Most people sweat after exercising or when the weather is too hot. If you lick the sweat at this time, you will find it salty, especially after high-intensity exercise, this salty taste will be more obvious. Why is that? In fact, in addition to the salty taste, some "odors" of sweat can help us identify some diseases or special conditions. The American health website Healthline recently wrote an article that takes us into the science behind sweat.
Why is sweat sweaty?
Let's first look at the source and composition of sweat. To help the body regulate body temperature, the body expels sweat, which is produced by exocrine glands, mostly in the armpits, forehead, soles of feet, and around the palms.
In addition to water, there are many other components in exuded sweat, including:
1. Sodium. Sodium is what makes your sweat salty, and the secretion of sodium can help maintain the sodium balance in your body.
2. Protein. There are about 95 different proteins in sweat, which help boost immunity and strengthen the skin.
3. Urea. When the liver breaks down protein, urea is produced, and the secretion of urea in sweat can prevent toxicity from accumulating to a higher level.
4. Ammonia. When your kidneys can't filter out all the nitrogen in urea from your liver, ammonia is excreted with sweat.
In addition to the exocrine glands, your body also produces sweat from the apocrine sweat glands. This type of sweat is caused by stress and is mainly located in the armpit, chest, and groin areas. Apocrine sweat glands are also a source of body odor.
In addition, diet and exercise intensity can also affect sweat volume and salt content in sweat. The more salt you eat, the more salty your sweat will taste. Our body needs to consume all the salt in some way. In order to maintain a healthy weight and blood pressure, sweating is an important part of the body's secretion of salt; the more intense the exercise, the more salt is lost in sweat. Three times as much salt is lost in high-intensity exercise, such as American football or endurance sports, than in low-intensity exercise.
The benefits of sweating
Sweating does not always make you comfortable, especially before important meetings or during a sultry commute. But sweating has many benefits, including:
1. Clean the dirt, bacteria in the skin pores , and other substances that may block the pores;
2. If you can often rehydrate when sweating, secrete protein and minerals through sweat and urine, which can reduce the risk of kidney stones;
3. Eliminate high concentrations of toxic heavy metals in the body (especially in the case of regular exercise and sweating);
4. Exhaust toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and bisphenol A (BPA), which are common in plastics and other daily products, and may have long-term negative effects on the body and cognition.
Sweating is good, but it can also indicate illness
But sweating can also have some adverse effects. Slightly less optimistic sweating symptoms may occur due to diet and lifestyle choices, or underlying illnesses:
1. Sweat is sweating: It may be because of diet or even frequent exercise, which leads to too much acid accumulation in the body, the body cannot break down, and acidosis.
2. Sweat sweat: It may be the stress sweat produced by the apocrine glands or the consumption of certain foods and beverages, such as red meat and alcohol.
3. The sweat is salty and tingling: This means that you may have consumed too much salt, which is secreted with sweat and tingles your eyes or wounds.
4. Sweat or urine smells fishy: It is usually a sign of trimethylamineuria. This smell occurs when your body cannot break down trimethylamine.
5, Excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis): excessive sweating is usually only a harmless genetic disease, that is, primary hyperhidrosis. But another type of secondary hyperhidrosis will start to appear as you get older, and may be caused by heart disease, cancer, adrenal disease, stroke, hyperthyroidism and other diseases. It may also be a side effect of drugs, such as antidepressant desipramine, nortriptyline, protiline, and pilocarpine, zinc dietary supplements, etc.
6. No sweating (Sweating Less): This may mean that your sweat glands are not working properly. As you age, it is normal for your ability to sweat to decline. But if you don't sweat even if you exercise regularly, you may be suffering from less sweat. Hypohidrosis may be caused by nerve damage. Any disease that causes nerve damage, such as diabetes, Parkinson's, and psoriasis, may damage sweat gland function.
references:
1、Healthline
Why Is My Sweat Salty? The Science Behind Sweat
https://www.healthline.com/health/why-is-sweat-salty
