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Why Ice Cold Water Can Be Dangerous During The Heatwave

Why Ice Cold Water Can Be Dangerous During The Heatwave

A man has issued a warning after he needed medical attention

Amelia Ward

Amelia Ward

Not sure if anyone's clocked it yet, but it's pretty warm out, isn't it. We're part way through a heatwave and according to the Met Office, tomorrow could be the hottest day ever on record in Britain.

When you get all hot and sweaty, you might be tempted to grab an ice cold bottle of water and neck it, but, as one guy from the US can vouch for, it can definitely do you more harm than good.

After he posted on his Facebook account last year, it's a good time to remember why it can be seriously dangerous to go mad on the cold water.

Adam Schaub, from Houston, Texas, was working outside with his dad in 37C heat - not far off temperatures we are expecting over the next few days. As you'd expect, his face started to go a bit pink, and so his dad told him to take a quick break. He grabbed a bottle of cold water and drank it.

Adam shared the photo of himself after his fall on social media as a warning to others.
Facebook/Adam Schaub

After going back to work for a while, he went and got in his truck to stick the air conditioning on and down another bottle of cold water - and almost immediately started feeling 'strange'.

Speaking to Mirror Online, he said: "Honestly at the time I just felt like I had maybe worked a bit to hard sawing up trees and that I was sweating profusely from it.

"I had drank water earlier but apparently not enough to keep from getting myself sick. It was odd because after chugging both bottles of water my head went a bit foggy and I felt confused.

"I was sitting in my dad's truck when it got real bad though. My hands and feet were tingling heavily as it they had just fallen asleep and my stomach was turning.

"I felt like throwing up so I opened the door to not do it in my dad's truck.

"I attempted to stand down and apparently caught the ground with my face and no hands."

Adam's dad called an ambulance, and the paramedic immediately knew what had gone on.

Pexels

Explaining what happened to him to The Sun, Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical director of Patient.info, said: "If you drink something very cold, very quickly, the cold on the roof of your mouth stimulates the nerves around there.

"That in turn leads to rapid contraction, then expanding of the tiny blood vessels in your sinuses.

"The brain interrupts the messages from these nerves as coming from your forehead, because the same nerve supplies your forehead.

"You usually get a sudden pain, but it can make you feel lightheaded.

"All the symptoms he's describing sounds like the run-up to a fainting episode, which is often due to a lack of blood in the brain.

"Regardless of the cause, I do see people who feel unwell due to drinking cold fluids too quickly, so I certainly don't recommend it."

So there we have it LADs, make sure you drink water slowly and regularly through the day - room temperature is usually better to re-hydrate yourself safely.

Featured Image Credit: Credit: Pixabay

Topics: Weather, News, Health