Not Just a Drop in the Bucket: Drinking Water for Schools

Water is essential for health. Surprisingly, it may not be readily available to school children, even though children’s cognitive performance on tasks important for school work improves after a drink of water. Water may especially improve visual attention and memory tasks, according to recent research. Making water more available to school children and teaching them about its health benefits also lowers the risk for childhood obesity and overweight, according to another study published in Pediatrics in 2009. When elementary school children were given lessons about the health benefits of drinking water and more opportunities to drink it, they increased their water consumption by 1.1 glasses a day, reducing their risk of becoming overweight by 31 percent.