Award Date

5-1-2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences

First Committee Member

Antonio Santo

Second Committee Member

Gabriele Wulf

Third Committee Member

Richard Tandy

Fourth Committee Member

Daniel Young

Number of Pages

54

Abstract

During activities of daily living, there are demands placed on the body both cognitively and physically. These demands are multiplied when performing an athletic endeavor. Many studies have demonstrated the negative impact dehydration has on cognitive and muscle functions, independently. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of dehydration on central nervous system and peripheral nervous system fatigue as expressed through concomitant factors of cognitive function and balance. Subjects were to consist of 20 participates aged 18-35 years old who reported running a minimum of 45 minutes per exercise bout at least 3 times per week. The measurement items were reaction time between an auditory stimulus and a verbal response, as well as errors on a BESS test. Reaction time and BESS testing were administered independently and concomitantly while subjects were euhydrated and dehydrated in separate sessions. Subjects were dehydrated pharmacologically using 40mg of furosemide. Urine specific gravity (USG) and urine color (UC) were used as objective measures of hydration status. Results showed UC is an acceptable method of self-monitoring hydration status. When performed independently, males had better scores than females for BESS errors and reaction time. Divided attention measurements were split evenly in terms of reaction time. In terms of BESS errors, there was an increase in number of errors for the dehydrated condition versus the euhydrated condition. Due to extenuating circumstances, not enough subjects were able to participate to make results statistically significant. However, the results here suggest that future research would be warranted in gender differences and situational scenarios related dehydrations effects on both reaction time and balance.

Keywords

Athletes; Balance; Cognition; Dehydration; Dehydration (Physiology); Equilibrium (Physiology); Reaction time

Disciplines

Exercise Science | Kinesiology

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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