Dehydration impairs mental performance.

-Prof. Dr. Ana Adan, author of the research, explains that proper hydration is crucial in the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases development

-experts recommend consume approximately 2-2, 5 litres of liquid per day, coming 20-25% of the food and drinks 75-80%

Madrid, January of 2013- the journal of the American College of Nutrition has published scientific review ‘ Cognitive performance and dehydration ’, directed by Prof. Dr. Ana Adan, of the University of Barcelona. The study addresses how the lack of replenishment of liquid affects various intellectual activities, highlighting in particular of attention, the psychomotor, the immediate memory and state assessments subjective as the hardest face inadequate hydration.

Dehydration occurs when the excretion of fluids exceeds the consumption of these, and has resulted in a negative balance of body water. Character mild to moderate dehydration is a State that it can occur very easily and, at present, there are numerous scientific studies that have demonstrated the negative impact that these situations have the cognitive capacity ”, explains Prof. DRA. Adan. A State of mild dehydration is considered of 1-2% loss of body and moderate, 2-5% water. Taking into account these parameters, when the level of dehydration is greater than 2%, it diminishes the capacity of short-term memory and may affect equally to young adults and older people. Finally, is considered severe when dehydration is greater than 5%, although this situation is not common among the general population.

In the words of Professor Adam, adequate hydration is a decisive factor in the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases development ”, and according to this expert, by very slight dehydration, it is not a desirable State because it involves an imbalance in the homeostatic function of the internal environment that may negatively impact cognitive ability, (e) interfere with the proper performance of work or academic activities that require the use of specific mental abilities ”. Changes in the amount of salts and body electrolytes produced by dehydration, can alter brain activity and the proper functioning of various systems of neurotransmission that intervene in the cognitive processing favouring loss of concentration and reduced performance, and increasing the chance of some kind of accident at work.

At present, population is much more sensitized to care for your hydration if you make sport, physical exercise, or labor activities that require an important physical expense, in addition, the agency warns us about the need to moisturize us. However, Prof. Dr. Adan stressed that in that sense, is estimated a loss of 2% of body fluids causes a decrease of 20% in physical performance, although there are many studies that have examined the effects of dehydration on cognitive performance and methodological limitations do not allow us to extrapolate the results or draw firm conclusions ”.

An adult can be dehydrated even when you create be eating enough liquid. For example, calculates that pattern of swallowing liquids in young adults who work in high temperatures or perform intense exercise only spontaneous assumes the replacement of two-thirds of the total water loss ”. Prof. Dr. Ana Adan ensures that found that workers do not drink enough fluids during the workday and even labour dehydrated ”. Prof. Ana Adan further explains that the consumption of low-dose combined with glucose caffeine, such as soft drinks, could be a better strategy that drinking more water to enhance performance on tasks of sustained attention, learning and memory ”.

Adan a. Cognitive Performance and Dehydration ”. Journal of the American College Nutrition, 2012; 31 (2): 71-78