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Human Sweating

Humans Can Easily Lose 500 grams of Water Through Sweating

According to Harvard Anthropology Professor Daniel Lieberman, hairless, clawless, and largely weaponless, ancient humans used the unlikely combination of sweatiness and relentlessness to gain the upper hand over their faster, stronger, generally more dangerous animal prey. But how much do humans sweat?

Humans are sweating specialists. In one hour, a horse can lose roughly 100 grams of water per square meter of skin. On the other hand, a person can readily shed 500 grams per square meter, allowing our ancestors to become unrivaled predators by stalking prey until they pass out from heat exhaustion.

Is Excessive Sweating Beneficial Or Harmful to an Individual?

Sweating is your body’s reaction to extreme heat. Your brain tells your sweat glands to release perspiration as your body temperature rises. Sweat evaporates, causing a cooling effect and lowering the body’s interior temperature. It’s natural to sweat during the summer, after exercising, when anxious or upset, after eating spicy food, or when you have a fever.

Sweat helps keep your skin’s epidermal barrier intact by transporting moisture and antimicrobial peptides from the glands to the surface. According to recent research, sweat glands are thought to create antimicrobial compounds termed dermcidin, cathelicidin, and lactoferrin, which may protect your body from skin infections.

Sweating also has evolutionary relevance. When you’re stressed, your body goes into flight or fight mode. In certain situations, your palms may create sweat, which improves your grip. (Source: Medicine Net

When Does Excessive Sweating Become A Problem?

While sweat has no odor on its own, it can begin to smell terrible when it persists on the skin because microorganisms on the surface of your skin can break down the compounds in your sweat.

Although hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating is generally innocuous, it can induce discomfort due to its association with social stigmas.

Allowing excessive perspiration to remain on the skin for lengthy periods can lead to bacterial infection, resulting in boils and rash. People who sweat a lot are more likely to get fungal infections on their skin.

Excessive sweating can lead to a loss of water and salts in the body, leading to dehydration. (Source: Medicine Net

What is Sweating?

Sweat is primarily water but includes sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, and magnesium salts. A person who is out of shape loses more salt in their sweat than someone fit. However, everyone’s sweat is different.

The amount of sweat you generate is determined by several factors:

More prominent persons generate more heat because they have to move more body mass, which means more heat is generated, resulting in more perspiration. A bigger body requires more sweat to cool off since it has a larger surface area.

As you become older, your body gets less tolerant of heat. “As we age, our sweat glands shift, limiting our body’s capacity to cool itself properly.

Muscle mass generates more heat than fat mass. Even if two persons have the same weight, their sweat rates will differ according to their muscle mass percent.

The amount of sweat you produce is affected by various health issues and life stages. Colds, flu, and even mental health issues like worry and sadness can make you sweat more. Hormone changes, for example, are frequently connected to an increase in body temperature.

Fitness level: People who are physically fit sweat more than others who are not. If healthy and unfit persons accomplish the same action, the unfit person will sweat more because they must use more energy to complete it. (Source: Henry Ford)  

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