Can Drinking Hot Water Give Your Health and Digestion a Boost?

Social media is full of hacks for increasing hydration, whether it’s carrying around a giant water jug all day or adding chopped fruit or other flavorings. Lately, influencers have been sipping hot water, claiming it offers numerous health benefits, including better digestion.

TikTok user @roro_youraznbigsis says hot water is part of her bedtime routine to help her sleep. Pain medicine physician @doctorsood says drinking warm water can boost metabolism and blood flow.

So, should you start drinking hot water, too? Here’s what experts want you to know.

Drinking warm rather than cold water is recommended for a number of health reasons, especially improved digestion, in both traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and ayurveda, says Zachary Mulvihill, MD, an integrative medicine specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

In Eastern medicine, he says, digestion is viewed as a “fire within you,” and everything, even water, must be digested.

In this view, warm water is considered easier to digest, Dr. Mulvihill explains. Cold water is seen as heavy or harder to digest, especially if it’s been in the fridge or contains ice cubes.

TCM also considers hot water supportive for:

• Sore throat
• Weight loss
• Swelling
• Dehydration

“I think that switching to warm water would be especially helpful for patients with bloating since that’s usually a sign that your body had trouble digesting your last meal,” Mulvihill says.

Drinking hot water may also help with swallowing issues and some stomach pain, but studies have not yielded robust evidence suggesting it can truly improve digestion, Dr. Sharma says. “This doesn’t mean that hot water doesn’t help. There are just not many good, large studies done with hot water to give us a definitive answer.”

Drinking water is vital for health. It helps the body produce tears, saliva, sweat, and other fluids. It also removes waste, maintains a healthy fluid balance, manages body temperature, and enables numerous other bodily functions.

Weight Loss

Sore Throat

“If you have a sore throat, I recommend drinking warm water or tea; you might find if you pay close attention that drinking cold water makes your sore throat pain worse,” Mulvihill says.

Hydration

“We do need adequate hydration for all organ systems to run efficiently, and to effectively remove toxins from our body in the form of urine and sweat,” says Rebecca Blake, RD, a registered dietitian-nutritionist and founder of Rebecca Blake Nutrition. “Western medicine does not draw any association between cold or ice water intake and adverse health consequences.”

It’s difficult to say whether warm or hot water is better than cold water for hydration, Sharma says — but based on his clinical experience, he recommends his patients try warm water or tea if they still feel thirsty after chugging cold water throughout the day.

If you’re dehydrated from GI illness, Sharma suggests electrolyte powders.

“The optimal time to drink warm water is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach after you brush your teeth,” Mulvihill says, from his own clinical experience.

This approach helps your kidney and bowels flush out metabolic toxins lingering in your body, he says. “I find that drinking a large glass of warm water helps stimulate bowel movement. If you have constipation, this is especially important.”

If your urine is dark or cloudy in the morning (or any other time), it could be a sign of dehydration, and Mulvihill suggests drinking warm water until your urine becomes clearer.

Blake advises not consuming fluids an hour or two before bed. Sharma says drinking water before bed can overwhelm the kidneys’ filtering capacity, so you may wake up to pee during the night, which will disrupt your sleep.

The water should actually be warm, not hot. Mulvihill suggests sipping water that’s about 100 to 130 degrees F. Anything hotter could scald your mouth or throat.

If you don’t have a thermometer, he recommends heating up water in an electric or stovetop kettle, and once it boils, turn off the heat and let the water cool to a comfortable drinking temperature. You can add room temperature water to cool it down quickly.

“Always take a tiny sip first or test the water with your fingertip to make sure you don’t burn yourself,” Mulvihill says.

If straight warm water doesn’t sound appealing, Blake suggests adding lemon or brewing an herbal or decaffeinated tea instead.

“There are certainly no dangers to increasing one’s water intake,” she says. “As for how hot is too hot? Respect what feels comfortable to drink without burning lips, tongue, or mouth.”

• Social media users are touting the benefits of drinking hot water, including improved digestion and boosting metabolism.
• In traditional Chinese medicine, hot water is considered a digestive aide, and some Western conventional medicine research supports this claim.
• While water is good for you in many ways, research studies have not found conclusive evidence that drinking hot water offers major benefits over cold water.