Sweating cools us down and regulates body temperature. The body has two types of sweat glands, and sweat is mostly made up of water and salt. Sweating is important for survival, and it’s important to drink water to replenish lost fluids.
Sweating is the body’s natural way of cooling us down. While it may feel like perspiration or perspiration is heating us up, especially on hot days, without sweat, we wouldn’t be able to tolerate the heat our bodies would produce.
We sweat to keep the body at its normal temperature, which is 98.6° Fahrenheit (37° Celsius). If we lose this bodily function we could suffer from heatstroke in hot weather.
Think of all the food your body takes in every day. This has to be burned somehow. The burning of this food produces heat inside the body which activates our brain to start the body’s natural cooling process. Inside the human body are long, winding tubes of cells known as sweat glands. The blood vessels in our skin open up and fluid is released through our pores.
There are about 2 million sweat glands in our body. We may not realize it, but we sweat even when it’s cold and we’re not doing anything particularly strenuous. Two-thirds of the body is made up of water and we lose a large amount of it every day through sweating. That’s why it’s so important to drink about 2 liters of water a day to replenish lost fluids.
There are two different types of sweat glands: eccrine and aprocrine glands. Eccrine is the more common of the two and is found in parts of the body such as the forehead, palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Aprocrine is found in the armpits and at the ends of hair follicles.
Sweat itself is made up of several elements. The most common elements are water and sodium, otherwise known as salt. Sometimes, we can have low sweat production, this happens when it’s cool and we’re resting. The greatest production of sweat occurs when it is very hot or when we exercise. High production contains about 20% more sodium than low production sweat.
There is also a difference in the chemical elements when we sweat. Sweat produced through the aprocrine glands, or in the armpit, will be thicker and perhaps have a yellowish color. This is because it contains fatty acids and proteins. It is this type of underarm sweat, associated with antiperspirants, that can yellow clothes. Note that when we apply deodorants it is only under the armpits, to counteract the smell of aprocrine sweat. Sweat is actually odorless, but when it starts to break down and is attacked by bacteria, the smell can be unpleasant.
In countries with hot climates like India, people have a much higher salt intake than would be considered healthy for us. It can be assumed that this is because they lose a large amount of chemicals such as salt through perspiration. Sweating, while embarrassing at times, is a natural bodily function that is crucial to our survival.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
