Come summers and it’s no surprise that the first thing we reach for is a glass of cold water. In my case, it could even be cold coffee, iced tea or a chilled glass of lemonade. But as delicious and refreshing as these drinks might taste, they don’t provide half of the benefits that we really need. In fact, we’re not even aware of all the amazing benefits that we can gain by either switching these beverages with a certain drink or by making a relatively small change in our habits. So, this year, all you need to do is switch to hot water, my friend! Surprised much?
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I’m sure by now, we’ve all been advised to drink at least 8 glasses of water every day for the smooth functioning of our body. But did you know that a choice to reach for hot water instead of cold one could make a pretty huge difference to your health and beauty? Well, it does! And this is why a lot of nutritionists, dieticians and Ayurveda experts believe that the ones who drink hot water more are less likely to face problems related to their health, skin and hair than those who choose to drink cold or room-temperature water throughout the year.
Benefits Of Hot Water For Health
Believe it or not, hot water is like our little saviour in disguise! So, are you ready to unveil the secret benefits? Read on to find about hot water benefits for health and brace yourself for some awesome results.
- Helps In Better Digestion
- Detoxifies Your Body
- Improves Your Bowel Movement
- Boosts Your Blood Circulation
- Relieves Nasal & Throat Congestion
- Reduces Menstrual Cramps
1. Helps In Better Digestion
When you drink cold water during or after a meal, it not only constricts your blood vessels but also hardens the oil present in your food, thereby causing indigestion. It even creates a fat deposit on the inner wall of your intestines which can result in intestinal cancer. On the other hand, if you drink hot water, it will break down your food faster, making it easier for you to digest it whilst keeping your gut and stomach super healthy.
2. Detoxifies Your Body
When you drink hot water, your body temperature automatically begins to rise which results in sweat. As uncomfortable as we may feel, this process is super beneficial for flushing out all the foreign elements or toxins from our body and cleansing our blood flow as well.
3. Improves Your Bowel Movement
You must have heard that a lot of people tend to drink hot water as soon as they wake up in the morning. Well, there’s a good enough reason to do this. When any undigested matter or stool gets accumulated inside our intestines, our movement of bowel becomes slower and leads to constipation. Therefore, when we drink hot water on an empty stomach, it helps these food particles to pass through our intestines much more smoothly and less painfully.
4. Boosts Your Blood Circulation
When you drink hot water regularly, you eliminate all the fat deposits in your body’s nervous system which purifies your blood and stimulates easy blood circulation. This further helps in carrying oxygen and important nutrients to all the organs of your body more easily.The benefits of drinking hot water is that it also soothes your nervous system and helps you remain calm and relaxed the whole day.
5. Relieves Nasal & Throat Congestion
There’s a reason why hot water steam is considered as one of the most effective home remedies for a cold. So, when you drink hot water, it pretty much works in the same way. As you inhale the warm vapours, it helps loosen up your clogged mucus, dissolves all the phlegm and removes it from your respiratory tract. It further soothes and clears up your sore throat, caused by a mucus buildup and relieves your headache or chest pain as well.
6. Reduces Menstrual Cramps
Just the way a hot water bag on your abdomen relieves your menstrual cramps, drinking hot water at regular intervals can also help you deal with those painful cramps more quickly and effectively. The high temperature or heat of the water relaxes the abdominal muscles and eases the pain by improving blood circulation.
Benefits Of Drinking Hot Water For Skin
We may not prefer to wash our face with hot water and that’s okay. But did you know that by simply choosing to drink hot water, we could improve the quality of our skin much effortlessly and make it 10 times more beautiful than it already is? Let’s find out how it works.
- Prevents Premature Ageing
- Cures Acne
- Makes Your Skin Softer
- Prevents Skin Allergies
7. Prevents Premature Ageing
There’s another reason why your body should be free of toxins – they accelerate the signs of ageing. Drinking hot water lets you flush out toxins from your body in the form of sweat or faeces and also helps to repair damaged skin cells, increases your skin’s elasticity and leaves you with smooth, supple skin.
