Dehydration's role in learning and memory

https://www.cshl.edu/dehydrations-role-in-learning-and-memory/

by hhs • 2 months ago

82 79 2 months ago

irjustin• 2 months ago

On an absolute tangent, every kid today has a water bottle. It's a constant priority for us when we leave the house, and when we arrive at the destination, it's "stack yours with the rest of the kids'".

I never had a water bottle growing up. Was I just constantly dehydrated? Seems like it.

senectus12• 2 months ago

yeah same here. Also my wife drinks at least 3 liters a day... I think I'd struggle to stomach more than a liter of liquid on a normal day. (not counting hard work or hot weather.)

riffraff4• 2 months ago

Same for us.

I think as kids were were indeed constantly thirsty when playing in the streets, but on family trips my mom would have a big water container, so maybe it's just a kids/parents split.

What baffles me is the rise of water bottles in school, we just went to drink from the bathroom faucet when I was a kid.

bokkies• 2 months ago

Yep, or the hose that was being used to water the playing field. Ah the sweet taste of pfas on a hot summers day

6510• 2 months ago

One can get used to quite strange life styles. One could be very active, drink nothing but coffee and alcohol. If they feel a bit sluggish thats just normal. If one gets used to being sluggish (from any deficiency) fixing it might make sleeping difficult or one ends up working harder than one should. If the job is a mindless grind gaining mental clarity might feel terrible.

gib4443• 2 months ago

It is compensation for all the sugar, caffeine and UPF causing dehydration IMO. And aircon perhaps.

People in Spain, Portugal, Italy etc don't carry 2 gallon water bottles everywhere.

The ones who have better diets are just going along with the crowd (though not necessarilyin better shape), using the oversized pacifier to signal they're healthy ("people who exercise have water bottles. Therefore I must show off a water bottle")

And kids are products of the parents

oidar• 2 months ago

Some schools don’t allow children to leave the classroom to get a drink of water unless it’s at recess or between classes. So that’s why they carry water bottles nowadays.

bflesch• 2 months ago

Leaving the classroom to pee was frowned upon during lessons, and during breaks obviously there was a queue.

layer82• 2 months ago

Kids aren’t allowed to go to the toilet in the middle of a class?

Though I don’t remember not being allowed to drink something between class breaks ever being a problem growing up. Classes aren’t that long.

The other thing is that we mostly only had glass bottles back then, so of course kids wouldn’t carry those around.

filchermcurr• 2 months ago

Progress! When I was in school we weren't allowed to leave class OR have a water bottle. If you had food... good luck, that was like the worst school crime for some reason.

Arodex7• 2 months ago

Was I just constantly dehydrated? Seems like it.

No you weren't. It is a health fad, a mania.

https://abcnews.com/Health/Wellness/waterlogged-america-drin...

senectus12• 2 months ago

hmmm food for thought.

riffraff4• 2 months ago

The more I age the more important hydration turns out to be. Gastric issues, joint pain, blood pressure, weight problems, kidney stones, bad breath, constipation.. and now brain issues too?

Do yourself a favor, and start drinking a ton of water!

gib4443• 2 months ago

start drinking a ton of water!

But not too much as you don't want water poisoning!

BiteCode_dev• 2 months ago

7 litters...

layer82• 2 months ago

A ton is definitely too much.

alexwwang5• 2 months ago

3 liters everyday actually to keep muscle and brain work properly.

k__• 2 months ago

200ml every waking hour?

Seems excessive.

rambrrest• 2 months ago

Not too sure - an overload of water can actually be dangerous i think.

deviation• 2 months ago

Jumping in here with relevant experience - because you're absolutely right.

In 8th grade (~16 years ago) my substitute biology teacher organised a "Water drinking competition" poised to elevate our understanding of stomach capacity, etc.

Two of us went to hospital, and ~5 (including myself) had to take multiple days off of school and recover.

It's very dangerous. He lost his job.

uxhacker• 2 months ago

It’s actually dependent on your individual biology and the environment that you are in.

You need more hydration in hot climates than in cold damp ones. Also your activity influences how much hydration you need.

Ps I don’t think the article is about how much water you drink. (Edited to make the last sentence clearer)

coldtea• 2 months ago

Only if it gets ridiculous. Like after a marathon drinking a gallon on the spot (and dying from it).

Drink 2-4lt a day and you'll be fine.

cess112• 2 months ago

Water is poisonous in that too much of it will disrupt electrolyte balance and can be fatal.

It's one of the risks with taking MDMA, there are some documented cases where people died from drinking too much water when rolling.

dooglius• 2 months ago

Since no one is being quantitative, here's a medical source:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/water-intoxic...

In some people, water intoxication symptoms can develop after drinking about a gallon (3 to 4 liters) of water over an hour or two.
More than 32 ounces (about a liter) of water per hour is probably too much.

Arodex7• 2 months ago

This is bullshit.

https://abcnews.com/Health/Wellness/waterlogged-america-drin...

legacynl• 2 months ago

True. The body is perfectly capable of telling you when it needs water, it's called being thirsty. If you're thirsty, drink, otherwise don't.

nobodywillobsrv• 2 months ago

Please correct me if wrong but this has almost nothing to do with broad human dehydration or hydration.

I think it is an interesting finding and it would be interesting to hear more about the implications from someone in the field.

I only broadly understand this is some kind of peeking behind the curtain of some process that was not fully understood before

jdblair• 2 months ago

"Dehydration" in this article is the chemical process of separating magnesium atoms from water molecules. It is not about drinking enough water.

Most of the comments here are based on the title alone. Like always.

jeejay12• 2 months ago

You are correct, title is wrong. Blame this communicator. It feels that the person that wrote the text lacks understanding of chemistry or oversimplified too much. More appropriate term for removal of water around an ion is “desolvation”.

wavemode• 2 months ago

No, dehydration is the common term when it's specifically water that's being removed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehydration_reaction

visika• 2 months ago

Exactly, when I read the article the first thing I thought is "why is this on hacker news??"

OutOfHere• 2 months ago

Drink water until the color of your urine is clear. Once it is, there is no benefit to drinking more.

Melatonic• 2 months ago

Honestly I don't get why we don't educate more on how to manage water consumption and hydration. It's highly situation dependent and both about listening to your body (natural thirst) and pre emptively anticipating water needs.

If you are going on a multi day backpacking trip in the desert you are going to be consuming a lot more water than sitting at your computer in an air conditioned office reading HN. And you also are going to need to be very cognisant of consuming adequate amounts of electrolytes (particularly magnesium and salt). You also would be wise to "camel up" at least a bit beforehand to make sure you are at peak hydration at the beginning (and of course anticipate carrying enough water with you or knowing potential water sources you can filter from).

People who are into running also become aware of this and those who do any activity in extremely cold and dry environments.

In addition most people have a base level of water loss (even while sleeping) through your skin that varies but is I believe around a half liter (specifically 400ml or 14 fl oz) per 24 hours. This is not the typical sweat out of your armpits from being a bit too hot - it's known as "insensible perspiration".

Water management is a very valuable skill and much more valuable than just trying to have some blanket "liters per day" recommendation. And getting water from your food is never a bad idea either !

type0• 2 months ago

Dehydration on molecular level is not the same as dehydration on physiological level. Their research doesn't make this connection so personnel publishing news releases shouldn't draw their own conclusions either.

Dehydration's role in learning and memory

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