Ah, Winters! Time for chilling with friends and family on rooftops and gardens, light a bonfire and probably take a swig of rum or whiskey to get the warmth going, right? Well, well. What if we told you, you couldn’t be more wrong if you thought alcohol can keep you warm on the inside?
In fact, if anything, it increases the chances of causing hypothermia.
Contrary to the common myth that people have of alcohol warming the body up, it actually lowers the body’s core temperature.
So even though you are actually thinking that it is making you warm, it is actually messing up your body’s healthy reflexes, including keeping the core body temperature warm during winters.
If you’re wondering how & why this happens, the fact is that alcohol acts as a vasodilator. This means it really dilates the blood vessels, especially the capillaries under the surface of the skin.
So the sudden volume of blood gushing up to the skin’s surface makes us feel warm. But in actuality, it slowly nullifies the body’s defenses against the cold weather.
This blood that comes close to the surface of your skin will then suddenly get cool and result in a rapid decrease in the core body temperature.
Don’t think that you can run outside for a second or two and be all okay. Hypothermia can be a very rapid process as well and lead to severe consequences.
Studies also show that alcohol takes away the ability to shiver, which may makes you think that you aren’t really cold. But shivering is actually a defense mechanism of the body against cold.
So, what we are trying to say is that alcohol & cold weather can be a bad combination. Even for those who slip on the ice and break their hips in the process.
Unless you want to end up looking like these guys:
