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January 31, 2022

Sweat stress: Stop worrying you perspire too much or too little

Filed under: Fitness — Tags: — admin @ 2:01 am

We know we sweat to keep ourselves cool, but why do some exercisers get totally drenched (we see you Rafael Nadal) while others survive without so much as a towel-down?

The fear you’re sweating too much can lead to embarrassment, while staying dry in an intense workout can cause concern that your body isn’t working as efficiently as it should be.

But understanding how and why your body sweats is the best way to stop feeling self-conscious about it while you’re exercising.

Sweat flies off Rafael Nadal as he plays against Daniil Medvedev in the men’s singles final at the Australian Open 2022. (Getty)

READ MORE: Does grunting really give tennis players an advantage?

Professor Robert Newton, co-director of the Exercise Medicine Research Institute at Edith Cowan University, told 9Honey Coach that as a general rule of thumb, men tend to sweat more than women.

“Men have larger and more numerous sweat glands,” Professor Newton explains.

But women have other cooling mechanisms that work just as effectively to lower their core temperature.

“They tend to be smaller size, which means they have a greater surface area so they are better able to radiate heat than men. They also have less body hair than men so they lose heat more effectively,” Professor Newton says.

“Women also have a much better ability to shunt blood to the skin, which is often why women get more flushed than men. It’s their natural ability to shift a large volume of hot blood to the skin and lose the heat through radiation.”

READ MORE: Do you burn more fat when you sweat

By sweating less, women do have the advantage of retaining more fluid in the heat, but overall Professor Newton says neither sex’s system is far superior to the other (it’s just that men are more likely to get sweat patches in the cooling process).

(Getty)

“There is very little difference between male and female marathon times and no noticeable difference in numbers who experience heat exhaustion,” Professor Newton points out.

Overweight people tend to sweat more because the body perceives they need more sweat in order to cool down, and stressful situations can induce a sweaty response in plenty of us — particularly on our palms.

About three per cent of the population suffer hyperhidrosis, which is a medically diagnosable condition characterised by excessive sweating in non-stressful or unheated places.

There is also some variation between people — some women sweat more and some men sweat less — but Professor Newton says that unless you have a medically diagnosed condition, you probably have nothing to sweat (ahem) about.

It’s also worth noting that the more that you train in hot conditions, the more you’re likely to sweat.

“Sweating is highly trainable — the capacity of your sweat glands increases when you exercise in the heat,” Professor Newton says.

(Getty)

“Your sweat glands acclimatise to the heat and can produce a greater volume of sweat. But interestingly sweat becomes less concentrated and has less salt in it so you are losing less electrolytes, which is important because if sodium gets depleted you can have muscle cramps or other problems.”

As for whether excess sweating is better for clearing toxins, as fans of hot yoga often say, Professor Newton says there’s no research to demonstrate that.

If anything, exercising in extreme heat hinders performance.

“The difficulty with exercising in the heat is you can’t work at the same rate because it’s much more difficult,” he says.

“When your core temperature starts to rise your body will signal that as a challenge and you will feel greater fatigue. You only have to drop about three per cent in body weight [through fluid loss] for your strength and endurance to be impacted negatively.”

Children also sweat a lot less because they have less developed sweat glands. Once they hit puberty, their sweat quantity usually increases.

“You have to be careful of kids in the heat because they’re not as effective at keeping themselves cool,” Professor Newton points out. 

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