Who Needs Water?

Without water, your body would stop working properly. Water makes up more than half of your body weight and a person can't survive for more than a few days without it. Why? Your body has lots of important jobs and it needs water to do many of them. For instance, your blood, which contains a lot of water, carries oxygen to all the cells of your body. Without oxygen, those tiny cells would die and your body would stop working.

Water is also in lymph, a fluid that is part of your immune system, which helps you fight off illness. You need water to digest your food and get rid of waste, too. And you can bet that water is the main ingredient in perspiration, also called sweat.

How Much Is Enough?

Since water is so important, you might wonder if you're drinking enough. There is no magic amount of water that kids need to drink every day. Usually, kids like to drink something with meals and should definitely drink when they are thirsty. But when your skating or working out, you'll need more. When you drink is also important. If you're going to hockey practice, a game, or just working out or playing hard, drink water before, during, and after playing.

DON'T FORGET YOUR WATER BOTTLE! You can't play your best or work your hardest when you're thinking about how thirsty you are!

When your body doesn't have enough water, that's called being dehydrated. Dehydration also can keep you from being as fast and as sharp as you'd like to be. A bad case of dehydration can make you sick. So keep that water bottle handy at all times!

Who Needs Water?