What Happens To Your Body When You Drink 'Cold Water'

Summer is almost here and most of us are guilty of coming home and directly heading towards the fridge for some cold water as a relief from the scorching heat outside. Even though ice has many health benefits, drinking ice water or cold water can only give temporary relief and drinking ice water regularly has its downside.

Here are some reasons why you shouldn’t drink ice or cold water:

1. Interferes with your digestion: Drinking ice water or cold water hampers the process of digesting food as it causes your blood vessels to shrink. This can slow down the process of digestion and as the food is not digested properly, the nutrients are lost or not absorbed by the body. 

2. Robs you of nutrients: The body’s temperature is 37o C and when you drink something at a very low temperature, your body has to spend energy to regulate its temperature. This spent energy is otherwise used to digest food and absorb nutrients, thereby leaving your body short of nutrition.

3. Increases your chances of getting a sore throat: Drinking cold water can cause the buildup of respiratory mucosa, which is a protective layer of the respiratory tract. When this layer gets congested, the respiratory tract is exposed and becomes vulnerable to various infections and hence the chances of your throat turning sore are high. 

4. Decreases your heart rate: Drinking ice water or cold water decreases your heart rate. Studies have shown that drinking ice water stimulates the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve and is an important part of the body’s autonomous nervous system that controls involuntary actions of the body. The vagus nerve mediates the lowering of the heart rate and the low temperatures of ice cold water act as a stimulus to the nerve which causes the heart rate to drop.