Eating spicy food on a hot day can cool you down. It’s science, not hearsay

Many of you may have known that eating spicy food benefits people living in cold weathers since the culture of eating steaming hot spicy food in Korean and China winters had been introduced to us.

Apart from these countries, have you ever wondered why people in the hottest geographic locations eat hot spicy food?

People living in Central and South America, India, Africa and Southeast Asia are known for eating hot Chile peppers and spices so spicy you cannot imagine. Here’s the reason why.

Spicy food makes you sweat

Eating spicy food makes you perspire, or sweat – even if you have a high tolerance towards eating spices. That explains why people eat hot spicy food in the cold winters, they make you feel hot or at least warm up your body.

Gustatory facial sweating

This process of cooling down after sweating is labelled as gustatory facial sweating by scientists, as the perspiring usually starts with your face first. Eating spicy food raises your internal temperature to match the temperature outside, and this, in turn, increases your blood circulation.

After the sweat session, that’s when you’ll feel the best sensation in your entire life – the cooling moment. I guess that’s why the Chinese have this saying “心静自然凉,” meaning a calm heart keeps you cool. That perfectly describes whatever you go through after you sweat excessively, the cooling process.

Cooling down with ice and cold drinks don’t necessary help

Hot summer days (bear in mind, we’re summer all year round) calls for a glass of ice lemonade, thirst-quenching watermelon or a scoop of ice cream but this doesn’t help you stay cool for long periods of time.

The reason is that your internal temperature drops rapidly and too quickly, hence your body builds more heat by compensating your lost body temperature so it just heats you right up.

This is the way a human body is made to work, so don’t get too shocked by this. Now that you know the logic of eating hot and spicy food, it can be totally worth it after all.

Top Image: singaporelocalfavourites.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com