Food - Drink
Why You Should Consider Drinking Hot Coffee To Beat The Heat
By MICHELLE WELSCH
In order to beat the summer heat, iced drinks are the norm, but studies have shown that steaming mugs of coffee or tea may also help you cool off. Neuroscientist Peter McNaughton claims that, "The hot drink somehow has an effect on your systemic cooling mechanisms, which exceeds its actual effect in terms of heating your body."
According to Professor Ollie Jay of The University of Sydney, the increased sweating caused by hot beverages may provide an overall cooling effect. In one of Jay's studies, they gave exercisers non-alcoholic drinks made of crushed ice, and the results showed that colder drinks made them hotter than ones served at normal temperatures.
For the cooling experience to work, your sweat needs to evaporate. "Yes, the hot drink is hotter than your body temperature, so you are adding heat to the body, but the amount that you increase your sweating by — if that can all evaporate — more than compensates for the added heat to the body from the fluid," Jay further explained.
