(Just posted something to this effect on the Nomeansno discussion forum. Perhaps I should sue myself for plagiarism?)
I got to thinkin'... some time ago, I knew a Native American "spiritual teacher." (I don't want to call him a "medicine man" because I don't know if I'd be using the term correctly, frankly. He was a pipe-carrier and described himself as heyoka). He claimed that drinking cold water on a hot day actually affected the body temperature such that it had the ultimate effect of making you hotter. To help you feel cooler, he said, you should drink hot water on a hot day. (I'm pretty sure I've encountered this in popular culture somewhere, as well, though I forget).
Unwinding at home, I find this thread on the internet answering the question from a western medical point of view:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/sep99/937577807.Me.q.html
I am personally drinking cold water in today's heat, but for some time, I tried to take his advice. I begin to suspect he was wrong, as the reply to the above thread suggests.
I'd be curious if anyone else has encountered this notion.
3 comments:
I have indeed encountered this notion- from my childhood martial arts instructor. Being the impressionable twelve year old I was, I tried it every day over the course of that scalding summer and was as drenched in sweat as ever, if not more, considering I'd have to furrow my brow and blow on the water a good five minutes before it was cool enough to drink.
Good to know I'm not the only one who can be duped by th' "voice of authority."
I also heard this from my martial arts instructor. I do not know where he heard it but I thought about it for a while and am happy to have come across your page.
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