A recent research has revealed that drinking water can sharpen your mind
faster than it usually works particularly if a person is thirsty. The
University of East London researchers believe that once thirst is
relieved, the brain is left to focus on the task in hand.
They carried out an experiment on 34 men and women who completed a
number of mental tests twice – once after a breakfast of just a cereal
bar and again after a cereal bar washed down with a bottle of water.
None had eaten or drunk anything overnight and all were asked how
thirsty they were at the start of the experiment. Those who said they
weren’t thirsty were equally quick at the test of reaction time with or
without the water. But those who were thirsty sped up after having a
drink, making them up to 14 per cent quicker than before, the journal
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience reports.
The researchers think the water helped by freeing up the parts of the
brain that were busy ‘telling’ the body it was thirsty. Dr Edmonds has
previously shown that children who have a drink of water ahead of
sitting tests fare up to a third better. But water doesn’t always work
wonders.
In Dr Edmonds’ latest study, the volunteers did worse at a
particularly complex mental manipulation after drinking it. The reasons
for this were unclear. Separate research has found that failing to drink
enough water can make your grey matter shrink, making it harder to
think. British researchers scanned the brains of teenagers after an hour
and a half of cycling. Some exercised in three layers of sweat-inducing
clothing – including a bin liner worn next to the skin, a hooded
chemical warfare suit and a track suit. Others were much more lightly
clad in shorts and T-shirts. Those who were wrapped up lost around 2lb
in sweat and their brain tissue had shrunk away from their skulls. Just
90 minutes of steady sweating can shrink the brain as much as a year of
ageing. But after a glass of water or two the brain quickly returns to
normal.
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