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Introduction Mental wellbeing is an aspect of quality of life that is often overlooked.

The problems associated with an impaired mental wellbeing are becoming prevalent for individuals and healthcare services in todays society. Mental Wellbeing is often defined as:

A dynamic state, in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others, and Contribute to their community. It is enhanced when an individual is able to fulfil their personal and social goals and achieve a sense of purpose in society. Beddington, 2008
Maintaining a healthy mental wellbeing is vital to leading a happy life and maximising potential, but this can be broadly affected by dehydration. The symptoms associated with being dehydrated hamper the brains ability to function to its full potential and in the way that we would desire. Physical symptoms can also be apparent, which can in turn cause our mental state to deteriorate. Problem The opportunity targets hydration levels in sportspersons. At any one time approximately 70% of British and American citizens can be chronically dehydrated. Dehydration can cost significant amounts for healthcare systems, and drastically effect recovery times and relief of symptoms common with mental health issues (Logbook Page26). Sportspersons and athletes who are frequently involved in high intensity or long duration exercise can lose substantially more fluid from their body during exercise then a person undertaking regular day to day activities, and thus are at a higher risk of dehydrating.

Research Methodology Various research methodologies have been implemented in pursuit of insights for the project. All research has been carried out in accordance with an ethical checklist where appropriate, and all participants have signed and agreed with a consent form (see logbook). This research is vital to gain insights into what the problem is, who the problem affects, how it affects them and opportunities to resolve the problem.

1. Online research
Online research was co-ordinated in order to gain statistics, insights, background and behavioural information on mental wellbeing related topics. This includes no stakeholder contact.

2. Fly on the wall Observation


This involved first hand, unobtrusive observations into specific behavioural patterns. Observations were made into the use of beverage sources in the design school, the number of people drinking in lectures and number of cyclists drinking whilst riding.

3. User Observation
This involved watching participants to gauge an understanding of how structured their habits of keeping hydrated are. Observations were made from when the participant awoke until they went to bed, with key findings recorded.

4. Questionnaire
Two questionnaires were created and given to different user groups. An online survey and a physical questionnaire were implemented to gauge an understanding of drinking habits, and awareness of how hydration can affect daily life.

5. Interviews
Stakeholders were interviewed to gain in depth knowledge of requirements, opinions, habits, reservations. Interviews are a good way for the investigator to find out extra information that may not be possible to extract in the context of other research methods.

Online Research The project was instigated with online research and group discussion into the definition of mental wellbeing, and the factors that can contribute to creating and sustaining a healthy or unhealthy mental state. Numerous directions were explored through online research obtained from What Is Mental Health from the Mental Health Foundation, giving understanding on principles important in maintaining a good mental wellbeing (Logbook Page12-17). Chronic depression and anxiety were identified as two of the most prevalent mental health conditions (Logbook Page 2/19), and depression was chosen due to a desire to aid a large scale problem. From here, desk based research into the extensive causes of these conditions identified issues including literacy/numeracy complications, alcohol abuse, dehydration, and Thyroid dysfunction (Logbook Page-21-25). Thyroid dysfunction was noted as a key contributor to the development of an estimated 20% of all chronic depression (Logbook Page-21). This in turn is affected substantially by a deficiency of Iodine, which is estimated to effect between 800 million and 2 billion people worldwide (Logbook Page-21) despite the simple remedy of ingesting iodized salt daily. See concept 1: iodine skin patch concept to release iodine for those who lack it in their diet. At this point it was seen that hydrating correctly has a strong positive effect on cognitive function in general, rather than targeting one mental health condition, and so was chosen as the path to pursue further (Logbook Page-26-31). Through the webMD.com (Logbook Page-32) it was realised that as well as mental benefits, hydration has physical benefits including:

Prevention of kidney stones Comfortable bowel movements Good Skin Increased Muscle Building More burnt fat

It is logical to conclude that an enhancement of physical characteristics is linked to improvements in a mental state, e.g. improvements in skin quality could build self-esteem, leading to a happier, more confident personality. (Page-33-35)

The importance for everyone to stay hydrated is a message that needs to be promoted. Nauert, 2012
This source refined information on the effect of hydration on cognitive function. Key points to note are that:

Mild dehydration is defined as approximately 1.5% loss of water mass from the body Adverse changes in mood and symptoms were substantially greater in female than in males People can check their hydration status by monitoring the colour of their urine proper hydration is particularly important for high- risk groups
It was also substantiated that being dehydrated can increase the chances of a serious mental disorder developing- not just impairment in the general wellbeing (Logbook Page38-39). This is an indirect approach to addressing the brief, but is undoubtedly valuable. Through exploring concepts (Logbook Page43-45) an open mindedness to the opportunity was maintained. Concepts include a key-ring to build habits, a feedback system water dispenser to encourage drinking at work, and a bracelet worn when running to measure sweating and alert you to drink accordingly. Further academic literature research indicates that the cognitive and physical effects of dehydration from physical exertion can be drastic.

