Cognitive performance and dehydration.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative literature review without systematic search or meta-analytic methodology
PubMed 22855911 · doi:10.1080/07315724.2012.10720011
What was done
Narrative review synthesizing published findings on the effects of mild and moderate dehydration on cognitive performance across domains and age groups, including children, young adults, and older adults.
What was found
Dehydration of 2% impairs tasks requiring attention, psychomotor skills, immediate memory, and subjective state assessment. Performance on long-term memory, working memory, and executive function tasks is more preserved, especially when dehydration is induced by moderate physical exercise. The abstract reports no numerical effect sizes or statistics.
Why it matters
It highlights that mild dehydration produces domain-specific rather than uniform cognitive decrements, with acute impacts centered on attention and immediate recall.
Limits
Narrative review design without systematic search criteria, quality appraisal, or meta-analysis. The underlying evidence base is limited by substantial methodological inconsistency across dehydration induction protocols, cognitive test batteries, and participant characteristics.
Cited by
- supports Even mild or slight dehydration can diminish cognitive and physical performance.