TEXAS, USA — Not drinking water when your body is dehydrated is already bad enough. But trying to substitute water with something like an energy drink or even sodas can make things worse.
“The energy drinks and things like that contain a lot of caffeine and caffeine acts like a diarrhetic in our bodies, which means that you’re going to urinate a lot more and your kidneys don’t hold onto as much fluid as they should. So what ends up happening is that you become even more dehydrated,” said Michele Ramirez, a registerned nurse with the City of Midland Health Department.
But kids and teens don’t always have access to energy drinks, so instead their go to drinks might be a sports drink; think stuff like Gatorade or Powerade.
But these drinks aren’t much better at hydrating either.
“Drinks like that should be drank in moderation. It’s not something that a child should drink every single time they’re out and about. They need to incorporate water, especially because like I said those kidneys need water,” Ramirez said.
Failure to drink the recommended amounts of water when dehydrated can have severe consequences for young people’s development as they get older.
“It can affect their cardiovascular development, their neurological development, it can inhibit their sleep and mess up their sleep patterns as well,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez also says that caffeine acts like a diarrhetic in our bodies, meaning that you're going to urinate a lot more and your kidneys don't hold onto as much fluid as they should. So you end up becoming even more dehydrated.