Impact of Cold Water Intake on Environmental Perceptions, Affect, and Attention Depends on Climate Condition

Abstract The use of cooling techniques in a tropical climate can limit the increase in core body temperature and therefore improve physical exercise performance. However, little is known about the impact of cooling on psychological functioning. The aim of this study was to determine whether cold water intake influences environmental perceptions, affects, and attention depending on the climate condition (tropical climate vs. neutral climate). The study followed a mixed 2 × 3 crossover design (climate as the within factor, tropical climate vs. neutral climate; water intake as the between factor, cold water vs. neutral water vs. no water). Participants reported lower thermal comfort, had positive affect scores, had lower attention performance scores, and had higher thermal sensation and negative affect in tropical climate compared with neutral climate. It was shown that drinking water at room temperature in a neutral climate causes the best thermal comfort scores, and drinking water at room temperature in tropical climate causes the worst scores. Cold water intake, which had no notable influence on positive affect scores in a tropical climate, had a deleterious effect in a neutral climate. Drinking cold water as a technique to limit the deleterious effects of tropical climate on environmental perceptions, affect, and attention is discussed.