Water is truly the elixir of life! Up to sixty percent of your body is water, which plays a role in everything from digestion and absorption of nutrients to excretion.1
But research shows that warm water can take these benefits up several notches.
Bids Mucus Accumulation Goodbye
A study was conducted on the effect of hot water, cold water, and chicken soup consumption. Warm beverages were seen to decrease the accumulation of mucus in your nose, throat, and gastrointestinal tract, lowering the chances of virus or bacteria growth in those places.
Sipping on hot water helped improve nasal mucus velocity by up to 8.4 mm per min compared to its earlier 6.2 mm per min, indicating the utility of drinking hot water in keeping mucus moving.2
Boosts Digestion
Warm water can have a mild vasodilatory effect, that is, it causes blood vessels to dilate and lowers blood pressure; this in turn improves digestion. Because the temperature of your stomach is generally high, drinking a warm beverage along with your food helps break the food down more easily.3
“Warm water can ease swallowing for some people.”
A study found that sipping hot water helped people with esophageal motility disorders. The condition causes you to regurgitate food and makes it difficult to swallow, and this can be resolved with not cold but hot water.4
Improves Metabolism
Drinking warm water can increase body temperature, which increases your metabolic rate. It also helps your kidneys and gastrointestinal tract do a better job. This is good news for anyone hoping to crank up their metabolism or lose weight.5
Is A Pleasure On Its Own
“Did you know that just holding a warm beverage in your hands can make you a friendlier person?”
Warm water doesn’t just feel good for a sore throat or on a wintry day. As it turns out, it can actually make you feel good anytime! When you drink hot water, receptors in your mouth, throat, intestines, and stomach stimulate the pleasure center in the brain.
Most of us naturally crave the comfort of a warm beverage in the morning. The theory is that our brain processes warmth in the same area that processes our judgments about other people. So holding a warm drink can make you think that other people are “warmer.”6
Relieves Constipation
Homeopathy recommends drinking warm water for anyone who has a constipation problem. It also advocates adding honey or lemon to warm water to ease constipation. The British Homeopathic Association suggests having a glass of warm water as soon as you wake up before you have breakfast.7
Cleanses And Purifies Your Blood
Ayurveda, on the other hand, advises you to start your day with a drink of warm water that has been kept in a copper vessel overnight. This is supposed to help purify the blood and eliminate waste. Copper has a cooling effect on the liver and also has anti-aging properties.8
It also advocates sipping hot water throughout the day. Doing this helps the body stay hydrated and flushes out waste. It is believed that heating water speeds up all bodily processes.9
Fights Obesity And Cholesterol Problems
A glass of hot water mixed with a teaspoon of lime juice and a teaspoon of honey, taken in the morning, is considered useful to fight obesity and cholesterol.10
Traditional chinese medicine also advocates drinking warm water to improve digestion and keep the bowels healthy. It believes that warm water can also help break down fats in your food and keep you slim.
To consume it the traditional way, keep a flask of hot water at hand throughout the day, pouring it over tea leaves and drinking between meals whenever hunger strikes. Do not drink it right after a meal; keep a bit of a gap for best effects.11
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