Sweat and SweatingSweat and Sweating

Our body is designed to work at its best at about 37º Celsius (98.6º Fahrenheit),when the temperature increases and we get hotter,the body initiates several cool down processes.

One of the ways the body loses heat is through radiation.  This happens if the air around us is cooler than the body temperature or we sit under an oscillating fan or in an air-conditioned room.  When these methods are not available or insufficient,the hypothalamus in the brain will send signals to the body to start sweating.

Sweat is made by sweat glands located in our skin.  Sweat is mainly water with high concentrations of sodium and chloride and a low concentration of potassium.  The average person has 2.6 million sweat glands that is distributed all over the body except for the lips,nipples and external genital organs.

Sweat travels to the top of our skin through tiny holes called pores.  It eventually leaves our skin through evaporation which is a process where the sweat which is in liquid form turns into vapour and causes the body to cool down.

The human body continually sweats,more so in warm weather.  Sweating goes unnoticeable unless we are sweating profusely (during a workout for instance) in humid weather where the evaporation process is slow causing the sweat to drip.

Sweating is an effective cooling system of the body.  We are capable of losing up to 1 litre in liquids though sweating in a day and even more when we exercise.  It is therefore important to replace the loss of bodily fluids especially when we consider the fact that our bodies are 70% water.

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