Best time to drink cold water

Exercise

During exercise the core body temperature becomes elevated. Sweating is one mechanism that our bodies use to cool down, but we lose a lot of water and electrolytes which need to be replenished. Try squeezing some fresh lemon and adding a pinch of sea or rock salt to the water to help replenish lost electrolytes. Sipping on cold water during a workout both rehydrates the body of lost water and helps to cool down the core body temperature. A study done in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition compared room temperature water and cold water during workouts. Researchers found participants who consumed cold water were able to keep their core temperature down 50 percent longer than the group consuming room temperature water.

Fever

Drinking cold water when you have a fever is one method of cooling the body down. It’s important to keep super hydrated when you have a fever because you’re body is working hard to get rid of whatever foreign invaders may be causing you harm. When you’re overheated, drinking cold water can be a huge relief. Again try squeezing some fresh lemon and adding a pinch of sea or rock salt to the water to help replenish lost electrolytes.

Weight Loss

Drinking cold water has been to shown to boost metabolism and help burn an additional 70 calories per day. Though it’s no miracle obesity cure, it does add up over time. When you consider that a person of average weight (70 Kg) burns 70 calories going for a 15 minute walk, ice water starts to sound like a pretty simple and effective way to burn extra calories when you’re trying to lose weight.

To maintain healthy digestion and high energy levels it is probably better to drink room temperature, or warm or hot water or fluids in colder climates and evaporative cooled water in hotter climates. Always take into consideration what the temperature is outside.

Best Times to Drink Warm or Hot Water

Digestion

Ever wonder why most people consume a hot beverage upon rising? Yes caffeine has something to do with it, but that’s not the only reason. Ayurvedic medicine states that drinking warm water in the morning helps to stimulate digestion. Susan E. Brown, PhD also states that drinking cold water with a meal can have adverse effects on the digestive process. It requires more energy from the body to warm up cool liquids and foods, thus taking a longer time to digest and assimilate. Something that is not necessarily bad when one is trying to lose weight. However drinking 2 glasses of ice-cold water on waking has its own advantages as mentioned earlier.

Detox

When it comes to cleansing the body of impurities, consuming adequate amounts of water is of paramount importance. Drink room temperature water with a squeeze of lemon. This requires the least amount of energy for your body to assimilate. The lemon also helps to stimulate digestion and flush toxins. During a detox you may want to add some cleansing additions to your water. (See – ‘Non-Conventional Treatments and Folk Remedies – Lemon water’).

The Rest of the Time

Recent research has determined that drinking 2 glasses of ice water on waking in the morning and even during the day not only burns up about 17 calories to warm up the water to body temperature but also boosts your metabolism by about 20-30 percent, peeking at 40-60 min post consumption. Since such water was not accessible to most of the ancients, most of the time, and as energy conservation was more of a consideration then than burning up calories, it may now be acceptable to trigger the body’s metabolism by drinking ice/chilled water/ fluids on waking and before eating. Again adding lemon juice to drinking water is a plus. At other times warm or room temperature water may be a better choice. Let your body decide for your, often it is the best health authority, and if you, even at these other times, decide to go with chilled water or drink, then sipping it and allowing it to warm slightly in your mouth, may be better than gulping it. Again the most important thing is to stay properly hydrated.

Tap water is actually mildly acidic in most areas with a low pH and traces of pesticides, heavy metals, fluoride, and other toxins. Hence take the time to look not only at good water filters / purifiers but also at ionizers – nothing beats clean ionized, mildly alkaline water.

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