The Science of Sweating
By Alan Knight
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| Photo Credit: sanitarian.net |
For centuries, and especially in these modern times, most
human cultures have gone to great lengths to cover up the natural smell of our
bodies with deodorants, perfumes, colognes, powders, etc. We use products such a antiperspirants ,
to inhibit the production of sweat in certain areas of our bodies, such as the
underarms . We also periodically wash
ourselves in baths and showers, again, usually using scented
cleaning/conditioning products.
Even though perspiring sometimes gets a bad rap, it’s
perfectly normal. In fact, if our bodies
couldn’t sweat, we’d never have survived as a species. You sweat, therefore you
are. Sweating is our body's built-in
“air conditioning” system, also known as thermoregulation .
It’s the evaporation of sweat on the surface of our skin
that causes a cooling effect inside our bodies. Our bodies accomplish this via
a complex brain/body feedback system. To maintain your internal temperature of
98.6°F, sweat glands draw fluid from the bloodstream and pass the water (and
other substances) to the skin to be evaporated and hopefully cool it. In addition to hot weather, exercise, certain
foods (especially spicy ones) and emotions induce sweating.
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| Photo Credit: rebellesociety.com |
Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying, “Horses sweat, men
perspire and women glow,” which was thought to have originated in Victorian
times regarding etiquette? In fact,
primates and horses have armpits that sweat like human bodies do. Sweating is found in a variety of mammals, but
unlike humans and horses, very few produce significant amounts of sweat in
order to cool their internal body temperature down, instead using other biological
mechanisms (i.e., dogs, cats and other animals panting).
In extreme heat, an average person sweats about three pints
an hour. But someone well acclimatized
to heat (and/or exercise) sweats up to 8.5 pints an hour. While it’s true that most men sweat more than
women, the days of women just “glowing” are now passé. Attend any aerobics, Zumba, hot yoga, or even a
challenging ballet class, and you’ll know it’s true.
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| Photo Credit: mayoclinic.org |
To accomplish thermoregulation , humans are endowed with two
different types of sweat glands in our skin, which is the body’s largest organ. The eccrine sweat glands are distributed
over much of the body. By the time you’ve
celebrated your three-year-old birthday, you’ve developed two to five million
eccrine glands throughout your body. Surprisingly,
less than 0.5%, only about 25,000 are found under the arms. Eccrine glands secrete a watery sweat
directly on the surface of the skin. They especially rev up into overdrive in
hot, humid weather (for all you fellow Floridian readers, you know what I’m
talking about).
The second type, apocrine sweat glands, become active around
puberty. Apocrine glands are found only
in certain locations of the body: the underarms , areola and nipples of the
breast, ear canal, eyelids, wings of the nostril, perianal region, and some parts
of the external genitalia. Especially in the underarm and genital regions, the
produced sweat is prone to remain on hair follicles, and is later broken down
by bacteria. We tend to emit more body
odor from our armpits because sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly from that
area.
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| Photo Credit: thehumanpheromes.com |
In most mammals, including humans, apocrine sweat glands
secrete an oily (and eventually smelly ) compound that acts as a pheromone, a
chemical compound capable of acting outside the body of the secreting
individual to impact the behavior of the receiving. Apocrine glands are impacted by adrenaline,
and ― sometimes inconveniently ― are involved in emotional sweating in humans
(which can be induced by nervousness, anxiety, stress, fear, embarrassment, sexual
attraction, sexual stimulation, and pain).
Well Met with Sweat
The ability to sweat is essential to our health and
well-being. In fact, it’s one of the
most ancient forms of healing. Hippocrates,
the famed Greek physician, is thought to have espoused, “Give me a fever and I
can cure any disease.”
Fever is an important part of the body's defense against
infection. Most bacteria and viruses that cause infections in humans thrive best at 98.6°F. Although a fever
signals that a battle might be going on in the body, generally the fever is
fighting for, not against the person. One purpose of a fever is to raise the body's
temperature enough to kill off certain bacteria and viruses sensitive to
temperature changes.
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| Photo Credit: dollsofindia.com |
One of the oldest known medical documents, the Ayurveda,
appeared in Sanskrit in 568 BC in India.
It regarded sweating so important to our overall health that it
prescribed the sweat bath and thirteen other methods of inducing sweat. Throughout history, physicians have extolled
the medicinal value of the sweat bath in its various forms such as the European
sauna, and the Native American sweatlodge . Medical evidence shows that bathing
in temperatures of 192°F (9O°C) has a
profoundly beneficial effect on a healthy body.
Sweating is as essential to our health as eating and breathing by:
- Ridding the body of wastes and toxins
- Regulating the critical temperature of the body
- Keeping the skin clean and pliant
- Raising the body’s core temperature, which makes it less hospitable to pathogens
In fact, assert proponents of sweat baths, many people,
particularly in our environmentally controlled, sedentary age, simply don't
sweat enough, making sweat bathing particularly desirable in order to reap the
physiological benefits of sweating.
Furthermore, the use of antiperspirants, artificial environments, smog,
synthetic clothing, and a physically idle lifestyle all conspire to clog skin
pores and inhibit the healthy flow of sweat. These detrimental effects can be reversed in a
sweat bath.
Sweating Gingerly
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| Photo Credit: enhancewhatsyours.com |
But what if you don’t have access to sweat bath or sauna? Here’s
something you can do in any of Tub King’s cast iron/porcelain tubs or Walk-in
tubs to enhance your body’s ability to sweat. It’s a simple and sure way to
sweat nasty toxins out of your body, as well as perhaps make it less conducive
to harboring pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. Take a hot Ginger Bath.
Use either freshly grated ginger or ginger powder. Add ½ a cup of freshly grated ginger or a
rounded teaspoon of ginger powder in hot or warm water and soak for 15-20
minutes. Remember, the ginger bath will
make you sweat profusely for at least an hour afterwards, so take precautions to
not get chilled when you leave the bath.
Given that, it's also important to stay well-hydrated by drinking plenty of water during and after your bath. (By the way, if you have sensitive skin or are allergy-prone, test ginger on your skin for irritation before immersing yourself in a ginger bath.)
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| Photo Credit: canyonranch.com |
Until next time.
In this article, I discussed the importance of perspiring
for human beings. I also discussed some
of the anatomical and physiological mechanisms of sweating. I then showed how,
throughout history, sweating has been used for promoting health and well-being.
I then shared how you can turn your cast iron/porcelain and/or Walk-in tub into
your own private, health-inducing sweat bath.
If you have a comment, please type it in the Comment section
below. Of course, I encourage you to share this article with your
family, friends, and colleagues.
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Have a question? Feel free to contact me at the
number or email listed below and I’ll personally get back to you. Thanks
for reading; it’s been my pleasure to share this information with you.
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Alan Knight is the owner of Tub King, Inc., and SeniorBathtub.com in Jacksonville,
Florida. He has many years of experience in the antique and senior bathtub
industries. His companies not only provide superior products, they are also
award winners, receiving the “Best of Jacksonville Chamber Award” four years
running. To contact Tub King directly, call (800)843-4231 or
email alan@tubking.com.
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