9 Ways Ice Water Is Bad For You On A Hot Summer Day

Jul 24, 2018 by apost team

The importance of staying hydrated, especially during the hot summer months, is a safety concern most everyone recognizes. In the last few decades, public education has focused on water being the most essential and beneficial source of staying hydrated. Given the above, you think you’re making the smartest move possible when you down a glass of ice water when you’re hot, thirsty, or dehydrated. Turns out one factor in that equation is actually more harmful than beneficial. It’s the ice factor.

Let’s look at nine ways ice cold beverages, even when it’s water, might be doing harm to your body.

The body automatically responds to dehydration with thirst. Dehydration causes an increase in your heart rate by making blood vessels constrict to try and reserve oxygen-rich blood flow for the vital organs. What does cold do to blood vessels? If you guessed constrict, then you’d be right. So, drinking ice cold water furthers the constricting effects of dehydration on the vessels carrying your body’s oxygen and blood supply. So, drinking that ice water actually prolongs and worsens dehydration. This is why your thirst often isn’t quenched by drinking ice water.

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The vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve, and it has a role in a number of involuntary actions in the body. Your heart rate is one such action. When dehydration isn’t present, the temperature of ice water stimulates the vagus nerve to temporarily decrease your heart rate. This can be a serious issue for those with heart irregularities and hypotension. It can even be a problem for those with hypertension if they’re already taking medications that lower their heart rate.

Drinking water in general does help in weight loss efforts by keeping you fuller longer, supporting metabolism, and decreasing the consumption of alternative sugary drinks. However, drinking your water iced impacts your ability to properly digest and break-down the foods you eat. It’s much more difficult for the body to break down fats when the gut is sluggish from being cold. Drinking the water cold diminishes the weight benefits you’d otherwise enjoy from drinking your water at room temperature.

The digestive effects of drinking ice cold water can cause a number of painful stomach issues from the resulting inability to break food down efficiently. The network of blood vessels in the stomach are constricted by the cold, and this makes the gut sluggish to perform the tasks necessary to digest foods and move it along for absorption or excretion. You may experience constipation, bloating, nausea, and cramps. These issues may be particularly bad if you drink ice water with your meals.

Drinking ice water is akin to that sudden burst of shock you get from being hit by a cold wind or rain. The body momentarily feels ready to fight or flight, right? But, it doesn’t take long for the body’s internal temp to be lowered by the cold. When this happens, your body expends great deals of energy to warm itself back up to its normal temp. The end result is tiredness.

Ancient Eastern medicine has documented that cold water destabilizes body temperature to the point that the body panics and stresses organs unnecessarily. This is particularly true when it’s confused by hot meals paired with cold drinks.

Most people have felt the few seconds of painful ‘brain freeze’ after quickly drinking something very cold. This is thought to be a nerve reaction from the sudden temperature drop inside the mouth. For some, the effects aren’t so temporary, though. It can cause or worsen headaches and migraines, and these can last for hours while the nerves attempt to settle down.

Research has shown that warm liquids are beneficial to help you get over a cold faster. This is because the warmth unblocks sinuses and ceases mucus production. The cold from drinking ice water does just the opposite within your throat and sinuses. Cold water actually signals your sinuses to make more mucus, can cause blockages that increase sinus pressure, and create a sore throat.

You likely know the skin washing routine of warm water opening pores and cold water closing pores. Cold water, however, doesn’t have a place in the internal routine of skin care. It constricts the blood vessels supplying the skin with the antioxidants and nutrients essential to its vibrancy and health.

As you can see, drinking that glass of water ice cold can moot many of the benefits you’re getting by choosing water as your go-to liquid. Are you going to start drinking your water at room temperature? Have you been suffering with any of these issues and couldn’t figure out the culprit? We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comment section.

Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation with your doctor. Your health is important to us!