2023-08-24 06:00:16
All over the world, summer is synonymous with heat, water activities, cold drinks and, of course, ice cream. While most of us agree that ice cream and cold drinks are refreshing summer treats, do they actually help cool us down?
To find out, you need to know a little more about how the body controls its temperature (temperature is a physical quantity measured using a thermometer and …) in different conditions. Its maintenance at an optimal temperature is done by a process called thermoregulationwhich involves a delicate balance between heat generation and heat loss.
One of the characteristics of our species is to be “endotherm”, which is a scientific way of saying that we can control our body temperature independently of our environment (The environment is everything around us. It is the whole natural elements and…) (we sometimes speak of a “warm-blooded” species). We can do this because our bodies are constantly producing heat as a byproduct of internal chemical and biological processes (our metabolism).
How does it all work?
Necessary for the proper functioning of our body, metabolism (Metabolism is the set of molecular and energy transformations…) includes the digestive processes involved in decomposition (In biology, decomposition is the process by which organized bodies, qu ‘they…) of the nutrients in our food, absorption (In optics, absorption refers to the process by which the energy of a photon is taken up by…) and transport (Transport is carrying something, or someone, from place to place, most…) of these nutrients to the cells, and their conversion into “building blocks” or energy (which is necessary for physical activity (The term activity can refer to a profession.) physical).
All chemical reactions that contribute to metabolism can generate heat. The latter is beneficial when it is cold, but when the outside temperatures increase, we must avoid overheating…
While it may seem logical that the introduction of a cold food into the stomach, such as ice cream, helps to reduce the temperature, its initial cooling effect is in fact quickly replaced by the heat generated by the digestive processes necessary for the decomposition of its nutrients. The digestion of high-calorie foods then leads to an increase in body temperature. Ice cream is therefore not the best option for cooling off!
What about cold drinks? The transfer of heat between a cold drink and the digestive system (The digestive system is the set of organs which in animals has the role of ensuring…) can effectively directly influence the temperature… However, this is only momentary, and the effect depends on the quantity (Quantity is a generic term of metrology (count, amount); a scalar,…) and the caloric content of the liquid ingested.
A small amount of liquid will quite quickly lose its cooling effect, being warmed up by the surrounding organs. And large amounts of cold liquids will cause blood circulation to slow (Blood circulation is a type of closed-circuit circulatory system that ensures…), making heat transport less efficient.
Also, as you probably already guessed, high calorie drinks such as sodas will have an effect similar to that of ice cream and will stimulate our metabolism soon after ingesting them.
Still, it feels like refreshing
The cooling effect of cold liquids is more likely to be explained by the rehydration that they allow only by their freshness. If heat accumulates in our body, it will try to evacuate the excess by transporting it away from the vital organs, towards the surface of the skin. This additional heat will then be transferred directly to our environment, by convection (Convection is a mode of energy transfer which involves a displacement of…) and radiation (Radiation, synonymous with radiation in physics, designates the process of issue or of…).
For this to happen, the ambient temperature must be lower than our own temperature, otherwise the opposite happens: the heat from our environment is transferred to our organism. This is what happens with the heat radiated by the sun on a hot summer day.
In such conditions, sweating is our most effective way to lose heat. It is produced when our brain detects an increase in the internal temperature of our organism. It then stimulates the sweat glands (which produce sweat), which are distributed all over our skin.
Freshly sweated water evaporates as soon as it hits the surface of our skin, causing local cooling (also called evaporative cooling). Blood circulating near the surface of the skin cools in the process, which helps reduce core temperature.
On average, an adult can lose up to half a liter or a liter of sweat per day, but in hot environments this amount can reach almost a liter and a half per hour. This is why in such conditions (and in hot weather) it is essential to keep the body hydrated.
What to drink then?
Are there any drinks that can actually refresh us? What about alcoholic beverages? On a hot summer’s day, many people are ready to indulge in a cold beer… But that’s a bad idea, because alcohol is a diuretic (A diuretic is a substance that causes increase in secretion…): by promoting the mechanisms of evacuation of our water via the urine, it will therefore reduce the ability to lose heat through perspiration…
Surprisingly, consuming hot drinks could be a good way to cool down. It may seem counter-intuitive, ingesting a hot beverage stimulates receptors located in our mouth and throat, which trigger a sweating response. This allows our body to cool down without the need to consume a large amount of hot liquid.
The ingredients present in spicy foods have the same effect; they also trigger a sweating response that allows the body to cool down. This is the reason why these types of preparations are so popular in hot climates.
In conclusion, as satisfying (and refreshing) as frozen treats can be, they are not the best way to bring down your temperature: better to spice things up, sweat a little and, above all, remember to hydrate well!
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#drink #eat #heat #wave