Relation between Dehydration and Short Term Memory Function Impairment in College Students

According to a study in Malang city in 2013, short term memory impairment not only occur in elderly, but also in adolescence. Another study shows that 60,9% of college student in Gadjah Mada University indicated an involuntary dehydration. Losing minimum 1% of body fluid would affects brain function and cognition include short term memory function. True Experimental, Pretest and posttest with Control Group Design, 62 selected volunteers are devided into control /non-dehydration group and intervention/dehydration group (mild dehydration induced by 40 minutes treadmill in the speed of 5,6 km/h, and rest for 20 minutes). Body fluid loss at least 1%, measured by weight loss percentage. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Digit span was used for the test instrument. Data was analyzed with Chi-Square test. Degraded posttest result indicated short term memory function impairment. 9,7% of sample with worse WAIS score in non-dehydration group and 48,8% of sample with worse WAIS score in dehydration group. Chi-Square test showed significance value of 0.001. Studies showed short term memory function impairment in intervention group was caused by the loss of at least 1% of body fluid after the exercise. Fluid Loss decreased cerebral blood flow (both volume and velocity), decreased the amount of cerebrospinal fluid, electrolyte and ion imbalance in the brain circulation and increased plasma osmolality which causes neuron shrinkage and lower brain volume (both cortex, substantia alba and ventricular system). In conclusion Dehydration is related to short term memory function impairment in college students.