Love Drinking Ice Cold Water
There's nothing quite like a glass of ice water to cool
down with on a summer's day, but after reading the
following information, you might want to think
twice before reaching for the ice tray. When I first
came across this information, it shocked me, but I
thought that it was a highly relevant thing to share
with you - these hidden dangers of drinking ice water
aren't very well-known.
Here they are:
Upsets Digestion - Drinking ice water can lead to
stomach upsets, abdominal pain, gurgling and
nausea. This is because cold temperatures are
anti-inflammatory, therefore blood vessels retract.
Another side effect of ingesting ice water is that the
stomach contracts and becomes too tight to be able
to process food efficiently.
Saps Energy - While drinking ice water can make
you feel refreshed and stimulate you in the short term,
it actually serves to drain your energy in the long run.
This is because your body has to use extra energy to
warm up the water and bring it up to its average
temperature.
Irritates Throat - Just as a cold winter's day can
give you a runny nose and block up your sinuses,
ice water creates the same bodily response. In other
words, your body creates mucus as a natural humidifier
to warm any ingested cold air or liquid. The difference
is that in the case of ice water, this bodily response is
unneeded, and it results in extra mucus accumulating in
your pipes, thus making your throat sore.
Slows Heart Rate - Drinking ice water can cause your
heart rate to drop. This is because the vagus nerve,
which runs down the back of your neck, is affected
by a sudden ingestion of cold water. As an emergency
measure, your heart slows down until your body
temperature reaches equilibrium once again.
Hinders Hydration - As aforementioned in previous
points on this list, drinking ice water actually slows
down your body's rehydration process, rather than
speeding it up. This is because the body needs to
bring it up to temperature first before it can use it.
The only exception to this rule is long distance runners,
who appear to benefit from the delayed response
mechanism for maintaining water levels when they're
on a long run.
Constipation - Although drinking water that's at
room temperature helps the digestive process,
drinking ice water has the potential to cause
constipation. Food solidifies and hardens as it
passes through the body, while at the same time
making intestines contract, which can lead to
difficulty when you need to "go".
Headaches - If you're familiar with "brain-freeze",
which you get as a result of eating an ice cream or
lolly, then you should know that ice water can do
the same thing. It chills many sensitive nerves in
the spine, and they immediately relay messages to
your brain, which in turn causes headaches.
It can lead to extra fat - The weight loss tip for
drinking lots of cold water to force the body into
doing more work and thus burn more calories isn't
completely true. This is because cold temperatures
in the body cause fats to harden and congeal, making
them harder for the body to digest.
