What most students do not know is thathydration influences mental performance. This means that if they do not drink enough, their short-term memory capacity, arithmetic skills, concentration, visual capacity, etc. What’s more,dehydration causes tiredness, headache, difficulty concentrating, and general malaise, symptoms that also impair mental functions. “In the research studies that have been carried out, it is seen that if hydration is insufficient, as it occurs in any other cell in the body, it also affects the functioning of the brain and worsens intellectual performance in functions of attention, repetition, mathematics, etc.” explains Dr. Carmen Gómez Candela, Head of the Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Unit at Hospital La Paz in Madrid.
Experts generally recommend consuming between 2 and 2.5 liters per day through different drinks. In times of great intellectual effort, such as exams, in addition to maintaining good hydration to develop mental abilities, it is necessary to maintain an optimal level of glucose, the energy of the brain. Drinks that contain sugars play an important role in providing glucose to the mind, as they maintain levels of attention and improve various aspects such as reaction capacity, memory or intellectual performance.
