ABSTRACT
Changes in thirst perception (TP), plasma osmolality (pOSM), plasma arginine vasopressin (pAVP) are all connected and are some of the physiological adaptations necessary against dehydration. This research aims to investigate the effect of exercise on thirst perception, plasma AVP, plasma osmolarity, heat perception, and dryness of mouth in young adult overweight individuals. Twenty healthy adult between the ages of 18 and 25 participated in this study. Subject were split into two categories of ten based on their BMI, Category 1 are the normal weight individuals and category 2 are overweight individuals. Participants received information about the objectives and procedures of the study. On the days they came to the laboratory, the participants were asked to drink 600 ml of water 2-3 hours before the exercise began to allow for optimal total body water content. The height and weight of the participants were determined using a stadiometer to determine BMI. After this, the subjects were asked to wait for a few minutes let's say 20-30mins to allow them to settle down and acclimatize to the laboratory conditions. Before starting the exercise, the various parameters were determined to establish baseline values. Subject were made to walk on a treadmill for 20 minutes, after which their TP and DM were determined by visual analog scale and blood samples were taken to determine pAVP and pOSM. Data were subjected to statistical analysis using GraphPad Prism version 8.1 statistical package and relevant statistical values were obtained. An unpaired Student t-test was used and data was presented as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM). Values of P<0.5 were considered statistically significant. The statistical values obtained were presented graphically in the form of bar charts. Results showed that there was no significant change in thirst perception, plasma osmolarity, dryness of mouth and plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels in overweight individuals when compared with normal weight at pre- and post-exercise respectively, however, for thirst perception, plasma AVP levels and dryness of mouth, post-exercise values of overweight individuals were significantly increased compared to pre-exercise. In conclusion, this research showed that following exercise, there was no change in thirst perception, plasma AVP levels, plasma osmolality and dryness of the mouth in overweight individuals when compared to normal weight.
