As temperatures rise, some of us start to feel anxious about sweating.
Whether it is a smell or damp clothing, perspiration can make hot weather less fun.
But sweating is good for us, say medics, though many of us are reluctant to break out in a sweat unless we are doing sport.
Why do some of us sweat more than others, and how can we handle it best?
A physiologist and a dermatologist offer some advice in this Q&A:
Our bodies constantly produce heat to stay at 37°C, the normal temperature of the human body.
“As long as it’s cool, that’s not a problem,” says Ralf Brandes of the German Physiological Society.
But if the outside temperature rises or the body produces too much heat, it has to get rid of it to avoid overheating as that is dangerous.
The actual process involves the transfer of heat via the air flowing over our skin – or radiation and convection in other words.
If that isn’t enough, we get damp.
“Sweating allows us to release heat through evaporation.
“That’s very effective. One millilitre of sweat can cool a litre of water by one degree,” says Brandes.
That explains why muggy days are so taxing for many people.
“The water that the body releases through sweating does not evaporate into the air so easily, because the air is already saturated with moisture,” he says.
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How much you sweat is essentially a question of constitution, says Brandes.
People with smaller, rounder bodies have a smaller body surface area relative to their mass, so they need to sweat more to release more heat.
Genetic and hormonal factors also affect how much a person sweats.
You can, to a certain extent, train yourself to sweat by doing regular exercise or going to the sauna.
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However, this does not reduce the amount of sweat produced, it just means you sweat more efficiently.
“At the same time, you train your temperature tolerance so that you find heat less stressful,” says the physiologist from Goethe University Frankfurt.
Fresh sweat does not smell.
It consists mainly of water, salts, urea and lactic acid.
“It is only when components such as lactic acid are broken down by bacteria on the skin that the typical odour develops,” says Prof Dr Silke Hofmann of the German Dermatological Society.
It is bacteria that actually produce the odour.
Their density and composition vary from person to person, she says.
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Roll-ons, sprays or creams all offer extra freshness, with a wide range of deodorants and antiperspirants available in shops.
While deodorants reduce the bacterial count on the skin and mask odours with fragrances, antiperspirants inhibit sweating itself.
They contain aluminium salts that constrict the sweat glands, so that less sweat is released onto the skin,” says Prof Hofmann.
The best results are achieved by applying the products in the evening to clean, dry skin, be- cause the sweat glands are less active at night, allowing the ingredients to be absorbed more effectively. – dpa
