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Alexis Celis

Dr. Nelson

ENGL 1302

2 February 2023

The Importance of Hydration

Introduction

During the academic year, a student’s main priority is to focus on academic courses. With

this the lack of taking care of oneself is neglected. There have been studies that have shown that

hydration plays a big role in ones’ mental and physical well-being. The goal of this experiment

was to determine whether or not the impact of hydration in students play a big role. Hydration

has the possibility to increase the chance of cognition function, health benefits, and productivity

improvement.

The Experiment Method

A four-day experiment was conducted to see if drinking the average amount of water

recommended, daily would affect students’ performance. This experiment took place on the

students busiest days of the week, Monday through Thursday. In order to see if the experiment is

reliable, the data from two Texas A&M International University students were recorded. The

students drank different amount of water daily, 64 ounces and 40 ounces per day. During these

days, the students kept a small notebook with them and recorded their data. The data that was

recorded was the times that they started and finished drinking the water, about improvements

they noticed, how much work they completed, and how they felt in the morning, during the day,

and night. 

Cognitive Function
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According to the article on, Water, Hydration, and Health, “Water, or its lack

(dehydration), can influence cognition. Mild levels of dehydration can produce disruptions in

mood and cognitive functioning.” (Popking, Barry, and Kristen D’Anci, and Irwin H.

Rosenberg). Hydration is crucial in cognitive function. Cognitive function is what controls

aspects of “complex brain activities”, which include, “problem solving, reasoning, and problem

solving” (Brief). Students who lack in keeping up with the daily water intake can suffer from

mood disturbances. Not only is mood affected cognitively, but visual perceptions can also be

altered due to dehydration.

Benefits

In Sherry Maykrantz’s article, “Colleges and universities across the nation are facing a

serious health problem, and stress is the culprit. While stress is inevitable, it is becoming more

and more prevalent among college students, creating an increasing health crisis at our nation’s

colleges and universities.” The health benefits of being hydrated can also improve a student’s

well-being. After being at the university all day, finishing assignments, going to extracurriculars,

having meetings, going to work, or the responsibility of a child can all lead a student to immense

stress. This causes the neglect to start. Something as simple as forgetting to drink water can

affected ones health. The human body relies heavily on water because it improves not only the

oxygen in our blood, which runs throughout the body, but the fluidity of the muscles.

Staying hydrated also strengthens the immunity system. By strengthening the immunity

system, it allows the prevention of infections or illnesses. Having an illness will cause a student

to miss class and if that student isn’t properly hydrated then that student won’t be able to recover

sooner, and workload will pile up. This plays a large role in the understanding of why water is
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so important to humans. “Water is the largest constituent of the human body. It accounts for

more than 60% of the human body's volume. Water is essential for cellular homeostasis, playing

important roles in physiological and biochemical functions. Many factors impact daily hydration

needs and our ability to hydrate.” (Douglas, Kalman and Lepeley, Anna).

Sleep is another one of those things that students have trouble with. However, studies

show that when hydrated it is faster to fall asleep. This is mainly because water is the crucial

ingredient to maintaining homeostasis which helps regulate the brain and maintain that healthy

cycle. The benefits of staying hydrated also improve productivity improvement. When hydrated

the nutrients from the water flow into the bloodstream through systemic circulation. By staying

hydrated those nutrients flow to the brain and allows us to focus more and not get as distracted.

Results

The result from this experiment is still inconclusive because the last day of the

experiment is February 3rd. As of now, the results of this experiment have been slightly similar,

however, the volunteer with the 64oz water showed more of an increase in productivity. In this

procedure, some difficulties were written down in the notebook. By the end of the third day,

volunteer 1 had felt energized throughout the entire day. On the other hand, volunteer 2 did

notice an increase in productivity, yet didn’t feel much progress.

Conclusion

Overall, the experiment confirmed the hypothesis in part. The increase in productivity increased,

cognition, and health benefits. However, in this experiment, there was some negative feedback

from the volunteers. The students stated that they had to urinate more during class time and

during assignments. This was a distraction that both students faced, causing them to miss parts of
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the lecture and time off from assignments that they normally wouldn't miss. The positive

feedback did, however, confirm the hypothesis. The students’ productivity, cognition, and health

benefits increased. As opposed to the article on hydration with student in Mali, there was a

difference between that experiment and the one conducted here. The article states that “A pilot

study was conducted to adapt field measures of short-term cognitive performance and hydration,

to evaluate levels of hydration, and to investigate the impact of providing supplementary

drinking water on the cognitive performance of pupils attending water-scarce schools in rural

Mali” (Chard, et al). The students in Mali had limited access to water, whereas here in the United

States water is mostly accessible for everyone. Another factor to consider is in Mali, the

experiment done was on children. Whereas in the experiment that was conducted, the data was

based on how the volunteers (college students, age range of 18) felt and how the improvement of

academic performance increased. This experiment was mainly loyalty based. The experiment

confirmed that the hypothesis in part mainly because due to this experiment only being 4 days,

the data given was not completely reliable, making this debatable of the placebo effect.
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Works Cited

Brief, In. “Cognitive Function in Brief.” Linus Pauling Institute, 28 Apr. 2017,

lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/health-disease/cognitive-function-in-brief#:~:text=Cognition

%20basically%20means%20using%20your,problem%20solving%2C%20and

%20multitasking).. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.

Chard, Anna, et al. “The Impact of Water Consumption on Hydration and Cognition Among

Schoolchildren: Methods and results from a crossover trail in rural Mali.” Plos One, vol.

14, no. 01, 2019, pp. 01-09. PLoS ONE, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210568

Douglas, Kalman, and Lepeley, Anna. “A Review of Hydration.” Strength and Conditioning

Journal, vol. 32, no. 2, 2010, pp. 56-63. Strength and Conditioning Journal,

https://doi.org/10.1519/SSC.0b013e3181c21172

Maykrantz, Sherry. “Self-leadership and Stress Among College Students: Examining the

moderating role of coping skills†.” Journal of American College Health, vol. 68, no. 1, 2020, pp.

89-96. Taylor & Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1515759

Popkin, Barry M, and Kristen E. D’Anci, and Irwin H. Rosenberg. “Water, Hydration, and

Health.” Nutrition Reviews, vol. 68, no. 8, 2011, pp. 439-458. National Library of

Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2010.00304.x