Should children drink more water?: the effects of drinking water on cognition in children.
While dehydration has well-documented negative effects on adult cognition, there is little research on hydration and cognitive performance in children. We investigated whether having a drink of water improved children's performance on cognitive tasks. Fifty-eight children aged 7-9 years old were randomly allocated to a group that received additional water or a group that did not. Results showed that children who drank additional water rated themselves as significantly less thirsty than the comparison group (p=0.002), and they performed better on visual attention tasks (letter cancellation, p=0.02; spot the difference memory tasks, ps=0.019 and 0.014).
Edmonds
Caroline J
CJ
School of Psychology, University of East London, Stratford Campus, University House, Romford Road, London, E15 4LZ, UK. Electronic address: c.edmonds@uel.ac.uk.
Burford
Denise
D
School of Psychology, University of East London, Stratford Campus, University House, Romford Road, London, E15 4LZ, UK. Electronic address: denise.burford@tiscali.co.uk.
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001834:Body Water / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003681:Dehydration / Q000503:physiopathology; D004326:Drinking / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D011594:Psychometrics; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013894:Thirst / Q000502:physiology; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D014882:Water-Electrolyte Balance / Q000502:physiology