Do You Know The Dangers Of Drinking Cold Water? Read Now!

As rewarding as cold water can be, in hot weathers like ours,
experts say that it comes with serious health consequences.
They warn that one may need to hands off drinking cold
water regularly due to its negative impact on the heart and the
digestive system.

Consultant nutritionist, Dr. Tosin Akinsanya, says even
though the body cannot have too much of water, it complains
when it has too much of cold water. According to the food
and healthy living expert, cold water is at a temperature that
contradicts the overall temperature within the body system.
Akinsanya says that normal body temperature of the body is
between 34 and 37 oC while that of cold water is usually
between zero and two degrees Celsius and this sudden
change in temperature levels, which usually happens when
we drink cold water, shocks the body, leading to chronic
diseases in those who drink it over time.
“The body is made up of 70 per cent of warm water. Water is
the most important fluid in the body because it is the medium
blood uses. It is the medium which circulates nutrients
around the body. If the 30 per cent we drink is against the
normal temperature of the body, we see how hard it is for the
body to make use of it. Cold water causes distress in the
tissues and blood vessels.

 
“The body has to warm up the cold water you drink every
time to an acceptable temperature before it can take it up for
digestion, nutrient and blood circulation. That is why we
advise people not, take drugs with cold water. The drugs will
not digest on time; it means you won’t get the best of the
drugs because the water did not dissolve on time.”
Family health physician and author of Ten Habits To Drop
Right Now, Dr. Vasant Lad, adds that drinking cold water
after a meal has adverse effects on the digestive system. Lad
also warns against drinking cold water immediately before a
meal.

For Dr. Lucia John, a major reason why we should ditch cold
water for tepid or warm one is its effect on the heart.
According to the healthy living expert, the heart labours more
to restore blood circulation when we drink cold water that is
not compatible with the body’s temperature.
She says, “When we drink cold water, juice, or any cold
fluids, we create the basis for chronic heart diseases. Cold
water has a clotting effect on the blood and other fluids in the
body making it difficult for it to circulate.

“A body that cannot circulate its blood is like an uninviting
swimming pool in which moss and bacteria grow. The blood
may be thick, unable to flow properly to the extremities of the
body, the hands and feet begin to feel numb and hurt, the toes
begin to hurt, and the toenails lose their shine and may begin
to decay.
The heart labours to pump the blood throughout the body,
and the lungs fight to keep up. The legs may swell and
become dark, when blood cannot efficiently pump back up to
the heart.

 
“When the blood is free from toxins and flowing freely and
properly, we can then liken the blood to an inviting
swimming pool, clear and clean. It generates happiness and
perfect health, energy and creativity. This individual
contributes maximum to the health and wellbeing of others in
an innocent, natural way.”
Scientists have also solved the mystery behind the
instantaneous headache brought on by a sip of an ice-cold
drink.

According to the neurologists who analysed the result of a
study, which involved 5,000 participants over a period of five
years, cold water is not friendly to some sections of the brain.
The researchers found that sipping it causes an abrupt
increase in blood flow to a major artery in the brain that is
then followed by the familiar headache-like. The experts
warn that over time this effect may shrink some receptors in
the brain.

 
Knowing all this, we have a responsibility to put into our
bodies, only drinks and foods that will enhance its proper
functioning.
Akinsanya gives a final advice on the need to take regularly
water at a normal temperature.

 
“The brain is fairly sensitive to temperature change, that is
why it freezes when you drink cold water at first. This
continuous seizure is not good for it.
The brain is one of the relatively important organs in the
body, and it needs to be working all the time. We should
avoid anything that will make it freeze,” he adds.
To know the right temperature of water to drink, Akinsanya
says,

“Put one finger in your mouth and close it. The
temperature of what you feel is the temperature of water or
food that you eat most times. That is what the body is used to
and that is what you should give it.”