In high school, I had constant headaches and would often feel disoriented throughout the school day. Bright lights bothered me, as well as loud noises. I hated to work on the computer because it only worsened my symptoms. When I told my mother about how sick I felt, she would always ask if I had been drinking enough water. The answer was always no. I barely drank any water at school. If I was found with a water bottle in class or even at my locker I could get a detention. My school did have a few water fountains but we were only allowed about three minutes between classes and there would usually be a crowd waiting to get a drink. Also, there was no guarantee those water fountains were always functioning properly.
The high school I attended is now closed, but there are many schools with similar rules and even schools that go to the extreme of not allowing water at lunchtime. Maintaining hydration is an important factor in everyday health and academic performance.
Richard Harris states in his article entitled, "Got Water? Most Kids, Teens Don't Drink Enough" that one-quarter of children ages 6 to 19 don't drink any water as part of their fluid intake. Although this was found in a study analyzing the consumption of sugary drinks, researchers noticed that these kids were not drinking much fluid in whole. The American Journal of Public Health reported that more than half of several thousand students studied between 2009 and 2012 were mildly dehydrated. Post-doctoral research fellow at the Harvard Chan School, Erica Kenney, expands on this saying that mild dehydration can increase fatigue levels, alter moods, cause headaches, reduce cognitive functioning, and possibly affect the ability to learn. Kenney states, "Even though for most of these kids this is not an immediate, dramatic health threat, this is an issue that could really be reducing the quality of life and well-being for many, many children and youth."
Dr. Jane Bluestein emphasizes the importance of water consumption by stating that water helps to significantly reduce hyperactivity and inattention, also that consuming water is correlated with the reduction in the number of sick days. Water can counteract caffeine, sugar, stress, and low-frequency electromagnetic fields (electronic devices),which all contribute to dehydration in the body. Water is a simple solution to increasing student's health and overall performance.
So why is water not allowed in classrooms? Water in the classroom is considered a distraction. Teachers also fear that water bottles may actually contain alcohol. But preventing the containment of alcohol can not be done by just eliminating water bottles. Alcohol can be contained in any type of flask, many today modeled as everyday items. As for water bottles being a distraction, without a water bottle available, students have to interrupt class to ask to go get a drink, leave the classroom and come back.This disturbs everyone's class time and may happen multiple times within the hour. Dehydration symptoms are far more of a distraction than having a water bottle present.
If high school is to be considered the stepping-stone to further education or a life career, the rule that does not allow water bottles in classrooms does not align with the culture of the real world. Water bottles are encouraged in college classrooms and water coolers are present in offices. Therefore, there is not strong enough reasoning for why high school students should not be allowed water in class. High schools are training students and encouraging habits to be dehydrated by not allowing them to consume a sufficient amount of water throughout the day.
