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Have you ever noticed a difference in how you feel when you drink cold versus warm water? There’s a good chance that you probably have a preference for one or the other – but which is better?
Staying hydrated is important to keep your body healthy and brain alert. It keeps the body functioning at an optimum level as fluids carry nutrients to your cells, flush bacteria from your bladder, and prevent constipation.
According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, it is recommended that you drink up to 3 or 4 liters of water daily to ward off dehydration. The food we eat like fruits and salads can contribute to our hydration intake but probably the most convenient way to keep hydrated is by actually drinking water.
However, have you ever noticed a difference in preference when it comes to the temperature of water you drink? Do you prefer cold or warm water? Is there a difference? Is one better than the other? Well, let’s find out.
Thirst is just the body's natural response to being dehydrated. While there are various opinions on which temperature of water helps satisfy thirst, water of almost any temperature will most definitely will quench your thirst once enough is taken. In fact, according to a study published in the scientific journal, Neuron, the notion that cold water quenches thirst better is most likely a psychological factor than a physical one.
This may not come as a surprise but drinking water after a workout will immediately quench your thirst and protect you from dehydration, heat exhaustion, or stroke.
The Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition notes that drinking colder water during exercise may improve a person's performance and endurance. The journal cites a study that found that physically fit males who drank cold water during exercise significantly reduced the rise in core body temperature leading them to perform better compared to those who drank warm temperature water.
Drinking water as an alternative to sugary beverages is good for your digestion and maintaining a healthy weight. Water and other liquids help break down the food in your stomach and keep the digestive system on track. Warm water will help break down these foods even faster, making them easier for you to digest. While some might attribute drinking cold water to helping you burn a couple of extra calories as you digest, it’s not likely that drinking cold water will lead to weight loss.
This is because when you drink a cup of ice water, you burn only about 8 more calories, which really isn’t much in terms of calorie balance if you’re already eating and exercising right.
A study by the University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden found that drinking cold water was linked to triggering migraines in people that already were suffering from a migraine.
A couple of studies done by the Chinese Academy of Medical Science in Beijing and Nanfang Hospital in China found that the pain was related to achalasia, a condition that limits your body’s ability to pass food through your esophagus, which can also get worse when you drink cold water with a meal.
In the end though, regardless of the temperature, drinking water is good for our overall health. The important thing is that we stay hydrated. In the case of water temperature, ultimately preference wins because whichever temperature of water that encourages us to drink more water is the one we should choose!
References
https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(19)30396-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub...
https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/water-temperature-cold-or-room-temperature
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3472188/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jhn.12368
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-9-44
https://www.medicaldaily.com/health-benefits-warm-water-6-ways-drinking-warm-water-can-heal...
https://wholeu.uw.edu/2014/09/17/water/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325038.php#is-it-bad-for-you
The above articles are intended for informational purposes only. AIA accepts no responsibility for loss, which may arise from reliance on information contained in the articles.
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