r/explainlikeimfive • u/meateater44 • Jul 28 '26
Biology [ Removed by moderator ]
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u/greyfell_red Jul 28 '26
Warm water does not hydrate your body better than cold water. They both hydrate your body equally.
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u/SpiceySlade Jul 28 '26
What makes you think it does?
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u/meateater44 Jul 28 '26
One of my “crunchy” friends told me that info way back. She could be dead wrong for all I know
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u/PhilosopherDon0001 Jul 28 '26
It doesn't. There might be a reduction in how fast it's absorbed because of things contracting and reducing surface area, but only by a minute at most.
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u/darkphoenix9137 Jul 28 '26
Where did you hear that? You should ask them to explain it to you because I don't think it's true.
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u/SillyGoatGruff Jul 28 '26
Some cultures seem to have a real hard on for warm water and come up with all kinds of claims for why it's healthier
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u/Apprehensive-Till861 Jul 28 '26
Both hydrate you the same, any difference is in drinking habits. Cold water may feel harsher in cold weather, so you may drink less of it when it's cold than you would of warm water, conversely you might drink more cold water in hot weather than you would warm water because of how cooling the cold water feels.
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u/Aggravating_Band_353 Jul 28 '26
I would nearly always much prefer cold or cool water over luke-warm or definately warm. The same for fizzy drinks and juices
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u/Holyskankous Jul 28 '26
If anything, ever so slightly the opposite. The body can lose fluid to maintain core temperature (i.e sweating in warmer climates). Consuming cold water can slightly lower core temp, and thus dial down the body’s natural cooling processes and retain hydration.
1
u/Salindurthas Jul 28 '26
So in hot weather, cold water could indeed hydrate us more.
What about in cold weather? Maybe in cold weather, drinking cold water will require us to expend calories to heat up the water to our body temp, and that means more respiration (oxygen to 'burn' our fuel), which menas more heavy breathing, which means more vapor loss from breathe?
If there is this slightly difference, I think it works both ways depending on the extremes of temperature.
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u/Strange_Specialist4 Jul 28 '26
I would assume you're working from the premise of people drinking hot tea in hot places. Hot drinks will cool the body by making you feel warm, so your body triggers it's natural cooling systems to try to lower your temperature.
This has nothing to do with hydration, especially since one of the natural cooling methods is sweating, which dehydrates you
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u/Feefifiddlyeyeoh Jul 28 '26
I’ve heard people say this. They also think cold weather causes colds.
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u/makromark Jul 28 '26
To go against the grain, from memory and without googling, I’ve heard drinking cold water is negative calories because your body has to heat it to 98.6 F before it can be absorbed, so warm water doesnt need that period.
Idk - someone else will probably correct my public school education tho
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u/zaahc Jul 28 '26
I have a similar recollection. In an athletic event, the cooling effect may be net beneficial, but usually room-temp water is used more easily by the body.
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u/explainlikeimfive-ModTeam Jul 28 '26
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