Hydration Safety

A child's sports hydration status can be affected, positively or negatively, by beverage type, flavor, container type, accessibility, and parental and coach attitudes about hydration.

Hyponatremia is a relatively rare form of heat illness in which sodium levels in the blood become dangerously low due to excessive water consumption.  It usually occurs in endurance and ultra-endurance events lasting four hours or longer. While children do not ordinarily participate in these kinds of activities, hyponatremia is so dangerous that it something sports parents should know about.

There are several ways to check a child or teenager's hydration status or a change in hydration status over time. A youth's hydration status before and after a sport practice and how their status change are particularly important.  MomsTeam's hydration expert, Dr. Susan Yeargin, suggests using the mnemonic WUT (Weight Loss, Darker Urine, and Thirst) as a way to remember the three main ways to tell if a young athlete is dehydrated.

 

Exertional heat stroke is a life-threatening medical emergency in which the body's temperature-regulating processes stop working. Symptoms include an absence of perspiration, hot dry skin, vomiting, headache, and dizziness. Left untreated, exertional heat stroke leads to death.

Exertional heat exhaustion is a serious heat illness which may require medical attention if no improvement after consumption of fluids, removal of sweaty clothes, and taking child to a cool place.

Heat cramps are the mildest form of heat illness, do not require medical attention required, usually occur during or after exercise and affect only the specific muscles exercised.

With fall sports beginning around the country, often in dangerously hot weather conditions, Mobile Sports, Inc. (MSI) today announced the launch of iHydrate^TM, an innovative iPhone application giving athletes, parents of athletes, and coaches the tools and information they need to avoid dehydration and other, more serious heat-related illnesses.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) has issued a first-ever set of high school-specific pre-season heat acclimatization guidelines as part of its ongoing effort to reduce the number of heat-related athletic injuries in secondary schools.

A child who stops sweating, is nauseous, or cramping could suffer a heat illness if he continues to exercise.