminary research has shown that up to eighty percent of people suffering from back and joint pain could have these pains significantly reduced by drinking between eight to ten glasses of water a day.
- Our digestive systems need a good amount of water to digest food properly. Not drinking water leads to too much stomach acidity and constipation.
- By not drinking water, the thirst mechanism becomes so weak it is often mistaken for hunger. We all know where that leads.
As evidence of the disservice we do to ourselves by not drinking sufficient water continues to mount up and with refreshing drinking water available to us at the turn of a tap or a press of a button gives me reason enough to become a little bit of a water warrior (I was going to say an H2O agony aunt, but that’s just rather unappealing).
You get the gist. Topping up, refilling and replenishing your water bottle or glass is the simplest and most effective manner in which to reduce daytime fatigue, false hunger pangs all while increasing our metabolism rate and our ability to focus.
by Fern Shaw | Jun 26, 2024 | mains fed water cooler, Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
Not all of us have the wherewithal, location or access to be able to cool off as is indicated in the above image. There is however, an easy and simple solution to help you keep your cool when the temperatures soar. You guessed it – drink water more. Here are six reasons why:
Regulates Body Temperature. Our bodies rely on sweat to cool down and sweat is mostly water. When it’s hot, we sweat more, so we need to drink more fluids to replace the water we’re losing. Dehydration can lead to heatstroke, a serious condition that can be fatal.
Boosts Energy Levels. Even mild dehydration can sap your energy levels. When you’re dehydrated, your blood volume decreases, making your heart work harder to pump blood throughout your body. This can lead to fatigue, headaches and dizziness.
Improves Physical Performance. If you’re planning on spending any time outdoors in the heat, whether it’s for work or play, staying hydrated is essential. Dehydration can impair your physical performance and make it harder to exercise.
Improves Mood. Dehydration can also affect your mood. Studies have shown that dehydration can lead to irritability, anxiety and difficulty concentrating.
Sharpens Mentality. Dehydration can also affect your cognitive function. When you’re dehydrated, you may have trouble concentrating, focusing and making decisions.
Keeps Your Skin Healthy. Dehydration can make your skin look dry, dull, and wrinkled. Drinking plenty of water helps to keep your skin hydrated and plump.
If you need a simple and efficient solution which will help make sure that you and everyone in your organisation, site, university, college or school are able to maintain great hydration habits, chat to us at AquAid: 0800 772 3003.
With our wide range of bottled and mainsfed water coolers, and our scheduled and next day bottled water deliveries as part of our service, we have you (water) coolered.
by Fern Shaw | May 14, 2024 | water cooler, Water Coolers, water dispenser
There’s no avoiding it. Work an eight-hour (or longer) day and you’ll have to stop to eat at some point. Be it a questionable sandwich or a lavish lunch, workers need grub. But what should you eat to achieve maximum results? And is skipping lunch to reply to those e-mails really such a bad thing? In this two-part series, we have a look at both sides.*
Eating in the office canteen is good for you. In Finland, at least.
The Finnish have done a lot of research into workplace eating habits. One study by the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare found that workers who ate in office cafeterias, compared to those who brought in packed lunches, were eating more fruit and vegetables. This has a lot to with the fact that in Finland, food provided in canteens must meet national nutritional guidelines.
To be sure, the wisdom of eating in a canteen does depend on the quality of what’s on the menu. Staff interviewed at Barnsley Borough Council in London described the food in their cafeteria as ‘stodgy’ and more suited to those performing manual work.
Skipping lunch is bad for you.
As explained in his book about workplace eating habits, Christopher Wanjek found that workers who skip lunch are more stressed, less productive and only end up snacking in the afternoon anyway.
The endless cycle of bad nutrition and low national productivity.
Poor eating choices affect productivity. In fact, it causes this shame spiral:
There’s a lot that has gone into this debate. In Part II, we’ll thrash this out further. For now, at least one thing is crystal – keeping yourself hydrated at work can only be good for you.
While we wait for the next instalment, remember to repeatedly recharge your water glass or water bottle using your desktop water dispenser or zeroing in on your floor-standing water cooler.
*source: from an article in Quartz.
