Well, the weather’s getting cooler (much cooler!), which put me in mind of hot cocoa. That made me think about something: if you’re thirsty, hot tea or chocolate just don’t seem to cut it. Perhaps they do as much for your body’s need for liquids as cold drinks, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way.
Why is that? Is there a difference between hot and cold liquids when it comes to thirst-quenching and hydration? I can’t think of a reason why there’d be such a difference (at least in the latter) between cold water and that same water heated, but I wouldn’t know either way…
Technically, there’s no difference - I’ve lived off boiling-hot canteens for days. It’s a matter of perception. Liquids help keep your body cool, so when you dry out you feel hotter. If you drink cold liquids your body cools off immidiately from the contact, and then cools of further when the liquid is absorbed. If you drink hot liquids the immidiate sensation is of heating up, not cooling down; you have to wait a bit for the change in temperatures to start.
Plus, hot liquids - like hot chocolate or coffee - are usually thicker and highly concentrated, and as such aren’t absorbed into you system as efficiently. That’s why hot tea is more thirst-quenching than hot coffee.