If you are anything like me when you start to feel thirsty or have a mild headache you grab some water, however, at this stage, you are already dehydrated. Strangely in the early stages, you may feel hungry rather than thirsty. Grab some water before getting some food, 75-80% of the time it will be water you require rather than solid food.
So if you are learning a new skill and want to improve your focus and attention grab some water before a study session and not 3 hours later.
Here are 7 ways dehydration is making you dumb, unfocused and shortening your attention span…
1 Bad Headaches
If you don’t have enough water in the body your brain tissue shrinks and starts to pull away from the skull! This is what eventually leads to a headache. Also, the flow of oxygen to the brain is lowered as dehydration causes lower blood volume. This makes it difficult to concentrate and process new information.
2 Faster Heartbeat
When you are dehydrated the heartbeat has to work on overtime to pump out blood around the body if there is less fluid in the body the heart will not completely fill and will need to beat faster as a consequence. Sometimes this can be mistaken for anxiety. This will make trying to study difficult!
3 Easily Annoyed!
Even very mild dehydration can impact your mood and ability to think clearly! Neurons in your brain signal the mood-regulating part of your brain!
4 Feeling Sleepy
Lack of energy feeling sluggish and unmotivated? These can all be signs of dehydration. How can you focus and pay attention when you are running on such little energy!
5 Stinky Breath!
Do you know the saying “Go lick a wound” well actually there is some truth to that as saliva contains anti-bacterial properties! However, if you are dehydrated your saliva may not be able to function properly this can lead to a bacteria build up in your mouth, causing … stinky breath, gross. How will this impact on your studies? Say goodbye to any study buddies - unless they are online!
6 Chronic Dehydration Impacts on Kidney Function
Your body will be unable to get rid of all the toxins in your body and this can result in problems with your kidneys, such as infections or overtime even damage occurring! When lacking water you body redirects blood to the most important organs such as your heart, lungs, and brain! Therefore neglecting other organs, that are also pretty valuable to our general well-being.
7 Breathing Difficulties
You can lose some of the liquid in your body just by breathing! When dehydrated airways will restrict in order to preserve the water your body has left. So you may feel a bit short of breath and this can impact on underlying conditions such as asthma. This will also have an impact on focus and attention as your brain is not getting enough oxygen to work correctly.
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