Hot water for health

Over the winter season, I noticed something in a few vending machines and convenience stores that I hadn't paid attention to before. Among the hot coffees and various tea types on offer, there were bottles of nothing else but hot water. No carbonation, no flavoring -- just hot water. It's known as sayu, which refers to water that has been heated to boiling point and then cooled to a temperature of around 50 degrees Celsius, which makes it just right for a warming drink.

While I didn't buy a bottle of it, I do occasionally drink hot water from our water pot as an alternative to coffee or tea. I can understand why people might opt for it as opposed to those other beverages -- it's got a simple, neutral taste, plus it doesn't contain any caffeine. I find that if I drink caffeine after about 12pm it keeps me tossing and turning at night, but sometimes I want something warm to drink. It's the perfect choice for those occasions.

Along with hot water being a nice alternative to coffee or tea, there are a bunch of health effects that sayu is purported to have. This article covers some of them, but it mentions things like improving your metabolism, having a detoxing effect, and helping overall skin clearness. The article also recommends sayu specifically after waking up (since we sweat while we're asleep and lose a certain amount of water), plus right before bedtime since it's meant to help you fall asleep. A suggested amount of between 600ml and 800ml of sayu per day was mentioned, because apparently going beyond that can actually impede digestion -- so keep that in mind!

While I don't know about the scientific basis behind some of the aforementioned health claims, I do think that I feel a lot better when I incorporate hot water into my diet, especially after meals. Obviously you can jazz it up a bit if you need some extra flavor -- sometimes I enjoy a squeeze of lemon juice in my hot water to give it an extra-refreshing zingy taste. Mint for a fresh taste or honey for some sweetness would also be nice additions if plain hot water feels too bland.

Do you already drink hot water as an alternative to other warm beverages like coffee or tea? Perhaps you've already seen the bottles of sayu at convenience stores or in vending machines before!