Urban myth or scientific fact: does drinking hot drinks on a scorching summer's day really cool you down? Well, scientists do say sweating is the best way to stay cool.



If you’re among the many millions who prefer a chilled glass of juice to a hot cup of tea on a scorching summer’s day, take heed: scientists say a hot drink will cool you down more than an ice-cold beverage.

So how does it work?

According to Professor Peter McNaughton, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge, consuming hot beverages, such as tea or hot water, will raise your core body temperature. And this makes you to sweat at an increased rate.

Nerves in our mouths and in our upper digestive tract respond to the heat of the beverage, stimulating the brain to produce more sweat. And as it evaporates, the sweat effectively cools you down.

Water evaporates very quickly from the skin. And when water evaporates, McNaughton explains, “that cools you down.”

Sweat is vital for cooling the body down, says Professor McNaughton

But there’s a catch.

“Sweating will start, or increase, if the person is already hot,” says Dr Christopher Gordon, an expert in human thermoregulation at the University of Sydney. “Whilst people often feel hot during the consumption of the hot drink they will feel cooler once they are sweating.”

Sweat glands are distributed across the skins surface. The distribution of sweat glands, Gordon explains, “is greater in areas such as the head and hands and lower leg region. As people sweat they often feel cooler as they notice the change in skin temperature in the face.”

Sweating is vital for our bodies to function, “because if you didn’t sweat in a hot environment, then your central temperature would rise and it only takes a rise of a couple of degrees for that to cause brain damage and death,” says McNaughton.

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