Fluid loss through sweating may average as high as 1.5-2litres per hour (Logbook Page57).
When combined with the fluid loss from respiration, this shows that dehydration is a major risk for athletes when at most, you can absorb about a litre of water an hour (Logbook Page57). This highlights the need for athletes to stay hydrated, and refines the design iteration to create a device appropriate to the requirements of sportspersons.

Observations(Fly on the wall and user) Observations provide a window into the life of participants and stakeholders. If unaware of your presence (fly on the wall) they will not act in a biased manner. The first observations undertaken were to address awareness of drinking habits in the design school (Logbook Page60). The numbers of people using the water dispenser, hot drinks machine and cold drinks machine were recorded periodically. The results show that the water dispenser was by far the most popular, and that the few people who purchased drinks from the hot drinks machine seemed fatigued. Other trends show more hot drinks being sold during the morning hours; indicating that participants were using hot beverages (caffeinated) as a means of refreshing or awakening themselves. On the contrary, water was consumed in higher quantities in the morningalthough this could be affected by other variables, e.g. the number of people in the design school. A number of participants were asked why they used the dispenser, and if they were actually thirsty or not. Replies showed a common trend of not being thirsty, but a break from work and the convenience of a drinks machine being there was appreciated (Logbook Page61). More students in the design school were observed drinking throughout the day (Logbook Page61), whilst working. Drinks were mostly water from the dispenser, although people also bought bottled water in or had coffee/tea. When asked as to why they were drinking, replies showed an indication of a social pressure effect: everyone one else does it- I probably should. Being good for your health was an additional trend recognised in the replies. Fly on the wall observations were concluded with a tally of how many people were drinking in lectures. Daytime lectures had an approximately 25% rate of people drinking, and evenings in the LDS CAD room presented a finding of almost every single person in the room having a drink on the desk (Logbook Page61). These observations showed incentive to drink when there is readily available water, and how human nature encourages people to subconsciously copy the habits of others. This idea could be implemented in a sporting scenario, and possibly create a group habit from a single user. The second method of observational analysis consisted of shadowing stakeholders throughout the day (Logbook Page78-79), giving a glimpse into their routine and their perception of normal. It can however be biased, as the way they act could easily be changed to how they think they should act in front of the investigator. All participants showed regular drinking habits, including drinking when waking up, with meals, whilst working and before bed. All participants stated that they would benefit from a reminder for them to have a drink; they were often thirsty, meaning they had already passed minor dehydration. Participants drank on average slightly over 1litre per day- half of the 2l suggested RDA (Logbook Page30).

Questionnaires Of the 15 questionnaires given to associates and strangers from the design school and Student Cycling Club (Logbook Page63-72), several trends were apparent. The first and most significant insight generated was a tendency for stakeholders to be aware that they were not fully hydrated, but making little effort to combat it. Participants gave verbal feedback on being aware that they should consume more fluid when exercising in hot weather, but had no concept of what the correct amount was. These two insights are important to the design brief; they provide a narrowed direction for the proposal to advance in.

The second questionnaire was an online survey (Logbook Page73-77), targeted at cyclists from the popular cycling news website and forum singletrackworld. Opinions from an online forum are valuable- users of the forum are likely to be enthusiastic about their sport, yet it allows for a broad spectrum of stakeholders to be targeted with one research method. Results showed a distinct awareness of becoming dehydrated during exercise (92% changed the amount of water they took exercising dependant on duration) (Logbook Page74), yet poor awareness of how hydration can impair their cognitive performance was apparent (42.5% think hydration levels have no effect on mood, awareness etc.) (Logbook Page76). An average estimate of water consumed on a daily basis was below RDA. The predominant insight drawn from this research is that despite being aware that they should vary their fluid intake dependant on the exercise duration/intensity, there was a problem with the stakeholders identifying exactly how much to adjust their drinking volumes. The research concluded with one-on-one interviews with cyclists (Logbook Page82-85). These stakeholders were chosen due to their disparity in age, occupation and gender to gain insights from a diverse audience. When asked their opinion of a device that could inform them of when and how much to drink during exercise, an insight into the need for a lightweight product with small form factor and easy to understand display was apparent. All participants expressed a goal driven nature, being keen to beat their competitors and friends whilst achieving personal targets which can gives a more detailed opportunity to adhere to for the proposal (Logbook Page78-79). Iteration to the opportunity was refined throughout the research. Vital developments were made at key insight generations, which provided an opportunity to project the project in a more specific direction.

Bibliography
Prof. Beddington, J. MP Denham, J. (2008). Foresight Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project. Final Project report.. Available: http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/foresight/docs/mental-capital/final_project_report_part1.pdf. Last accessed 08/11/2013 PHD. Nauert, R. (2012). Dehydration Influences Mood, Cognition.Available: http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/02/20/dehydration-influences-mood-cognition/35037.html. Last accessed 08/11/2013

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