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| Whisky – Image by Waldrebell from Pixabay |
1. Alcohol may make you feel warmer, it actually reduces your body temperature and compromises your immunity if you then venture out into the cold.
2. Alcohol can decrease the core temperature of the body and increase the risk of hypothermia during cold exposure.
3. Hypothermia is a severe medical condition where the body loses heat before it can generate it, resulting in a dangerously low body temperature. While normal body temperature lies at around 37°Celsius, the body temperature of a person suffering from hypothermia drops to below 35° Celsius. Common signs include shivering, slow rate of breathing, slurred speech, cold skin and fatigue.
4. Heavy alcohol consumption is linked to an increased risk of hypothermia and other conditions linked to extreme cold weather.
5. Alcohol has psychological and behavioral effects i.e. it can impact a person’s ability to correctly perceive how cold it is. Cases of people succumbing to hypothermia after drinking heavily and passing out outdoors are very commonly reported in places with extreme cold weather.
6. Alcohol is a vasodilator, which means that it causes blood vessels to relax and dilate or open. So after consuming alcohol, the volume of blood brought to the skin’s surface increases, making you feel warmer as a result. This is also what causes an intoxicated person to look flushed.
7. As the body begins to believe that it is warm, you also start to sweat - a reaction that automatically reduces overall body temperature. Drinking copious amounts of alcohol may affect your body’s ability to detect the cold properly, which is in place to protect you from frostbite and hypothermia.
8. Drinking moderately in temperate environments does not significantly affect the core temperature of the body.
Based on: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-why-is-weather-dept-asking-people-in-north-india-not-to-drink-alcohol-during-the-cold-wave-7122361/
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