Welcome to Hot Takes! Or maybe cold takes. I’m Joanna, and I love hot water. While cold water does serve its purpose, hot water arguably is more versatile. For some reason, Nikhil doesn’t seem to think so, so I’m going to try to persuade him and you that hot water is better.
I think we can all agree that lukewarm water is the worst. It’s disgusting, as it’s just a little bit warm but not hot enough. Not refreshing in the slightest sense. But hot water is a different thing.
I’m not talking about scalding hot water either. I’m talking about “freshly-made-miso-soup straight-out-of-the-kitchen” temperature. That’s the taste of hot water. That’s the taste of comfort.
There’s a reason why all the best comfort drinks are hot and warm. Hot chocolate, hot coffee, hot tea made by the loving hands of grandmas in kitchens are all great examples. They make you feel cozy, not like how your insides feel when blasted by Elsa’s ungloved ice. Hot water, which is much healthier than these hot drinks, provides this sentiment while helping people be aware of their health.
Hot water is also such a blessing in the winter. Let’s take me during marching band practice during the winter, for example. It’s cold, it’s freezing, and we’re marching around outside.
The drum majors cry, “Gush and go!”
What would you want to be thinking about when you hear those words? Your Thermos with that hot, soothing water? Or your thermos filled with cold water that’s the same temperature as the air around you? Definitely the hot water.
Some people say that ice water is useful during the summer when the heat wave rages all around you. But think about it again. Once you drink it, it numbs your mouth entirely–a sharp sensation down your throat into your esophagus.
That’s why people use water boilers and not water icers. Think about your fridge making those weird noises at night just so chunks of frozen water would be ready to use the next day. SO LOUD! So inefficient. Meanwhile, kettles are practically all electronic nowadays so your sleep is quite undisturbed and the water is ready to be poured at this optimal temperature the next day. Even if it’s not electronic, kettles have the ability to produce that loud hoot, alerting you that your water has promptly finished boiling. Refrigerators are sentenced to making ice continuously forever, eating up your electric bill.
Beyond sensation, hot water is more useful when you think about its health benefits.
“Drinking warm or hot water may have additional benefits, such as aiding digestion, improving circulation, and reducing stress,” writer Peter Morales-Brown of Medical News Today writes. He adds that it is helpful to drink when one is sick because of additional benefits such as clearing mucus.
Sometimes drinking cold water may even harm you, much less help you. It has been noted by Medical News Today too that cold water has the ability to cause headaches. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to reduce any pain instead of instilling it.
Furthermore, you have to boil water to get rid of bacteria in tap water anyway. That’s, what, ten birds with one stone? Hot water clearly trumps over cold water.
All right, that’s enough out of Joanna’s whole hot water spiel. It’s time for me, Nikhil, to take the stage with cold water!
For me, the cold water argument boils down to three main things: relief, intensity, and life on earth (yes, you read that right).
First, let’s start with relief. Joanna may have mentioned a few instances of warm water being enjoyable for a few beverages, but let’s be real here—there are plenty more that benefit from being cold. Lemonade, sodas, alcoholic beverages, sports drinks, smoothies, lattes, literally anything beyond the select few Joanna mentioned benefits from being colder, and it’s for a good reason, too. It is far more refreshing to drink something cold than warm. While the latter may make your “insides” warm, cold water truly replenishes your body, making you feel hydrated. Even on a molecular level, the H2O molecules of cold water are packed more tightly together, so at the same time you’re getting more water than in a warmer drink at the same volume!
Besides getting more pack for your punch in terms of relief, there are also various benefits to lifestyle that come from cold water involving intensity. There’s a reason you splash your face with cold water in the morning and not warm water—it’s because cold water is sharp and awakening, helping you get ready for the day. Warm water just makes you feel more drowsy. Think ice baths, cold drinks, cold showers, etc. These all help make us more focused and healthy. The seldom comfort that warm water provides comes at the cost of your productivity; cold water can provide both at once.
What really finishes the coffin for warm water is cold water’s necessity for life on earth. At lower temperatures, water begins to come closer and closer together until after four degrees celsius. At that point, the water molecules start to move so slowly that they can’t break apart from their hydrogen bonds anymore, causing them to form the crystal structure of ice. Because of this, ice has a density that is lower than water, which is crucial to the survival of our ocean ecosystems. If ice had a higher density, Earth’s bodies of water would completely freeze as opposed to just the top, preventing any marine life from surviving. Luckily, thanks to cold water only being at its densest at four degrees celsius, these precious ecosystems can not only survive, but even thrive when ice forms. Essentially, thanks to cold water, we can all enjoy eating sushi during the holiday seasons!
Hopefully, this has convinced you why cold water is better than hot water.
