During hot weather, many of us were advised to drink hot tea so that the body could more easily tolerate too high temperatures. We decided to check whether this advice is correct and whether it has scientific basis.

The benefits of hot drinks in hot weather are written in blogs And Media. Hot green tea counts a traditional drink for hot summers in Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. Supporters of hot tea usually argue its position is that it increases body temperature and heat is tolerated more easily by the body.

The average person Maybe stay at air temperatures above 50 °C for a long time and even withstand for half an hour at 100 °C. However, at high temperatures, you also need to take into account how windy the weather is and high humidity, as well as the age and weight of the person himself, and even what kind of clothing he is wearing. For example, if the air is completely dry and almost motionless, then even at 100 ° C Can in half an hour you won't get any damage. The maximum temperature for permanent human habitation has not been determined, but inhabitants of the Sahara, Arabia and Central Australia live at temperatures above 50 ° C during the day. The absolute temperature record was fixed July 10, 1913 in Death Valley (USA) and amounted to 56.7 °C.

Human body has several mechanisms for thermoregulation: sweating, changes in breathing rate and heart rate. Our body capable produce up to 2 liters of sweat per hour, which, evaporating from the skin, maintains the body temperature within acceptable limits.

Hot drinks really They briefly increase our body temperature even more, which accelerates sweating and creates a rapid cooling effect. However, it is extremely importantso that the lost amount of fluid is compensated, otherwise dehydration will occur. It is because of fears of dehydration that some doctors recommend completely avoiding hot drinks during hot weather. At the same time they advise Avoid tea and coffee also because of the alkaloid they contain - caffeine, which has a diuretic effect. However, the water contained in coffee and tea is largely compensates this effect.

Researchers from the School of Body Kinetics at the University of Ottawa set An experiment in which participants underwent physical exercise that simulated hot weather, and then drank water at different temperatures: 1.5 °C, 10 °C, 37 °C and 50 °C. Those volunteers who drank hot water actually sweated more actively. However, the effectiveness of such cooling depended on their clothing - it is not the sweat itself that has the cooling effect, but the ability to evaporate it. Head of the study Professor Ollie Jay formulated it goes like this: “On a very hot day with high humidity, if you are wearing a lot of clothes, or if you are already sweating so much that the sweat drips onto the ground rather than evaporating from the surface of your skin, drinking hot water is a bad idea. Since a hot drink will add even more heat to the body, and the body is not able to evaporate the resulting sweat even faster, it is better to drink something cold.”

Thus, when choosing a drink in the heat, hot tea or coffee should be preferred only in low air humidity, windy weather and provided that your clothes allow sweat to evaporate effectively. If you are already sweating so much that the sweat is falling in drops, then you should choose a cold drink.