Ten Health Benefits of Drinking Hot Water

We can choose to get our hydration in a variety of ways. Still water is arguably the best option, but we’ve iterated on the original in a number of interesting ways. We’ve bottled and canned all kinds of carbonated waters, from sparkling to tonic. We’ve perfected coffee, then spun that drink off into its own wide family of iterations. But what about simply changing water’s temperature? Each spin we put on water also comes with its own advantages, but what occurs when drinking hot water—and do those benefits outweigh the risks?

Is It Better to Drink Hot Water?

Introducing water into the body carries with it a whole host of benefits, and drinking hot water is no different. It can still assist with staying hydrated, and the body will use this water the same as it uses any other water. However, the heat put into play by drinking warm water can assist the body in ways drinking cold water can’t. So, what are the benefits of drinking hot water?

Ten Hot Water Benefits

Introduces Tea and Coffee into Diets

The caffeine in coffee and some teas acts to dehydrate the body, especially in high doses, but moderate consumption of these two drinks has proven health benefits.

Drinking coffee has been linked to life longevity, along with reduced risk of some cancers, some liver disease, heart issues and Parkinson’s disease. Tea could reduce your risk of experiencing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and liver disease. Some studies also count tea as a way to reduce your risk of cancer.

Different teas are also thought to help with various afflictions and undesirable moods.

Helps With Circulation

Hot water can help reduce pain by helping muscles relax. It does this because it’s a vasodilator, meaning it helps expand blood vessels. This improves circulation, allowing blood to better flow throughout the body and deliver much-needed materials to your muscles and organs.

Encourages Bowel Movements

Starting your day with a cup of warm water is thought to encourage a healthy schedule for bowel movements. That’s because warmer water assists the digestion process more than cold or lukewarm water, reducing the risk of constipation. Bloating and discomfort can come from the irregularity caused by constipation, but it can also lead to painful bowel movements and hemorrhoids.

Promote Weight Loss

Drinking water at any temperature assists with digestion and a full feeling. According to one medically reviewed study, drinking hot water does even more to help you along the weight loss process.

Research found that drinking a cup of hot water with a temperature that matched the average body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit increased metabolism 10% more than the same water intake of cold or lukewarm water before a meal.

Help With Congestion and Cold

People often recommend hot drinks if you’re feeling under the weather, but plain hot water alone can be enough to help keep a lot of cold-like symptoms at bay.

Hot water can help mucous break up and move through the body faster, meaning it spends less time mucking up your nose. It can also help ease bouts of coughing.

The steam created by hot water can help unclog sinuses, relieving sinus pressure and pain.

Helps With Detoxification

Drinking hot water (or taking a hot shower) increases your internal body temperature, activating your involuntary reaction to sweat. Sweating is one of the ways the body expels toxins and irritants that interfere with its normal functions.

Soothing Menstrual Cramps

The heat introduced into the body through hot water can have a soothing effect on abdominal muscles, helping alleviate cramps. This is one area where hot water’s ability to assist with circulation can also lend a helping hand.

Promote Hair Health

Hot water energizes the parts of the nervous system that reach your hair roots, helping to keep hair healthy. It can also promote accelerated hair growth.

Keeps Skin Healthy

When hot water promotes the removal of body toxins, it’s also doing a lot to assist your continued skin health.

Toxins age skin faster than normal, and getting rid of them while introducing hot water into your system will help the body repair skin cells, increasing skin elasticity. Skin becomes smoother, too.

Those expelled toxins can also cause acne-related skin infections if they’re left to hang around in the body.

Improves Dental Health

Hot water may be the better choice for people with dental health issues. Cold water increases sensitivity, which may make fillings easier to lose. Hot water can also kill germs and help prevent toothaches.

Risks of Drinking Hot Water

Burning

This is the number one risk with consuming hot water, and it’s made even more dangerous because water that feels fine to your skin could still be harmful to your mouth.

Overhydration

Just like with water at any other temperature, overhydration can undo all the good water does for you by diluting the other essential elements your body needs to function.

Increased Risk of Throat Issues

Drinking water at an unsafe temperature could cause great damage to the throat—water over 149 degrees Fahrenheit has even been linked to esophageal cancer.

How to Safely Drink Hot Water

In order to avoid damaging cells in your mouth and throat, don’t drink hot water at or above 149 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, the safe temperature for those cells sits below 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Whether you’re choosing to drink water hot, cold or room temperature, water has a wide variety of benefits it bestows onto the human body if consumed in proper amounts—and if it has the right supporting cast to optimize its effectiveness. Electrolytes help the body get hydration where it needs to be quickly, and DripDrop's patented formula contains three times the electrolytes of a sports drink with only a third of the sugar.

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Subscribe to save 25% off regular price, or mix things up with a the spiced apple cider flavor. Add it to hot water and enjoy the above benefits with the added help of electrolytes. Just be mindful of the temperature!