Can drinking a glass of ice water after exercising in hot weather put your life in danger?

First, let’s understand what sudden death is .

Sudden death refers to the sudden or unexpected death of a person who appears healthy or dies unexpectedly due to internal or no external factors. There are many examples in reality, some people are still talking and laughing before going to bed, but suddenly die at night.

What causes sudden death ?

Sudden death is just a clinical manifestation, which can be caused by a variety of diseases. Sudden death is divided into sudden cardiac death , non-cardiac sudden death and sudden death caused by rare causes . The most common ones are as follows:

Myocardial infarction: Acute myocardial infarction is the main cause of sudden cardiac death, which can quickly cause shock and coma and lead to sudden death.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage, acute brainstem hemorrhage, large-area cerebral infarction, etc. can all lead to a sharp increase in intracranial pressure and even brain herniation. The vital centers are compressed and the patient may suffer respiratory arrest or cardiac arrest, leading to sudden death.

Pulmonary embolism asthma: Severe hypoxemia can lead to arrhythmias, and some fatal arrhythmias often lead to sudden death. Some patients may suffer respiratory and cardiac arrest within minutes to hours. Due to the rapid progression of the disease, patients often cannot receive timely and effective treatment.

Acute necrotizing pancreatitis: The main causes of the disease are overeating and alcoholism. The inflammatory storm may lead to myocardial depression or arrhythmia, and sudden death may occur.

Drug allergy: Drugs can cause anaphylactic shock in patients, leading to severe cardiac events and sudden death.

Sudden death syndrome: This disease is more common in young people aged 17-40 with normal examination results. The occurrence of sudden death is related to many factors, such as staying up late for a long time, obesity, mental factors, family history, etc. It may also be related to abnormal sodium ion channel metabolism.

Are there any signs before sudden death ?

More than 80% of people have different degrees of precursors before sudden death. Among them, 22% of patients have chest pain, 15% of patients have difficulty breathing, and some have nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fatigue or mood changes. Therefore, these phenomena should not be ignored and should be treated in time.

Once sudden death occurs, there will be immediate loss of consciousness, and some people may experience convulsions, difficulty breathing, sudden collapse, loss of pulse, loss of heartbeat, rapid dilation of pupils, cold limbs, etc. If it occurs during sleep, it may manifest as abnormal snoring or screaming. Once these situations occur, emergency treatment is needed immediately.

So can drinking ice water cause sudden death ?

Drinking too much ice water after strenuous exercise can cause acute cardiovascular spasms, which are the causes of sudden death.

In the hot summer, after strenuous activities, people's metabolism and body heat production will increase . At this time, the body temperature rises, our heart is in a high-load operation state , and the myocardium is in urgent need of oxygen. When running in daily life, we often feel that the oxygen we breathe through our nose is not enough, and we need to breathe through our mouth. This is an example. If you drink a lot of ice water quickly at this time, it may directly stimulate the myocardium to cause electrocardiogram disorder, or cause coronary artery spasm and cause myocardial ischemia, stimulate capillary contraction, increase the load on the heart, thereby inducing heart disease and leading to sudden death.

Although drinking a lot of ice water after strenuous exercise may lead to sudden death, sudden death is also related to unhealthy lifestyle and basic physical condition.

The frequency of sudden death patients increases during hot weather, and most of them are middle-aged patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Many young people who die suddenly also have heart disease, but the symptoms are not obvious. Vigorous exercise causes the heart circulation to be overloaded, and the blood oxygen demand cannot be met, leading to heart failure, interruption of cerebral blood flow and sudden death. In addition, if you force yourself to exercise when you are overworked or lack of sleep, you are also prone to sudden death. Therefore, drinking a lot of ice water quickly after vigorous exercise in the hot summer may induce disease and lead to sudden death.

What precautions should be taken when exercising in hot weather ?

1. First of all, you should pay attention to the exercise time. The sun is strong during the day, and the time between 9 am and 4 pm is the hottest and the time with the strongest ultraviolet rays, so it is best to avoid this time period for outdoor exercise.

2. Pay attention to hydration. If you sweat a lot, you should drink water at room temperature and drink slowly; if you exercise a lot, you can drink light salt water and functional sports drinks appropriately.

3. After strenuous exercise, do not stop to rest immediately, otherwise blood will accumulate in the veins of the limbs, leading to insufficient blood supply to the heart and symptoms of hypoxia such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and shock.

4. Don’t turn on the air conditioner immediately, otherwise the skin temperature will drop too quickly, making it very easy to catch a cold, a fever, bronchitis and other diseases.

5. Do not take a cold shower immediately after exercise. The sudden stimulation of excessive cold can cause normal functions to be disrupted, especially the temperature regulation disorder, which can lead to physical discomfort.

Scientific review: Wang Xin, deputy chief physician of the Department of Cardiology, Jilin People's Hospital

Reference sources: "German Medical Collection", "Guizhou Popular Science Series Coronary Heart Disease Healthy Living Guide 180 Questions", "Treatment and Recuperation of Common Diseases Series Asthma Treatment and Recuperation Large Print", "100 Questions on Arrhythmia Prevention and Treatment", Science and Technology Daily, China.com