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I was looking for the explanations that were around in the 70's. It seemed
commonly said in those days that cold drinks were unnatural (and even then
they were more common in the U.S. than in many other places and so they were
looking for what was our health problem, and that was one of the accused
factors). It would keep other foods from digesting right if you drank a really
cold drink (and some people said if you drank ANY drink it kept the food from
digesting well, and that probably makes some sense, if the stomach contents
are too diluted).

But as to why cold would keep you awake while warm foods wouldn't, I found
this, on an australian dietary rant site probably not worth linking up
otherwise.


*****************
Too many icy cold drinks, beer, ice-cream, smoothies, cold salads etc, all
impair the digestion.
What we have to remember is, that the digestion relies on a chemical process
of a reaction-taking place to digest our food.
Our body runs on 37degrees Celsius and therefore for any process in our body
to take place it requires this temperature to run at optimum efficiency.
Therefore put a cold piece of fruit straight out of the refrigerator at 5
degrees Celsius into the stomach. This cold piece of food then lowers the temp
in the stomach. The stomach then has to try and bring this cold substance up
to 37 degrees for digestion to take place. This requires more acid, which in
turn requires more mucus to be made to protect the stomach lining. It also
requires alot more energy.
More acid, more mucus and we get fluid build up and bloating taking place
and a lot of energy being taken for this one piece of fruit. Do this over a
lifetime and you are literally using up most of your energy just to digest your
food. Also the digestion is impaired from all the extra work it has to do.
****************

So your body has to wake up and work hard (your heart will beat faster,
which isn't good for sleeping) if you're trying to warm up your insides. In the
middle of a hot day, it can be GREAT (feeling anyway, maybe not for
digestion) to get that rush of alertness.

Maybe if we all drank room -temperature beer and soda as a lot of Europe
does, we'd be not so unhealthy.

Maybe not.

But for sleeping, drinking something your own body temperature or higher
(not hot coffee <g>) would maybe lower your heartbeat. Other things will
lower heartbeat too, though--meditation/prayer/yoga, peaceful music, reading,
rocking a baby to sleep...

Sandra


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Cally Brown

> Maybe if we all drank room -temperature beer and soda as a lot of Europe
> does, we'd be not so unhealthy.

Blerk!!!! I don't think so! Sounds like a good reason to stick to
straight scotch, no rocks!

Cally