&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Beat the heat: Why Europe is banning alcohol in heatwave, and why drinking in hot weather is a bad idea")
As a record-breaking heatwave grips large parts of Europe, authorities are increasingly worried about what happens when soaring temperatures collide with alcohol. Paris has even put a temporary ban on public drinking because hospitals are getting overburdened. As per reports, in just one 24-hour period, as the temperature spiked, cardiac arrests went up four times over.
It leaves everyone asking the same question: Is a cold drink in a heatwave really that bad? Well, yeah. But it's not about the drink itself; it is about what alcohol does to your body’s internal thermostat.
The hydration trap
In heat, your body sweats to cool itself and loses water in the process. Alcohol, meanwhile, drains you from the inside out. It's a diuretic, which is just a medical way of saying it forces your body to pee out way more liquid than you're actually drinking.
If we talk about a standard shot of whisky. That tiny bit of liquor (25ml)forces your body to dump about four times its volume in urine (100ml).
Trending Stories
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
How fast can the Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet really fly?
)
Did China ask its people 'not to respond to aliens'? Origin of bizarre claim on social media
)
MS Dhoni-CSK Fallout? Report claims failed stake sale talks triggered rift
)
Scientists reveal the SAFEST COUNTRY when catastrophe strikes the planet
)
Serial killer on the loose in South Korea's Jeju Island? Fourth body found in three days as more than a dozen people go missing
)
2/3rd of glacier detached, collapsed: ISRO satellite images reveal what triggered Nepal floods
)
Trump once again claims without him there would be ‘no Israel right now’
)
Foreign espionage attacks against German companies surge to 37%, Bitkom report reveals
)
Blake Lively wins partial legal fee from Justin Baldoni after $8M request
)
Why is Pakistan deploying Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones near India border?
)
'OH MY GOD! We've found other agents!': Investigators discover not one or two, almost 700 OpenAI AI agents went rogue, hacked Hugging Face
)
Lunar eclipse 2026: India timings, places to see and more. August Blood moon factsheet
)
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on global outreach tour
)
Both pilots killed as training aircraft crashes in Lucknow – What we know
)
16-year-old charged with preparing terror attack on kindergarten in Norway
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
How the S-400 protects itself from enemy attacks
)
Nepal floods: Over 165 dead, 400 missing; US, India, China, World Bank mobilise aid
)
India's multi-layered watch: The new surveillance war
)
5 doomsday planes spotted in US skies hours after CIA director's secret trip to Russia
)
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to finally face trial in 2028, nearly 27 years after horrific attacks
)
Islamabad hospital fire: What we know about one of the biggest facility that housed Imran Khan
)
Workers run for life while filming Nepal flash flood: Scary new visuals emerge from Rasuwa
)
Russian military planes enter South Korean air defence zone amid rising tensions with North Korea: What's happening
)
Ron Weasley Is Back! Rupert Grint set to return to Harry Potter universe on Broadway
)
400-year-old 'vampire' grave in Poland reveals non-existent genetic lineage
)
Dolly Parton, global icon and queen of country music, dies at 80
)
Nepal flash floods: Kailash Mansarovar yatra affected, close to 400 pilgrims out of contact
)
'If he is dead, they're putting on a pretty good show': Trump casts fresh doubt over Mojtaba Khamenei's fate
)
Man arrested near US Capitol with guillotine in pickup truck: What happened?
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
Why the Su-30MKI cockpit is painted bright turquoise green
What alcohol does to your heart
When it gets hot, your body tries to cool down by widening the blood vessels near your skin to let heat escape. You're also sweating, which drops your overall blood volume.
When you add alcohol, it forces those blood vessels to open up even wider. Low blood volume plus wide-open vessels equals a massive drop in blood pressure. Suddenly, your heart has to pump like crazy just to keep oxygen moving to your brain and organs. That's why people get dizzy or faint.
Even worse, when you dehydrate, you lose electrolytes like sodium and potassium. Your heart needs those to keep a steady rhythm. Lose too many, and you risk an irregular heartbeat or, in worst-case scenarios, a heart attack.
Blurring the warning signs
Alcohol also paves the way for heatstroke, which is a literal life-or-death emergency where your body's cooling system just breaks down. Because you're dehydrated, you stop sweating properly.
But the biggest issue is your brain. A few drinks in, and you're probably not going to notice that your headache, nausea, or racing pulse is actually a medical emergency. You miss the warning signs until it's too late.
So, should you completely avoid alcohol?
Not necessarily. Doctors find that if you just tell people "don't drink," they don't automatically reach for water or juice instead; they just drink nothing, which makes them even more dehydrated. If you're going to have a drink, skip the heavy liquor and cocktails. Stick to something weak, like a low-ABV beer, pace yourself, and chug water alongside it.
