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Mild dehydration affects mood in healthy young women
Armstrong et al. (2012) identified the lack of data on what impact mild dehydration has on cognitive function, and investigated mild dehydration among 25 female participants (age 23.0 ± 0.6 y), achieved by intermittent moderate exercise without hyperthermia, and analyzed its influence on the women’s cognitive function. Three 8-hour placebo-controlled experiments were set up for the women, involving a different hydration state each day: dehydration through exercising without diuretic (DN); exercise-induced dehydration as well as 40mg of the diuretic, furosemide (DD); and euhydration (EU). Cognitive ability, symptoms of dehydration and mood were all monitored during each experiment, 3 times at rest and during each of 3 exercise sessions. The DN and DD trials, when pooled together, achieved a 1.36 ± 0.16% loss of body mass. When the various pooled readings were compared with the EU group, the adverse effects of dehydration were evident both at rest and during exercise when looking at vigor-activity, fatigue-inertia, and total mood disturbance scores of the Profile of Mood States, as well as for task difficulty, concentration, and headache (as assessed by questionnaire). However, cognitive performance was unaffected, and the serum osmolarity, which is an indicator of hydration level, was actually higher in the coupled DD-DN trials, compared with the EU group. To conclude, inducing 1.36% dehydration in females lowered their concentration levels and mood, and increased headaches and perception of task difficulty. Now warranted are studies investigating optimal hydration during and after moderate exercise. [NPID: mood, happiness, well-being, dehydration, cognition, task difficulty, concentration, headaches, exercise]
Year: 2012
