Older people are more likely....

Ya gotta laugh. Brett, our despatch manager, handed me an article from the newspaper about older people becoming dehydrated. Wanting to know more, I Googled the first few words of the report, 'Older people are more likely".
Well, it seems oldies are more likelty to fo a lot of things, according to google. A quick scan of the first page of results told me that..

• Older people who live alone more likely to be unhappy,
  
  
• Older people more likely to respond to Internet marketers,
  
  
• Older people are far more likely to successfully quit smoking,
  
  
• Climbers over age 60 are three times more likely to die,
  
  
• Given a misleading cue, adults over age 64 were 10 times more likely than younger ... To understand why older people are more easily misled,
  
  
• Older people are biologically and medically more vulnerable to infection,
  especially women. But they are more likely to escape the HIV/AIDS diagnosis,
  
  
• In older people, decline of cognitive function is more likely than improvement.

..and finally the article I was seeking, which is here and says:

"Older people are more likely than others to become dehydrated because their brain underestimates how much water the body needs to remain healthy, Australian researchers say.

Scientists from the Howard Florey Institute, in Melbourne, found that a part of the brain that predicts how much water a person needs switches off in older people before their body has been adequately replenished.

When a person is thirsty the mid-cingulate cortex, which is about one cubic centimetre in size, increases activity, prompting the body's thirst response. This switches off when the body's need for water is satisfied.

Researchers gave salty water to 12 men aged 65 to 74 years, and 10 men aged 21 to 30, to make them thirsty. The men were then allowed to drink as much water as they wanted. Brain response was measured using positron emission tomography.

Both groups had the same level of thirst but the older group drank less than half as much water before activity in the mid-cingulate cortex was switched off, says the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The younger men drank an average of 350 millilitres and the older men drank an average of 150 millilitres before their thirst mechanism was turned off.

Dr Michael Farrell, a senior research officer in the institute's neuroimaging group, said decreased brain activity was part of the ageing process, and older people could no longer trust thirst sensation. "Adults should drink about eight glasses of water per day to prevent dehydration and physically active people may need to drink more," he said."

Ian: I remember years ago we took up a voluntary position of driving elders to medical appontments. I cannot remember one who drank water. Tea, yes, but tea just doesn't hydrate like good old water. I am very grateful for my super water. People ask me my age and are always surprised when I say sixty one.