DANGERS OF DRINKING COLD WATER( REFRESHING BUT UNHEALTHY)

We all agree that nothing beats the sensation you
get when you down a bottle of cold water or soda
when you are hot. That chilling and refreshing
sensation could akin to seeing a river in a desert.
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.”
http://www.punchng.com/health/healthwise/cold-
water-can-be-refreshing-but-unhealthy/