Table of contents:
- How is the sweat formation process?
- What is contained in sweat?
- Benefits of sweating for health
- 1. Remove toxins from the body
- 2. Beautify the skin
- 3. Reduce stress
- 4. Reducing the risk of kidney stones
- Easy tips to sweat every day
Whenever you are doing activities in hot places or doing physical activity that is hard enough, your body will start to sweat. Even though it makes the body feel sticky, sweat (sweat) plays an important role in maintaining the work functions of the human body.
How is the sweat formation process?
Basically, the sweat glands work to stabilize the body's core temperature. Humans have two to four million sweat glands scattered throughout the body. These glands are divided into two types, namely eccrine glands and apocrine glands.
The sweat formation process starts when you exercise or do strenuous physical activity, your body temperature will increase.
At that time, the hypothalamus (the part of the brain that controls body temperature) will send signals to the nervous system to stimulate the eccrine glands to produce sweat.
Later, the sweat that has been produced will come out through the skin pores and evaporate. Body temperature slowly returns to normal.
The fluid that comes out when the body sweats is mostly produced by the eccrine glands. These glands are found in almost all parts of the body, including the palms of the hands and feet, forehead, cheeks, and armpits.
Meanwhile, apocrine glands are found in the armpit and groin area. The sweat that comes out of these glands is not only triggered by body temperature, but can also be triggered by stress, anxiety, or erratic hormones.
The amount of fluid produced when the body sweats varies from person to person. There are several factors that influence it, the two main of which are fitness level and body weight.
Bigger people have more sweat glands. The energy expended during activity will be more, considering the higher body mass. Therefore, obese people tend to sweat more easily.
What is contained in sweat?
Sometimes, when not wiped or wiped, sweat will flow and accidentally enter the mouth. From this incident, many people tasted the salty taste.
In fact, the sweat that is produced mostly by the eccrine glands contains sodium. Sodium is also often referred to as salt. This substance is released when the body sweats so that the sodium levels in the body remain balanced.
Other substances that are also contained in sweat are as follows.
- Protein: released to help maintain the immune system.
- Urea (CH4N20): waste substances that the liver produces when processing certain proteins.
- Ammonia: a substance that the kidneys produce when filtering out nitrogen in urea.
Not only salty, sweat is also synonymous with bad smell. In fact, sweat is odorless. The odor will appear when the sweat is exposed to bacteria on the skin. This also usually only occurs in the sweat produced by the apocrine glands.
The sweat that results from the apocrine glands has a thicker texture and tends to contain fat. When fat is broken down by bacteria, there will be waste products that cause odors. Sweat is what causes body odor in a person.
Benefits of sweating for health
Apart from maintaining body temperature, sweat also has a number of other benefits. Here are the various benefits of sweating.
1. Remove toxins from the body
Sweating is your body's natural way of getting rid of toxins. Apart from containing body fluids, sweat also carries various types of compounds, including small amounts of metals such as cadmium, aluminum, and manganese which are potentially toxic if too much is stored in the body.
There are approximately two to five million sweat glands that are scattered on the human skin to help get rid of many toxic substances in the body.
2. Beautify the skin
When sweating, the sweat glands will produce a lot of sweat that comes out of the skin pores. That way, the dirt that is locked in the pores of the skin will be pushed out by sweat.
This makes the pores clean and fresh again. That's why many say that exercising can make you more beautiful.
However, this benefit can only be obtained if you sweat moderately. If you sweat excessively or known as hyperhidrosis, this condition can actually lead to fungal growth and the appearance of eczema (atopic dermatitis).
For that, avoid caffeine which can trigger excessive sweating.
3. Reduce stress
Sweating does not directly reduce stress or improve mood.
However, increasing body heat by exercising or a sauna can release endorphins and other chemicals released by the brain to naturally improve mood and reduce stress.
4. Reducing the risk of kidney stones
Sweating can be an effective way to remove salt and retain calcium in your bones. This can limit the accumulation of salt and calcium in the kidneys and urine that is the origin of kidney stones.
It's no coincidence that people who sweat tend to drink more water and fluids, which is another preventive method for kidney stones.
One study found that walking for several hours a week can reduce the risk of developing kidney stones. Sweating helps to clean the system more efficiently because it demands the body to drink more.
Easy tips to sweat every day
Removing sweat is very good for the health of the body because the body is able to remove harmful toxins. The following are ways you can do to sweat naturally.
- Increase the intensity of exercise. Sweating is your body's way of regulating its body temperature, so exercising can raise your core to heat enough and trigger your sweat glands.
- Was in a hot room. If we are in a stuffy room with less ventilation, then usually we will be hot so that the body will sweat automatically. In addition, you can also enter the hot steam bath room in the places that provide it.
- Using clothes with several layers. The extra layer can trap heat next to the skin and help raise your body temperature. Warming up will activate your sweat glands.
- Extend the duration of your exercise. Maybe you need to increase the duration of your exercise routine. The longer you exercise, the more likely it is that your body temperature will increase and can trigger sweating.
But it's also important to understand that when you sweat, the amount of fluid in your body decreases. This can lead to dehydration. Therefore, adjust your body's own abilities to the extent that you are able to sweat.
Don't forget to drink plenty of water before exercising and continue to replenish lost body fluids periodically while on the move.