Aging May Tinker With Thirst [brain]

Aging May Tinker With Thirst

With Age, Thirst Nerves May Not Work as Well, Paving the Way for Dehydration

Written by Miranda Hitti
Medically Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD on December 17, 2007

Dec. 17, 2007 -- Scientists have a new clue about why the elderly may be vulnerable to dehydration.

Age-related changes in certain nerves in the mouth, throat, and stomach may be the problem.

A new study shows that healthy men in their 20s or 60s get equally thirsty when injected with salt water. But older men drank half as much water as younger men to slake their thirst.

The men got brain scans using positron emission tomography (PET) during the experiment. Those brain scans showed different patterns of activity in brain areas related to thirst.

While the men drank water to soothe their thirst, the PET scans showed less activity in a certain brain area in the older men than in the younger men.

That may mean that the nerves that carry the "I'm thirsty!" signal from the mouth, throat, and stomach don't work as well with age.

It may be a good idea to schedule drinking to reduce the chances of elderly dehydration, note the researchers. They included Gary Egan, PhD, of the Howard Florey Institute at Australia's University of Melbourne.

Their findings appear in this week's early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The New War on Science: 4 Reasons People Reject Good Data [a to z guides]

Image
The New War on Science: 4 Reasons People Reject Good Data Written by Natalie Sabin Aug. 5, 2022 – Thanks to science, we know the world isn't flat, that the Earth revolves around the sun (and not the reverse), and that microbes cause infectious diseases. So why is scientific skepticism a global phenomenon – and one that appears to be getting worse, if the crazy stuff you saw your friend post on social media this morning is any indication? In a newly released paper , social psychology researchers sought to answer exactly these types of questions. What leads some people to reject science? And how can trust in science be restored? Aviva Philipp-Muller, PhD, one of the co-authors of the paper, says finding answers and restoring widespread trust in science may be more important now than ever. "If you come to conclusions through gut instincts or listening to people that have no knowledge on a topic, you can come to believe just about anything," she says. "And sometimes...
Read more

Gen Z Is More Fatalistic Than Boomers About Climate Change [a to z guides]

Image
Gen Z Is More Fatalistic Than Boomers About Climate Change Written by Lisa Rapaport From the WebMD Archives Nov. 10, 2021 -- Members of Generation Z, or anyone born after 1996, are much likelier than baby boomers to have fatalistic views about behavioral adjustments to combat climate change, according to a survey of U.S. adults . Yet the two age groups are equally likely to make such changes. Conventional wisdom puts the two generations in opposing stances. Gen Z is represented as a group of Greta Thunbergs, crusading for broad societal changes to slow and reverse the effects of global warming. Meanwhile, boomers, or those born after World War II through the mid-1960s, are cast as unwilling to abandon SUVs or disposable coffee cups for the sake of future generations. For a clearer picture of generational attitudes around climate change, researchers at Kings College London conducted a survey in August 2021 of a representative sample of 2,153 U.S. adults. (The investigators also ask...
Read more