Is It Good to Sweat?
January 10, 2014
Story at-a-glance
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Your body releases sweat to help regulate its body temperature
to prevent you from overheating
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Sweating also helps your body to eliminate toxins, which
supports proper immune function and helps prevent diseases
related to toxic overload
-
Sweating may help kill viruses and bacteria that cannot survive
in temperatures above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as on the
surface of your skin
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Virtually any type of intense exercise will prompt you to sweat,
but you can also induce sweating via a sauna, either traditional
or infrared
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Be sure to replace fluids and electrolytes after a session of
heavy sweating
By Dr. Mercola
Sweating is a natural, essential body process designed to
help your body stay cool. But some may wonder whether it’s
beneficial to encourage your body to sweat more for reasons
beyond temperature control.
The New York Times recently published an article
that concluded “sweating, per se, provides no health
benefits” aside from preventing overheating,1
but I, and many other experts, believe there’s far more to
the story than this.
Why Sweating Is Important
You have two different types of sweat glands: eccrine
sweat glands, which are distributed over your entire body,
and apocrine sweat glands, located on your scalp, armpits,
and genital area.
While abhorred by many, sweating actually has numerous
health- and beauty-related benefits. Your skin is the
largest organ of your body, and serves important roles just
like any other bodily organ. For example, sweating helps
your body:
- Maintain proper temperature and keep you from
overheating
- Expel toxins, which supports proper immune function
and helps prevent diseases related to toxic overload
- Kill viruses and bacteria that cannot survive in
temperatures above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit
- Clean the pores, which will help eliminate
blackheads and acne
Interestingly, you’re born with anywhere between 2
million and 4 million sweat glands, and the number of such
glands you have will determine, in part, how much you sweat.
While women generally have more sweat glands than men, men’s
glands tend to be more active and produce more sweat.2
As your body temperature rises, your body will
automatically perspire to release salty liquid from your
sweat glands to help cool you down.
This is controlled by your autonomic nervous system,
which you cannot consciously control. However, certain
emotions, such as anxiety, anger, embarrassment, or fear,
can prompt you to sweat more.
Since exercise raises your body temperature, sweating
associated with exercise is a sign that you’re exerting
yourself and gaining the many benefits that exercise has to
offer. However, sweating in and of itself may also be
beneficial.
Sweating May Fight Skin Infections Via Antimicrobial
Properties and Reduce Kidney Stones
Dermcidin is an antimicrobial peptide with a broad
spectrum of activity that is expressed in eccrine sweat
glands and secreted into sweat. In the average healthy
person, research shows that sweating leads to a reduction of
viable bacteria on your skin surface, which may lower your
risk of skin infections.
In fact, one study suggested that people with atopic
dermatitis, who have recurrent bacterial or viral skin
infections, may be lacking dermcidin in their sweat, which
may impair the innate defense system in human skin.3
Research has also shown that people who exercise, and
therefore sweat more, have a
lower risk of kidney stones. One reason for this may be
because they sweat out more salt, rather than having it go
into the kidneys where it may contribute to stone formation.
People who sweat more also tend to drink more water, which
is another way to lower your risk of kidney stones.
Sweating May Help Your Body Detoxify
Your skin is a major organ of elimination, but many
people do not sweat on a regular basis. This is why repeated
use of a
sweat-inducing sauna slowly restores skin elimination,
which can help reduce your toxic load quite significantly.
The use of sweating as a form of detoxification is
downplayed by modern medicine, yet it has been valued as a
form of cleansing since ancient times. According to one
systematic review published in the Journal of
Environmental and Public Health:4
“Sweating has long been perceived to promote
health, not only accompanying exercise but also with
heat. Worldwide traditions and customs include Roman
baths, Aboriginal sweat lodges, Scandinavian saunas (dry
heat; relative humidity from 40% to 60%), and Turkish
baths (with steam).”
The review found that toxins including arsenic, cadmium,
lead, and mercury are excreted in sweat and noted:
“Sweating is not only observed to enhance
excretion of the toxic elements of interest in this
paper, but also may increase excretion of diverse
toxicants, as observed in New York rescue workers, or in
particular persistent flame retardants and bisphenol-A.
