CLEARWATER, Fla. -- New studies show that even slight dehydration can cause cognitive decline.
- Dehydration can cause little errors like poor judgment and memory
- Symptoms can become more severe and can send you to the hospital
- Important to stay hydrated in all settings
Whether you're working hard or hardly working, we know staying hydrated in the heat is important.
But now, studies suggest that even mild dehydration can effect your thought process.
"They're maybe making a little more errors, their judgment might be off, their memory recall skills and attention might be off, those are gonna be important factors for people to understand," said Dr. Deepa Verma from Synergistiq Integrative Health.
They are symptoms that are all too real for Colleen Sterling. She was hospitalized because of her dehydration.
"I couldn't process what everybody at the table was saying, everything was coming to me maybe jumbled up and not quite understanding everything, and my brain was not functioning very clear," said Sterling.
Experts say that it is important to remain hydrated no matter what setting you are in.
"For someone it can take half an hour depending on their settings, maybe they're out hiking, maybe they're on a boat in the sun or if you're just sitting in an air conditioned office it might take you an hour or so to get dehydrated," said Dr. Deepa Verma from the Synergistiq Integrative Health.