It is summer, and that nice, tall drink of iced water is so tempting. But wait! Yes, cold water is refreshing, but have you ever wondered what it does to your body? You may already know that when you wash your face with hot/warm water, it opens up your pores and loosens your skin. On the other hand, washing your face with cold water closes the pores and tightens the skin. Now imagine this tightness in your digestive tract. Feels unpleasant, doesn’t it?
Here are more reasons as to why you should avoid drinking cold water:
- When you drink cold water, or any other chilled beverage, it hinders your hydration, restricts your digestion and shrinks your blood vessels.
- Drinking cold water changes your body’s internal temperature. Your body now uses the energy stored to regulate your temperature instead of digesting food and absorbing nutrients to produce energy.
- Excessive mucus is created when you drink cold water after a meal. This leads to a decline in the function of your immune system which makes you prone to catch illness and colds.
- If you drink cold water with a meal or after it, fats in your food become solidified due to the low water temperature. The body now struggles to digest the nonessential fats from your body.
Some people claim that drinking cold water can burn calories better by making your digestive system work harder. However, this is not the correct way to burn calories! You don’t need to make your digestive system work harder. There are many other ways to burn calories. So, ditch that glass of cold water. Health experts vehemently agree that warm, or room temperature, water is best for the body.
Some benefits of warm water include:
- Increased and faster hydration
- Digestion is improved due to stimulation of natural digestive enzymes
- Food is broken down with more ease
- Better bowel movement, especially if you put lemon juice in warm water
- Blood is purified and your body is naturally detoxified via your lymphatic system, kidney and skin
So the next time you sit down for a meal, grab that glass of room temperature water instead