DocM Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Link.... Mild dehydration - which occurs when the body has lost just 1.5 percent of its normal water content - can cause fatigue, tension and anxiety in both genders, but the authors of two surprising new studies say the adverse changes in mood for women were particularly dramatic. The studies were conducted at the University of Connecticut and published in the Journal of Nutrition and the British Journal of Nutrition.The research involved separate groups of young women and men aged in their early 20s who were neither high-performance athletes nor sedentary. All of the participants walked on a treadmill to induce dehydration, and all of the subjects were hydrated the evening before the evaluations commenced. The subjects were then put through a battery of cognitive tests that measured vigilance, concentration, reaction time, learning, memory, and reasoning. These results were then compared against a separate series of tests when the individuals were not dehydrated. In the tests involving the young women, mild dehydration caused headaches, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating. The female subjects also perceived tasks as more difficult, although there was no substantive reduction in their cognitive abilities. In the tests involving the young men, mild dehydration caused some difficulty with mental tasks, particularly in the areas of vigilance and working memory. While the young men also experienced fatigue, tension, and anxiety when mildly dehydrated, adverse changes in mood and symptoms were "substantially greater in females than in males," according to the researchers. "Women appear to be more susceptible to the adverse effects of low levels of dehydration than men," says Harris Lieberman, one of the studies' co-authors. "These adverse mood changes may limit the motivation required to engage in even moderate aerobic exercise. Mild dehydration may also interfere with other daily activities, even when there is no physical demand component present." Lieberman speculates that the mental effects of dehydration could be part of an ancient warning system protecting humans from more dire consequences, and alerting them to the need for water to survive. "Our thirst sensation doesn't really appear until we are 1 or 2 percent dehydrated. By then dehydration is already setting in and starting to impact how our mind and body perform," added co-researcher Lawrence E. Armstrong. "Dehydration affects all people, and staying properly hydrated is just as important for those who work all day at a computer as it is for marathon runners." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billmaster Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Duh they Have a Vagina! So that's a constant moisture loss right there. remixedcat 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dotdot Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 2 sets of lips. Double the phlem!! Elliot B. and remixedcat 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Ok someone has to say it...us guys can help them reduce dehydration easily. Nutritious, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remixedcat Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'm a woman and this post made me thirsty *goes and grabs a glass of milk* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_K Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Interested to know what they do in the ISS, they convert urine back to drinking water but what if someone goes mad, refuses to drink it, and becomes dehydrated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 If there's a problem with a crewmember they restrain them and force feed/drink/medicate. Duck tape is not out of the question if they threaten the mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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