8. Cures Acne
When you drink hot water, it helps open up your skin’s pores and prevents the excess sebum (oil) from forming on your skin. And when your body is free of toxins, it automatically cleanses and eliminates the root cause of all the acne-causing infections in your skin.
9. Makes Your Skin Softer
Did you ever notice how your skin glows when you sweat? That’s because the heat of the water temperature detoxifies your skin from within. Drinking hot water also improves your skin’s blood circulation and keeps it well hydrated, thereby giving you a much smoother, softer and naturally glowing skin. Hence, the more you drink water, the more your skin shines!
10. Prevents Skin Allergies / Infections
Studies have proven that those who drink warm water with a spoonful of honey on a regular basis are immune to almost all skin allergies or infections. While the honey has anti-bacterial properties which keep your skin free of acne-causing germs, hot water, on the other hand, revitalises immunity and increases your body’s resistance to skin allergies.
Benefits Of Warm Water For Our Hair?
Drinking hot water on a regular basis replenishes our hair more effectively than any shampoo, or conditioner. Want to know how’s that possible? Read on.
- Makes Your Hair Soft And Silky
- Promotes Hair Growth
- Prevents Dandruff
11. Makes Your Hair Soft And Silky
Hot water is known to energise and nourish the nerve endings in your hair roots and makes them active. Hence, by drinking hot water regularly, you can bring back the natural vitality of your hair and make it super soft, shiny and silky. In other words, it makes your hair more manageable and prevents it from getting dry or frizzy.
12. Promotes Hair Growth
Each hair follicle is said to have some amount of water and when it becomes dehydrated, your hair stops growing. So, by drinking hot water, you can activate the roots of your hair by increasing the cells in your scalp and eventually, accelerate the growth of your hair.
13. Prevents Dandruff
Hot water is known to hydrate and moisturise your scalp deeply from within which thus, prevents it from getting dry and flaky due to dehydration. It further fights against the occurrence of dandruff and helps in getting rid of it much quicker than any anti-dandruff product.
Frequently Answered Questions (FAQs):
1. Can we drink hot water during summers?
This may sound contrasting but drinking hot water in summers can actually help in cooling down your body and make you feel less hot than so many other cold drinks. A neuroscientist named Peter McNaughton believed that when you drink hot water, your body’s temperature rises and leads to sweat which eventually, makes your body cool down.
2. Does drinking hot water help you manage weight?
If you’re looking to shed a few extra pounds, drinking hot water can definitely kickstart your metabolism and allow your body to burn more calories. It further suppresses your hunger and makes you eat comparatively less, thereby reducing the chances of overeating. Hot water also helps you feel less bloated. It increases your body temperature quickly and sheds all the extra fat from your body in the form of sweat.
3. What are the side effects of drinking (too) hot water?
Although drinking hot water has proven to be one of the healthiest habits for our body, sometimes, consuming too hot water could also lead to side effects. One does have the liberty to choose the kind of temperature they wish to drink but attempting or choosing to drink *boiling* hot water is a definite no-no. Such mere attempts can lead to severe consequences like blisters, ulcers or scalds in your tongue or mouth, headaches, dizziness, bloating, nausea, etc.
4. Is it safe to drink hot water during pregnancy?
Yes, it’s perfectly safe for pregnant women to consume hot water. Apart from keeping their bodies well-hydrated, the hot water also prevents the occurrence of constipation, nausea and dizziness which happen to be some of the most common problems during pregnancy. It also makes their hair more healthy and skin more radiant, supple and moisturized than before.
5. What is the recommended amount of hot water that we should drink daily?
While drinking 2 glasses of hot water in the morning is said to cure several health issues like headaches, indigestion, hypertension, high blood sugar, etc, at least 6 – 8 glasses of hot water should be sufficient enough to keep the body, skin and hair healthy and hydrated in a day.
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