Medical experts insist that cold water is way better than hot water in the moment you’ve jumped off a treadmill and your body is oozing buckets of sweat. Drinking hot water in this scenario could overheat the body, which is not good. "Cold water is cooling, so it can be helpful during exercise or when you are overheated," Doctor Jill Blakeway, a board-certified doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and clinical herbalist, told Bustle. "Cold water is refreshing and cooling. It’s great on a hot day and a good choice after exercise."
A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition compared how cold and warm drinking water affected the body after workouts. Researchers concluded that drinking cold water while exercising could help keep your core body temperature lower for longer, which in turn would support you working out longer.
Proponents of TCM and Ayurvedic medicine experts endorse the idea that, when talking about digestion, drinking room-temperature water is the best thing to do. "In Chinese medicine, we advocate drinking warm water because of its effect on the digestive system," Dr. Blakeway explained. "Drinking cold water can congeal the fats in food, and because of that, it can make the digestive system sluggish." Cold water can also aggravate the formation of mucus and sinuses, in which case you may need to sip a cup of warmed water for relief.
According to Virginia Acupuncture, the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine emphasized that drinking icy cold beverages like cola or soda can dampen the fire in your stomach. Once the fire dims down in this stove, once the mother becomes lazy, the children your lungs start suffering from problems like asthma, infections, colds, and allergies. When someone eats coldness-inducing foods like greasy burgers or sugary beverages, their stomach, a.k.a. stomach, becomes icy cold, which leads to discomfort. To avoid this, doctors suggest drinking water at room temperature.
