Dehydration can impair your ability to think clearly, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that athletes who lost fluid equal to 2 percent their weight took a hit to their cognition. Even this mild to moderate level of dehydration – the loss of 2 pounds for someone who weighs 100 pounds – led to attention problems and impaired decision making, according to the report in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. In particular, dehydration led to impairment in tasks requiring attention, motor coordination, and so-called executive function, which includes things like map recognition, grammatical reasoning, mental math, and proofreading, for example.
„We’ve known that physical performance suffers at a threshold of 2 percent of body mass, particularly when it’s from exercise in a warm environment,“ said study coauthor Mindy Millard-Stafford, a professor in the school of biological sciences and director of the physiology lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
„So the question was, what happens in the brain with the same amount of loss, which is pretty common with people who are ac tive or work outside in the heat. Just like a muscle cell needs water, so do the cells in our brain.“
While the effects weren’t huge at 2 percent, they increased with increasing dehydration, Millard-Stafford said.
The new study isn’t the first to look at the impact of dehydration on cognition. But earlier research yielded mixed findings, possibly because studies were based on small numbers of subjects. Millard-Stafford decided to perform a meta-analysis, an approach that combines data from many smaller studies.
„I think this reinforces something we thought was true,“ said Dr. Ronald Roth, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, medical director of the Dick’s Sporting Goods-Pittsburgh Marathon and one of the team physicians for the Pittsburgh Steelers. „The big picture here is that the more dehydrated you are the less sharp you are. And your decision-making abilities get lost sooner than later.“
It can be hard to diagnose dehydration, Still, certain symptoms should be reminders that it’s time to take in more fluid: fatigue, muscle weakness, de creased urine output, confusion.
Roth warns against overdoing things and taking in too much water, which can lead to a dangerous condition known as hyponatremia. That condition occurs when there’s too much water compared to the amount of salt in the body.
„It’s important to know the right water balance,“ Millard-Stafford concurred. „You need to know that you can have not just too little but also too much.“
LINDA CARROLL
SLOVÍČKA
brain mozek
lack nedostatek
impair oslabit, narušit
athlete sportovec, atlet
fluid tekutina
cognition poznávací schopnost
mild mírný, slabý
moderate přiměřený, nevelký
pound libra (cca 0,5 kg)
proofreading korektura textu
threshold práh, hranice
cell buňka
yield zde přinést
finding závěry, zjištění
perform provést, vykonat
approach přístup
reinforce podpořit, posílit
physician lékař
sharp bystrý, vnímavý
reminder připomínka
fatigue únava, vyčerpání
output zde vylučování
confusion zmatenost
overdo přehnat
condition stav
occur objevit se, nastat
concur shodnout se, být zajedno
Text pochází z agentury Reuters
Zdroj LN
NAUČTE SE GRAMATIKU PODLE TEXTU
Dnes se zaměříme na obrat, kterým přitakáme druhé osobě nebo vyjádříme soulad mezi dvěma větami. Nachází se ve větě „Just like a muscle cell needs water, so do the cells in our brain.“ („Tak jako svalová buňka potřebuje vodu, potřebují ji i buňky v našem mozku.“) Pro souhlas s pozitivní větou použijeme so, negativnímu výroku přitakáme výrazem neither. Gramatický čas se musí v obou větách shodovat: I like hiking. – So doI. (Já také.) He wasn’t ready. – Neither were we. (My také ne.) They will do that. – So willI. (Já také.) She hasn‘t been there. – Neither has he. (On také ne.)
PŘITAKEJTE SE ZÁJMENEM V ZÁVORCE
I can’t skate. (he) I have seen it. (she) She started early. (they) I mustn’t fail. (we) They didn’t finish it. (I)
