Have you ever noticed that the girl running on the treadmill next to you at the gym has a shiny glow while your shirt is completely soaked? Or maybe you've just finished hot yoga, and everyone else is walking out of class with a few glistening sweat beads, and you feel like you just got out of the pool. What gives?
Well, sweating is completely normal. You want to sweat! Maybe just not at a job interview, or on a date, or at any other inconvenient time that it seems to creep up. But everyone needs to sweat - its a natural bodily function controlled by your sympathetic nervous system. Sweat helps to maintain a normal internal body temperature. The sweat glands kick in to produce more sweat for reasons such as a fever, feeling nervous or anxious, exercising, or a high outside temperature. Your diet can also play a roll in your sweat output as many people have a sweating response to spicy foods or hot beverages.
Contrary to popular belief, sweating does not "detox" your body. More than 99% of sweat is water, combined with some electrolytes, like salt. A small amount of toxic substances can be released through sweat, but the detox process primarily occurs in the liver, kidneys and lungs.
So we sweat to cool off, but how much is too much?
Dee Anna Glaser, MD, president of the Hyperhidrosis Society, says "the amount of sweat considered normal is quite variable and depends on the demands of the body." There is an average when it comes to sweat, but some people produce more, and some produce less. People may sweat less than a liter, or up to several liters a day, based on what they are doing. So if you are exercising, working in a hot climate, or you find yourself in a stressful or embarrassing situation, you can expect to sweat a lot.
If you are sweating excessively, especially in a select few areas such as your hands, feet or underarms, you may have a medical condition called hyperhidrosis, where your body produces far more sweat than it needs to create. This condition affects about 3% of the U.S. population. If you find yourself sweating excessively while calmly sitting at your desk or watching a movie, you may have hyperhidrosis. In hyperhidrosis, the body's cooling mechanism is so overactive that it produces four or five times the amount of sweat that you need. The cause of this condition is unknown, but about half of people who have it have some type of family history with it. If you think you have this condition, visit a doctor!
Besides excessive sweating due to a medical condition, if you simply find yourself sweating more than your friends during a workout or at a picnic on a hot summer day, here are a few factors that could be playing a major role in the problem: