2024-01-07 12:44:28
Sweating is often considered something uncomfortable or bothersome, something unpleasant that people try to avoid and hide. However, this natural process is very important and occurs for good reasons. In addition to regulating body temperature, sweating helps maintain homeostasis by eliminating waste products and toxins.1
Sweating can also be used therapeutically to promote well-being and reduce chronic diseases.2 If you are not sweating adequately, whether you are sweating too much or too little, it might be a symptom of a health problem, which is another evidence of its great importance.
Why do humans sweat?
Sweating, also known as perspiration, is the release of fluid through sweat glands, which number between 2 and 4 million. During puberty, sweat glands become more active, while men’s glands tend to produce more sweat than women’s.3
As a method of thermoregulation to help keep the body cool, sweating increases if the temperature rises or if you exercise. However, you may also sweat if you are angry, stressed, anxious, or scared. Some medical conditions, such as cancer and low blood sugar, may also cause sweating, as may menopause and fever.
Some medications, such as thyroid hormone and morphine, may also cause you to sweat, as may drinking alcohol or caffeinated beverages and eating spicy foods, known as gustatory sweating.4
When body temperature rises, sweat glands release water to the surface of the skin, which quickly evaporates, which in turn cools the skin and blood beneath. According to researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, “this is the most effective form of thermoregulation in humans.” 5 In addition to cooling the body, sweating also has “important homeostatic functions,” such as the following:6
Eliminate excess micronutrients from the body
Eliminate waste products produced by the metabolism
Eliminate toxins
Help treat chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, respiratory and joint diseases
Risks of excessive or inadequate sweating
Your body needs to sweat properly, otherwise various diseases might develop. Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for excessive sweating, which may affect regarding 15.8 million adults in the United States. 7
Hyperhidrosis might influence self-esteem and social and professional relationships. Additionally, many people who suffer from this condition report that it affects their work, school, social, and emotional health. Nearly half (48%) cite their quality of life as poor or very poor as a result of hyperhidrosis.
This disorder might also cause dehydration and skin infections.8 It might also be related to systemic diseases, since sweating disorders might be a sign of dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system.9
Hypohidrosis, which is inadequate sweating, and pathological anhidrosis, an inability to sweat, may also affect health and lead to dry skin, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and death.10
Sweating might help prevent and alleviate chronic diseases
In traditional Persian medicine, sweating is used to prevent and treat diseases.11 According to a review published in the Galen Medical Journal:12
“Review of historical medical manuscripts indicates that traditional Persian medicine (PM) scientists have mentioned multiple methods for treating diseases. One of them is sweating, which has an essential function in both the prevention and treatment of diseases.
MP doctors were well aware of the benefits of sweating and believed that it might help eliminate waste products, maintain body health, and regulate body temperature.
According to PM principles, any problem with the excretion of waste products from metabolism and diet might lead to disease; Therefore, for many centuries, various sweating methods and even diaphoretic herbs have been used to maintain health and as a therapeutic method.”
In fact, from Roman baths and Scandinavian saunas to sweat lodges, cultures around the world have embraced sweating for health benefits. Researchers writing in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health explained the following:13
“For many years, sweating induced by heat or exercise has been considered by groups around the world as a ‘cleansing’ treatment…Sweating has the ability, and deserves consideration, to help eliminate toxic elements of the body.
… It has been observed that sweating not only promotes the excretion of the toxic elements contemplated in this article, but might also increase the excretion of multiple toxic substances, as observed in New York rescue workers, or in particular in fire retardants and bisphenol-A…More research is needed into the potential of sweating as a therapeutic mechanism to excrete toxins.”
Researchers found the following functions of sweat in detoxification:
Sweat might be an important route of cadmium excretion when a person is exposed to high levels
Sauna-induced sweating might help eliminate traces of toxic metals
Sweating should be the initial and preferred treatment for patients with high levels of mercury in the urine.
Sweat glands also secrete antimicrobial peptides that help limit the growth of various microbes on the skin, which might help decrease infection or atopic dermatitis. The antimicrobial peptide dermicidin, which is created by sweat glands, is also believed to influence the innate immune system’s response once morest infections and injuries. 14
Many toxins might be excreted more effectively through sweat
Because sweat is 99% water, some people believe it does not play a major role in detoxification. Temperature magazine indicates that “the role of sweating in eliminating waste products and toxic substances appears to be minor compared to other routes of excretion, such as the kidneys and the gastrointestinal tract.”15
However, research shows that toxins are excreted through sweat. According to research in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology:16
“Many toxic elements might be excreted more effectively through sweat. Some toxic elements, which might be stored in the tissues and were easily identified in the perspiration of some participants, were not found in their serum. “Induced sweating might be an essential method for the elimination of many toxic elements.”
For example, concentrations of the heavy metals nickel, lead, and chromium might be 10 to 30 times higher in sweat than in blood and urine.17 The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, also indicates that “for a long time, physiologists have considered sweating as an effective and safe method of detoxification, and heavy metals are excreted through sweat to decrease their levels.”18
This study found that levels of nickel, lead, copper, and arsenic in sweat were higher when sweating was induced through dynamic exercise compared to sauna use, although mercury levels were the same regardless of the method. which was used to induce sweating.19
Another systematic review found that, in people with higher exposure or body burden of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, “sweat had higher concentrations than plasma and urine, and excretion through the skin might equal or exceed excretion through urine… Sweating should be considered for the detoxification of toxic elements.”20
Bisphenol A is another chemical contaminant that is often detected in sweat, even in some cases even when BPA is not found in serum or urine samples. twenty-one
Benefits of using a sauna
Sweating induced by sauna use might have many benefits, including benefits for the heart, respiratory system, joints, chronic pain, and the brain.22 One mechanism for this effect might be related to the fact that the Heat places stress on the heart and body in the same way that exercise does.23 However, sweating is also part of the therapeutic effects of sauna baths.
Researchers from Finland, where sauna use is common, found that men who used the sauna four to seven times a week, for an average of 15 minutes, had a 66% lower risk of developing dementia and a 65% lower risk of Alzheimer’s, compared to those who used it only once a week.24
Waon therapy, a form of dry sauna treatment that heats the entire body, may also benefit heart health, even in people with chronic heart failure.25 Other research published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that men who who used the Finnish-style dry heat sauna seven times a week, decreased their risk of death from fatal heart problems by 50% compared to those who used it once a week.26
These results held even following accounting for confounders such as smoking, blood pressure, and triglyceride levels. In terms of time, the greatest benefits were recorded in people who sweated for 19 minutes or more in each session.
The study indicated that “sauna bathing causes skin sweating, fluid loss, and an increase in heart rate, which are physiological responses to warm temperature… Our results suggest that sauna bathing is a health habit recommendable”.27
How to induce sweating
One way to induce sweating is through regular sauna use, but it is not the only way. Any type of intense exercise will cause sweating, as will exercising in warm temperatures or inside a heated room, such as in Bikram yoga. If you decide to use the sauna to sweat, there are several options, including the Finnish sauna, far-infrared saunas, and near-infrared saunas.
The difference between infrared saunas and the traditional Finnish sauna is that the Finnish sauna heats from the outside in, while the infrared saunas heat from the inside out. Near-infrared saunas have additional benefits as they penetrate tissues more effectively and at wavelengths that water does not absorb.
The near-infrared range influences your health as it interacts with chromophores, which are light-absorbing molecules found in mitochondria and water molecules. Near infrared light also has healing and restorative properties that help improve other biological functions.
It should be noted that if you sweat a lot, you will also lose important fluids and electrolytes. Therefore, be sure to drink plenty of water and replenish your electrolytes. Drinking coconut water is a natural way to replenish electrolytes. You can also mix a quarter teaspoon of Himalayan salt with a gallon (3.78 liters) of pure filtered water to replenish electrolytes.
Author: Joseph Mercola.
Sources and References
1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 12 Crazy With J. 2020; 9: e2003
3, 4 Medline Plus, Sweating
5 National Library of Medicine, StatPearls, Anatomy, Skin Sweat Glands October 10, 2022
7, 8 Am J Clin Dermatol. 2023; 24(2): 187–198
9 Br J Dermatol. 2018 Jun;178(6):1246-1256. doi: 10.1111/bjd.15808. Epub 2018 Apr 25
13 Journal of Environmental and Public Health Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 184745, 10 pages
14 Shock. 2016 Jan; 45(1): 28–32
15 Temperature (Austin). 2019; 6(3): 211–259
16 Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2011 Aug;61(2):344-57. doi: 10.1007/s00244-010-9611-5. Epub 2010 Nov 6
17, 18, 19 Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr; 19(7): 4323
20 J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 184745
21 J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:185731
22 Galen Med J. 2020; 9: e2003., Introduction
23 Complement Ther Med. 2019 Jun:44:218-222. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2019.05.002. Epub 2019 May 2
24 Age and Ageing, Volume 46, Issue 2, March 2017, Pages 245–249, doi: 10.1093/ageing/afw212
25 Am J Cardiol. 2012 Jan 1;109(1):100-4. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2011.08.014. Epub 2011 Sep 23
26 JAMA Internal Medicine 2015;175(4):542-548
27 JAMA Internal Medicine 2015;175(4):542-548, Introduction, Conclusions
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