5 Essential Benefits of Drinking Cold Water

Do you know about the benefits of drinking cold water? We all know that drinking water is essential for the human body to function. While we all are aware of the benefits of drinking water and drinking warm water, we are not aware that there are benefits of drinking cold water.

There are a lot of advantages to drinking water, and the most common one is losing weight. Staying hydrated is vital in our daily life as water benefits us in maintaining a healthy life, keeping our mental health in check, boosts energy throughout the day.

In general, why should we drink water? Drinking water helps in aiding the body to do its function smoothly as it helps prevent constipation, flushing out the toxins stored in the body. It helps in the function of the kidneys and also keeps them healthy. Drinking multiple glasses of water is a necessity.

So far, people have always focused on warm water, saying that it helps detoxify the body, keeping the organs healthy. People also say that instead of drinking cold water, room temperature water is better, but they are not entirely true. Unless your doctor suggests not to drink cold water, you can drink cold water.

Benefits of Drinking Cold Water:

The water you drink every day has many benefits, but here are some benefits of drinking cold water that you may not be aware of.

1. Boosts Workout:

Feeling fatigued is common when we work out, so to keep filled with energy while we workout, we drink water. Taking occasional sips of water helps in finishing your workout.

When you work out, your core body temperature goes high, and when you drink warm water when it’s high, it can get you fatigued even more. So to keep yourself energized, try drinking cold water. This will help you in finishing your workout successfully.

When you workout, the benefits of drinking cold water aren’t just restricted to better performance, it also aids in burning more calories. Since your core temperature is high, the cold water you drink will have to work twice as hard to keep your temperature warm, therefore burning calories¹.

2. Helps in Fighting Heat Stroke:

One of the benefits of drinking cold water is that after prolonged exposure to heat, drinking cold water helps in reducing the heat temperature of the human body. This, in turn, helps in reducing the risk of heat stroke.

Heat strokes are common during the summer season or also when you are exposed to a warm environment. The initial symptoms of getting a heat stroke are dizziness, headache, the feeling of thirst, fast breathing, or excessive sweating, among many others. If your body temperature rises above 40 C or 104  F, you may get a heat stroke.

To avoid a heat stroke, you can drink cold water, which may diminish the risks. A body getting overheated is not healthy for the body as your body is fighting to maintain its normal body temperature. Hence, it is always beneficial to drink a couple of glasses of cold water a day to keep you cool.

It is also advisable to drink a few glasses of cold water on a sunny day as a precaution.

3. Reduces Fever:

We all get a fever at least a few times in our life. Our body burns up, and our body’s temperature rises a few times above, giving us fever, and during this time, we usually chuck in a few tablets and sleep the day off. But did you know that drinking cold water slightly reduces our body temperature, therefore, reducing fever?

This is one of the benefits of drinking cold water. The coldness in the water you drink contradicts the hotness in your body, therefore reducing your body temperature to normal.

4. Losing Weight:

We all know that drinking lots of water helps us lose weight, but the benefits of drinking cold water double the effect of losing weight.

Losing weight has always been a struggling thing for most people, and drinking water has always been recommended. Drinking cold water burns as much as 70 calories a day, almost equal to 15 minutes worth of walking. A cup of cold water burns almost eight more calories than normal temperature water.

Drinking water reduces the appetite to eat unnecessarily. Drinking water doesn’t just reduce the appetite for eating, but it also has many other benefits. For example, it helps boost your metabolism, which in turn aids in weight loss. The benefits of drinking cold water before a meal boost your metabolism and reduce your appetite to overeat.

When drinking a glass of cold water before a meal helps you be conscious of the food you take and be mindful about it so that you don’t stuff till your stomach hurts.

The benefits of drinking cold water are more because the normal temperature of the human body is warm. So when you drink cold water, the body fights to bring the temperature back to normal, so this, in turn, helps burn a couple of calories.

Although this might not show an effect, losing weight is not that easy, but it is beneficial.

5. Flushing Toxins:

Water is great at clearing out the toxins ²in our bodies. Our bodies need to flush out the toxins then and there. If not, they keep getting stored, which is not healthy, so drinking water helps to clean our bodies from the inside out.

Cold water is a refreshing drink because every time you drink a glass of cold water, it wakes you up. The same goes for the toxins in your body. When you drink a glass of cold water in the morning, it flushes out the toxins in your body, giving you a boost to start the day.

Detoxification ³is a great benefit that can be achieved by drinking cold water. Many detoxification drinks are trendy and also delicious. If cold water seems bland to you, you can always try to drink by adding many things to add more taste to it.