…Optimizing the potential of sweating as a therapeutic
excretory mechanism merits further research.”
The researchers noted the following promising roles of
sweat in detoxification:
- Sweat may be an important route for excretion of
cadmium when an individual is exposed to high levels
- Sweat-inducing sauna use might provide a therapeutic
method to increase elimination of toxic trace metals
- Sweating should be the initial and preferred
treatment of patients with elevated mercury urine levels5
Sweating May Help Rid Your Body of Bisphenol-A (BPA) and
Phthalates
One of the most ubiquitous chemical contaminants of the
21st century is BPA. BPA is an endocrine disrupter, which
means it mimics or interferes with your body's hormones and
"disrupts" your endocrine system. The glands of your
endocrine system and the hormones they release are
instrumental in regulating mood, growth and development,
tissue function, metabolism, as well as sexual function and
reproductive processes.
Some of the greatest concern surrounds early-life, in
utero exposure to BPA, which can lead to chromosomal errors
in your developing fetus, causing spontaneous miscarriages
and genetic damage. But evidence is also very strong showing
these chemicals are influencing adults and children, too,
and leading to decreased sperm quality, early puberty,
stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted
reproductive cycles and ovarian dysfunction, cancer, and
heart disease, among numerous other health problems.
Research has shown that BPA is often detected in human
sweat, sometimes even when it is not found in blood or urine
testing. The study concluded that not only should sweat
analysis be considered as a tool for monitoring
bioaccumulation of BPA, but also that induced sweating may
be a potential method of elimination for this widespread
toxin.6
Further, inducing sweating has also been found to help
eliminate another pervasive environmental chemical,
phthalates, from your body – including the particularly
toxic
DEHP. At this point, there’s really no telling just how
many toxic elements may be excreted via your sweat, but the
research is pointing to many.7
In yet another study to look at the role of sweating as a
form of toxics elimination, it was found that many toxic
elements were preferentially excreted through sweat. Those
researchers also concluded:8
“Presumably stored in tissues, some toxic
elements readily identified in the perspiration of some
participants were not found in their serum. Induced
sweating appears to be a potential method for
elimination of many toxic elements from the human body.
Biomonitoring for toxic elements through blood and/or
urine testing may underestimate the total body burden of
such toxicants. Sweat analysis should be considered as
an additional method for monitoring bioaccumulation of
toxic elements in humans.”
Interestingly, profuse sweating can actually help
decrease body odor. Foul body odor is related to the toxins
being expelled – it's not your "natural" scent. If you're
living a "clean" lifestyle, meaning a lifestyle in which
you're minimally exposed to dietary and environmental toxins
and therefore have a low toxic burden, your sweat will be
close to odorless.
How to Safely Sweat More
Virtually any type of intense exercise will prompt you to
sweat, although doing so in warm weather (or in a heated
room, such as in Bikram yoga) will create even more
sweating. You can also induce sweating via a sauna, either
traditional or infrared.
Infrared saunas are a great option and can significantly
expedite the detoxification process. It heats your tissues
several inches deep, which can enhance your natural
metabolic processes. It also enhances circulation and helps
oxygenate your tissues.
The difference between an infrared sauna and the
traditional Finnish-style saunas is that the latter heats
you up from the outside in, like an oven. The infrared sauna
heats you from the inside out, raising your body’s core
temperature and resulting in a deeper, more cleansing sweat.
It’s said that using an infrared sauna will cause you to
produce a sweat that is composed of 20 percent toxins,
compared to only 3 percent toxins by using a traditional
sauna.9
Keep in mind that sweating, especially heavy sweating,
will cause your body to lose valuable fluids and
electrolytes. Be sure to stay well hydrated if you’ve been
sweating heavily and replace your electrolytes naturally by
drinking coconut water or water mixed with Himalayan salt.
© Copyright 1997-2014 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2014/01/10/sweating-benefits.aspx
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