Introduction
Water intake and output is the key to a healthy life. Middle school students frequently complain about having headaches, stomachaches, or feeling tired. When I hear them complain about those and/or other minor ailments, I immediately think the culprit behind those maladies is the lack of water in their bodies. When I ask them, “How much water have you drank today?” they answer with either an “I don’t know.” or a resounding “none.”
From a teaching standpoint and a personal health standpoint, it is imperative that students understand the importance of hydration levels needed to maintain a healthy, balanced, and functioning body. It is important to understand why water intake has to match water output in order to maintain water balance crucial to maintaining physiological functions properly at the cellular, tissue, and organ levels. Water’s main responsibilities are regulating body temperature, transporting vital nutrients to and from cellular structures, tissues, and organs, removing waste substances from cells, and transporting the waste material to appropriate systems for disposal. Overall the above structure and functioning of water is vital to maintaining a homeostatic state of being within the body.
My unit focuses on informing and motivating students to recognize the necessity of taking effective steps in controlling and minimizing the threats encompassing their overall health status. One of the early proactive tasks for them to undertake is to become conscientious in maintaining a healthy level of water intake. This unit will provide evidence to support the importance of water consumption as a means to sustain and ultimately enhance our health.
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