Can drinking more water and urinating reduce fever?

Fever is not just caused by a cold. This is because fever is a way for the body to increase its resistance. Especially for a low fever, there is no need to take medicine to reduce the temperature. Physical cooling methods can be used, and drinking plenty of water is what people with a fever must do. Can drinking plenty of water and urinating reduce fever? Drinking plenty of water is a good way to reduce fever for patients, but be careful not to drink too much at one time. Instead, choose to drink small amounts and multiple times.

Why should you drink more water when you have a fever?

1. Drinking water can cool down and dissipate heat

The specific heat value of water is relatively large. When 1g of water increases or decreases by 1°C, about 4.2J of heat is required. However, a large amount of water absorbs the energy generated during the metabolism, so that the body temperature will not increase significantly. The evaporation of water absorbs a large amount of energy. For example, at a body temperature of 37°C, the evaporation of 1g of water can take away 2.4kJ of heat. Therefore, under high temperatures, body heat can be dissipated through the skin as water evaporates to maintain a constant body temperature.

2. Reduce drug damage to liver and kidneys

Medicine is sometimes poisonous, but when you have a severe cold or fever, you still have to take medicine as a last resort. As for antipyretic drugs such as ibuprofen, they are mainly metabolized in the liver, and 60% to 90% are excreted in the urine through the kidneys. Therefore, drinking more water when you have a cold or fever can help excrete drugs from the body, reduce the burden on the liver and kidneys, and achieve the effect of "diluting" the toxicity of the drugs.

3. Assist antipyretic drugs to take effect

If you have a cold and fever, you need to take antipyretics if necessary, and drinking more water at this time can help the antipyretics take effect quickly. We remove some body heat through sweating and urinating, and drinking more water can increase the amount of sweating and urination, which can help the antipyretic medicine to quickly reduce fever.

4. Prevent and treat dehydration

After having a cold or fever, you need to sweat to dissipate heat, which can easily cause water loss in the body and there is a risk of dehydration at any time. In addition, the human body fights viruses by developing a fever, and in this process a large amount of water is lost from the body, along with minerals such as sodium and potassium. The brain will then send out signals to eliminate excess water from the body through urine, sweat, etc. in order to achieve the balance of electrolyte concentration in the body. This is spontaneous dehydration. Therefore, you should drink more water to prevent dehydration and collapse.

5. Helps eliminate toxins

Colds are generally viral infections or secondary bacterial infections. Drinking more water and urinating more can promote metabolism and eliminate toxins from the body. When you have a cold, your kidneys have a heavy workload when producing urine. Drinking more water can relieve the workload of the kidneys, making urination smoother and less likely to cause urinary tract infections. In addition, after water is absorbed by the small intestinal epithelial cells, it enters the blood, dilutes the toxins in the blood, and is excreted from the body with urine.

6. Supplement minerals and trace elements

When you have a cold, your gastrointestinal function is extremely weak, and it is difficult to absorb minerals and trace elements from food. High-quality natural water and natural mineral water contain a large amount of trace elements in free state and are easily absorbed by the human body. When you have a cold, it is advisable to drink high-quality drinking water, which is very important for maintaining normal nutrient intake of the human body. During a cold, it is not suitable to drink pure water (Yebao, Wahaha, etc.), but you should drink natural mineral water with a higher TDS concentration and rich in mineral elements.