Have you ever noticed that older people in your family always say, “Drink more hot water”? Cold? Hot water. Stomachache? Hot water. Even when nothing is wrong, they sit there sipping hot water.

This isn’t old-fashioned. It’s thousands of years of experience.

Why does TCM value hot water so much? Because hot water is the best friend of yang qi. Our bodies love warmth and dislike cold. A cup of hot water is like adding wood to a fire inside you. Your stomach warms up. Your belly warms up. Your whole body warms up.

Cold water does the opposite. When you drink ice water, your stomach has to “heat it up” to body temperature before it can absorb it. That heating process costs energy — the energy we called qi. Once in a while is fine. But every day? Meal after meal? Your qi gets slowly drained.

Many people don’t understand: why are my hands and feet always cold? Why do I feel colder than everyone else in winter? Why is my stomach so sensitive — one cold drink and it complains? The answer might be simple: you’re drinking too many cold things.

Try this for one week. Replace all cold drinks from the fridge with warm water. Drink a cup of warm water first thing in the morning — no ice. After a week, you might notice: your stomach feels better, your hands and feet aren’t as cold, and you feel warmer overall.

Hot water isn’t medicine. But it works better than many medicines. Because it helps protect the most important thing in your body — your warmth.