Have you been feeling tired and unable to concentrate or do even simple mathematical calculations recently? Fatigued even though you are sleeping enough every night? Try drinking a glass of water and see the difference. Water sharpens the mind and helps you think faster.
According to research conducted at the University of East London, a brain that is fully hydrated works better and is able to clearly focus on the task at hand.
The study was carried out on 34 men and women:
- The participants had nothing to eat or drink overnight, and were questioned as to how thirsty they were at the beginning of the experiment;
- They then completed a number of mental tests; once after eating just a cereal bar for breakfast and a second time after eating the same cereal bar washed down with a bottle of water;
- Those who had said that they were not thirsty at the beginning of the experiment were equally quick at the test with or without drinking water with breakfast;
- Participants who had reported being thirsty before the experiment completed the tests 14% quicker after having the breakfast which included drinking water with their cereal bar, as reported in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience;
According to researcher, Dr Caroline Edmonds, drinking water with breakfast helped by freeing up attentional resources in the brain that were “telling†the body it was thirsty.
Previous studies by Dr Edmonds showed that children who have a drink of water ahead of sitting tests do up to a 33% better. In her latest study though, the volunteers fared worse at a rather complex mental test after drinking water. The reasons for this were unclear.
Separate research conducted by the British showed that failing to drink water regularly can actually shrink the grey matter. Tests conducted on teenagers after an hour of cycling in various layers of clothing to induce different amounts of sweating showed that those wearing the most clothing lost around 4 kilograms in sweat, and their brain tissue had shrunk.
A mere ninety minutes of sweating can shrink the brain as much as a year of aging will, which just shows how much damage dehydration can do and how important it is to drink water to stay hydrated. Fortunately the effects can be reduced by drinking just a glass or two of water.
Source:
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