Adding a few thin slices of lemon in cold water does the trick for most people, but there are alternatives that you can switch it up. Alternatives like lemon, orange, lime, berries, cucumber, or ginger are the most recommended. They bring freshness to cold water when you add them; the benefits of drinking cold water increase.

When added with any of the above ingredients, the cool water is said to boost the immune system and calm the body.

Risks of Drinking Cold Water:

While there are amazing benefits of drinking cold water but there are also risks to it. Drinking cold water isn’t always fabulous for everyone as it may trigger some harmful diseases. So it is always good to check in with your body before drinking cold water.

1. Decrease in Heart Rate:

Drinking cold water leads to side effects as it can affect your heart rate and eventually decreases it. Studies have shown that drinking cold water a lot can decrease the strength of the heart and can also stimulate the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve is an important part of the nervous system that regulates the body’s involuntary functions.

The decrease in heart rate caused by drinking a lot of cold water is because the coldness of the water directly affects the vagus nerve⁴, which in turn affects the heart rate. This can lead to many heart problems, so it is safe to avoid drinking cold water a little.

2. Affects Digestion:

There is another risk to drinking cold water. The coldness of the water makes the blood vessels shrink, which causes a delay in the body’s normal digestion. Cold water slows down digestion, making it hard for the body to break down the food and absorb nutrients as the body takes time to warm the cold water.

Drinking cold water before, after, or during mealtime hampers the process of digestion. Humans are warm bodies, so when you drink cold water, the body fights to bring the body back to the normal temperature. Only when the body is at normal temperature can digestion occur effectively.

The body is supposed to be a temple, so taking care of it must be necessary. It’s not that you should completely avoid drinking cold water altogether but rather be present in your body and identify if you need to drink cold water because, just like everything, cold water also carries its set of benefits.

3. Constipation:

Drinking cold water affects or slows down the process of digestion, which can lead to constipation. One of the main reasons for constipation is the contraction of blood vessels which happens when you drink cold water.

When you drink cold water, the food hardens, which affects the smooth digestive flow and leads to constipation. If your digestion is slow, then drinking cold water may not be for you as it can lead to constipation which can cause a lot of belly aches and problems.

4. Triggers Ailments:

Cold water can trigger a lot of ailments and affect your health condition. If you are sick or are suffering from something, it is best to avoid drinking cold water as it is known to trigger or worsen your current health situation.

Some studies have shown that if you drink cold water, it can trigger or aggravate a migraine. It is advisable to drink room temperature water or warm water if you are suffering from migraines⁵.  Drinking cold water can also increase the symptoms of achalasia which can cause pain during the passing down of food through the food pipe.

If you are suffering from cold or flu, it is better to stay away from drinking cold water because the coldness of the water can thicken nasal mucus, which will worsen the cold or flu. Whereas if you drink warm water, it will loosen nasal mucus and relieve you from cold.

Drinking cold water can be good; if you take care of yourself and are aware of your body, then the benefits of drinking cold water will prove effective. But it is also advisable to know how your body feels before drinking cold water. Take care of your body and your health.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can Sipping Cold Water on A Hot Day Help Me Cool Off?

Definitely, yes! On a hot day, drinking cold water can help you stay cool by bringing down your body temperature. Additionally, it’s a cool method to remain hydrated!

2. Is There a Benefit to Drinking Cold Water for Beauty?

It can, indeed! You can look more awake and rejuvenated by drinking cold water, which can help to tighten your pores and reduce facial puffiness.

3. Can a Cool Beverage Aid with Headache Relief?

It is indeed feasible! If you have a headache or migraine, drinking cold water can assist to constrict your blood vessels, which may be beneficial. Additionally, staying hydrated can aid in avoiding headaches altogether.

1. Duregon, Eleonora, et al. “Intermittent fasting: from calories to time restriction.” Geroscience 43 (2021): 1083-1092. ↩︎
2. Wang, Xiaoxue, et al. “Type VII toxin/antitoxin classification system for antitoxins that enzymatically neutralize toxins.” Trends in Microbiology 29.5 (2021): 388-393. ↩︎
3. Yao, Yizhi, and Miao Long. “The biological detoxification of deoxynivalenol: A review.” Food and Chemical Toxicology 145 (2020): 111649. ↩︎
4. Yap, Jonathan YY, et al. “Critical review of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation: challenges for translation to clinical practice.” Frontiers in neuroscience 14 (2020): 284. ↩︎
5. Gazerani, Parisa. “Migraine and diet.” Nutrients 12.6 (2020): 1658. ↩︎

Last Updated on March 30, 2024 by Suchi