When the weather is very hot, usually we do some cool off stuffs, such as drinking cold water or ice water. In fact, there are lots of beverages and fizzy drinks that are specially designed to be taken as chilled beverages. We should be more careful about this, considering the several dangers that lurk behind the pleasure of drinking cold water. Here is the 10 facts that you should know :
1. Makes a pot belly
During the warming process in stomach, ice water will be warmed by the bearing fats in the stomach. When drinking cold water is often done (even becoming a habit), you may need more fat pads. Fat pads obtained from the food we eat daily are buried in the stomach. If it not balanced with sufficient exercise, the fat pads will be increase. As a result, our stomach will become bloated.
2. Indigestion problems
Drinking cold water right after meals can cause indigestion, because the cold temperatures change the consistency of the foods we’ve eaten, making them more difficult to digest. For example, fatty foods tend to solidify when mixed with cold water, making digestion more difficult. Longer digestion can result in acid reflux problems.
3. Give an extra work for the digestion process
Our stomachs are designed to digest foods at a similar temperature of our body. Eating foods that are too cold or hot means extra work for the digestion process. The same thing happens when we eat foods that are too spicy; they are harder to break down and can cause diarrhea in some people.
4. Causing dizziness
When our body’s metabolism is disturbed, the body can not immediately adapt when the temperature changes suddenly, especially when we drink ice cold water. As a result, the supply of oxygen to the organs of the body decreases, including the brain. The impact is we will feel dizzy.
5. Brain freeze
A sudden cooling in the body can cause impaired physiological functions. As a result, we would have a headache or migraine. A study of brain freeze was conducted to see the effect of when a person drinks cold water. A number of people were asked to drink ice cold water with a straw until the water hits their palate. The bloodstream that goes to the brain observed, and turned out that the bloodstream was increased. This is the trigger to dizziness or momentary brain freeze. Soon after that, the brain freeze would gradually disappear. There studies of Harvard Medical School deduced that the brain is very sensitive to temperature, it needs a vasodilatation drugs to keep the warm blood flowing normally, and make sure the brain stays in warm conditions.
6. Slowing heartbeats
Some studies reveal that drinking ice water can stimulate the vagus nerve. This nerve is very important for the control of, and the unconscious collapse of heartbeat. Performance of this nerve will be disrupted while drinking ice water, causing the heart to beat slowly.
7. Loss of nutrients
Normally, the human body temperature is in the range of 36-37°C. When we consume water that is too cold it would force our body to use more energy in order to organise and make the body temperature back to normal, whereas that energy is greatly needed by the body to absorb nutrients and digest food into the body. So when we drink cold water, the energy would be depleted, so that the body cannot absorb nutrients optimally.
8. Triggering sore throat
Drinking ice water can also cause the mucus in the lining of the oesophagus to be prone to infection and inflammation.
9. Narrow intestine
Drinking cold water will cause narrowing of the intestinal wall, which as a result causes the destruction process and absorption of food in the intestine to be disturbed. The temperature of the ice water can cause clotting particles of oily food we consume. The fats will piled up in the intestinal tract, causing narrowing of the intestine. Consequently, it will slow down the digestion and interfere with the digestive process which will be widely disrupted.
10. Causing an excessive thirst
When we drink cold water, soon we will be become thirsty again. The more we drink cold water, the more body imbalance will happen. It is because the cold water will cause the body to lose fluids faster. Thirst is an indicator that our bodies are dehydrated, which should soon be fulfilled by replacing it with drinking water at ordinary room temperature. After exercise or heavy work, our bodies become dehydrated; it is advisable to comply with drinking enough water so that the body fluids go back to normal.
What’s the best way to drink water?
Despite these dangers, experts agree that our bodies need a good quantity of water daily in order to function properly. A good suggestion for you is not to drink cold water after a meal, but you can drink water right before a meal -surely not cold water too- because this will give us a feeling of satisfaction, and we would eat less. Doctors advice that water should be drank at room temperature. One thing to remember is that water has zero calories, so we can drink up to two litres a day. So, keep healthy!
-dr.healthbenefit.com