Can a bottle of ice water after exercise actually cause sudden death?

Audit expert: Wu Xinsheng

Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology

Not long ago, a boy felt unwell after drinking a bottle of ice drink after playing basketball. He was immediately sent to the hospital for treatment and was diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction . This makes us wonder: Why can drinking ice water lead to death?

Source: News Photo

How does drinking ice water after exercise harm your body?

To understand this problem, we must first know the harm of drinking ice water after exercise. During exercise, due to intense muscle movement, the body will generate a lot of heat. In order to keep our body temperature constant, the body will sweat a lot to dissipate heat.

There are also many changes in our bodies. During exercise, the heart rate increases and the body's metabolic rate also greatly increases. These are all to transport more oxygen and nutrients to various parts of the body.

Source: unsplash

This series of activities is very intense during exercise. If we drink a lot of ice water at this time, the body will be greatly harmed. The heart needs to contract more strongly to provide the body with sufficient nutrients, which undoubtedly puts more burden on the heart. In this case, it may cause vascular spasm and then cause myocardial infarction.

In addition to causing such a serious impact as sudden death, drinking ice water after exercise can also cause other harm to our body. A large amount of ice water will flow into the blood vessels after entering the human body, and the blood will be diluted, causing the water content in the body to far exceed the normal value, which is easy to cause hyponatremia (what we often call "water intoxication"). In addition, we must also consider our own gastrointestinal factors. During exercise, the peristalsis speed of the stomach and intestines is also faster than normal. If you drink ice water again, it is easy to develop gastrointestinal diseases, such as acute gastritis, irritable enteritis, etc.

Why does drinking ice water feel so refreshing?

In the hot summer, it is quite pleasant to drink a few sips of ice water. When the ice water enters the mouth, the cold receptors in the mouth feel cool and transmit this cool feeling to the brain, thus producing a feeling of happiness. At the same time, studies have shown that compared with water at room temperature, ice water can make the brain shut down the neurons that sense thirst faster , which makes us think that ice water is more thirst-quenching.

Source: pixabay

In addition, there is a hypothesis that because humans originated in Africa, the hot environment makes people instinctively desire ice water, so we are happier when drinking ice water. At the same time, the experience gained during the long evolution process also tells them that compared with ice water, warm water in the wild has more bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms, and it is easier to get sick after drinking it. Over time, humans have become more inclined to drink ice water.

The ancient Chinese also understood the joy of ice. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty , people began to build icehouses to store ice in winter and take it out for consumption in summer. Ordinary people would also put food into well water to cool it down. "Chu Ci" records: "Crushed dregs and frozen drinks, choux is cooler." The Song Dynasty work "Dongjing Menghualu" also records various popular ice drinks in the Song Dynasty, such as licorice ice and snow cold water, lychee paste water, and agarwood water.

Source: Sohu

It was not until the Republic of China period that microbiology was introduced to China. At that time, the plague was spreading, and people gradually realized that boiled water could prevent disease. Therefore, everyone advocated drinking boiled water. In less than a hundred years, the Chinese people's habit of drinking hot water was retained.

The correct way to drink water after exercise

During exercise, we can drink water every 20 to 30 minutes, and the amount each time should be controlled at about 120 to 240 ml . If the amount of exercise is not large, it is enough to directly replenish pure water; if the amount of exercise is large, the body loses more than 2% of body weight, and severe dehydration will occur. At this time, we need to replenish water or drinks containing electrolytes or salts.

Source: News Photo

In addition, you can generally drink ice water after exercise, but be careful to drink it in moderation and slowly . You can hold the ice water in your mouth for a while and swallow it after the water is no longer so cold.

As for the news mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is a more extreme case. It may be that you drank a lot of ice water in a short period of time, or you have underlying diseases. You can't blame all the problems on drinking ice water. Consider your own physical condition and replenish water in the right way , and there will be no problem.