Can sweating have health benefits? Sweating often has a bad reputation because it causes sticky clothes and odor problems. But it’s just another way for your body to regulate its temperature. Sweating is the body’s natural way of cooling the blood, which in turn helps prevent a dangerous rise in core body temperature.
When your core temperature rises, sensors in your skin detect the change and send a message through the nervous system to activate sweat glands near the surface of the skin. As sweat evaporates from your skin, your core body temperature drops. That’s why a hot bath feels so good after a hard workout or on a hot day. As an aside, sweat doesn’t smell initially; it only takes on an odor when it mixes with the bacteria on your skin.
Despite its negative connotations, it’s reassuring to know your body can sweat. When you exercise, your body produces sweat to help cool you down. Sweating releases heat to lower your core body temperature. Otherwise, you would risk overheating. Even minor overheating can make you feel tired and affect your exercise performance. Plus, a substantial rise in core body temperature is dangerous to your health.
Some people go out of their way to avoid sweating, but by doing so they’re missing some phenomenal health benefits. The benefits of sweating go beyond keeping you cool. Let’s look at why you can feel good about working up a sweat.
Sweating May Lower Your Body’s Heavy Metal Burden
Can sweating reduce your body’s heavy metal burden? You’re exposed to heavy metals (everyone is) from the environment through food and even the water you drink. For example, some fish accumulate heavy metals in their body, and when you eat those fish, it increases your own body’s heavy metal burden.
One Chinese study found that people who exercised a lot (and sweated) had lower levels of heavy metals than people who didn’t. This only shows an association between heavy metals and sweating, but it’s an intriguing finding and one that deserves more in-depth research.
Research shows that sweat can contain heavy metals, so there may be some truth to the idea that sweating is a form of heavy metal detox, but it’s an area that needs more research. Your liver and kidneys are most important organs for detoxification, and sweating plays a minor, but significant role.
Sweating May Reduce Your Body’s Burden of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals
Other concerning chemicals in the environment are ones that disrupt the body’s hormone balance, so-called endocrine disruptors. Two of concern are bisphenol A (BPA) and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). BPA gets a lot of press because it’s a chemical in plastic.
Chemicals like BPA and PCBs are linked with infertility and hormonal disruption in animals. Scientists believe BPA may be harmful to humans too, especially fetuses and infants. Because of these concerns, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned manufacturers from using it in sippy cups, baby bottles, and in packaging for baby formula.
Could sweating help eliminate these harmful chemicals that throw hormones off balance? A 2013 study found that sweating may help reduce PCBs. Another study found that you also release BPA through your skin when you sweat. So, sweating could reduce the negative effects of these chemicals on your body. Studies show around 90% of people have BPA in their bloodstream.
Despite these findings, the amount of BPA and PCBs you lose through sweating is small, so it’s best to reduce your exposure to these chemicals as much as possible.
Sweating Is Beneficial for Heart Health
Working up a sweat through aerobic exercise is one way to improve your cardiovascular fitness and lower your risk of heart disease. However, sweating in a sauna has similar benefits. The results of a 20-year study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that people who engaged in at least 4 sauna sessions per week had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular death, and sudden cardiac death. Sitting in a hot sauna is also a way to relax and relieve stress. The stress-relief benefits may also explain some of the cardiovascular benefits of languishing in a hot sauna.
Sweating Has Mental Health Benefits
Sweating is also indirectly a stress reliever. When you work up a sweat through aerobic exercise, your body produces more endorphins, natural chemicals that ease pain and relax your mind and body. Endorphins are the same chemicals that explain the runner’s high, the sense of peace that runners get after running a few miles. Any type of high-intensity exercise that causes you to sweat may offer similar benefits. The worst thing you can do for your mental health is sit around. Keep moving!
Sweating Gives Your Skin a Glow
This is more superficial, but it’s still a benefit. Whether you sweat from aerobic exercise or a hot sauna, sweating gives your skin a youthful glow. When your body temperature rises, blood vessels dilate to release heat. Dilated blood vessels also add color to your face, so you get that glow of health. Don’t you love perks like that?
The Bottom Line
You might not like the sticky residue that sweat leaves on you and your clothing, but now you know it has health benefits. Even more important is what you do to break into a sweat. Oftentimes, that’s exercise, and you also gain the health benefits that exercise offers.
One precaution: Losing water through sweating can lead to dehydration, so it’s important to replenish the water in your body with fluids when you work out. Before and after a workout, check your weight and see how much it dropped. For every pound of weight that you lost through sweating, drink 16 ounces of fluid to replace it. Now you have even more reasons to move your body and work up a sweat. Take advantage of what it can do for your health!
References:
- Genuis SJ, Beesoon S, Birkholz D, Lobo RA. Human excretion of bisphenol A: blood, urine, and sweat (BUS) study. J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012:185731. doi: 10.1155/2012/185731. Epub 2011 Dec 27. PMID: 22253637; PMCID: PMC3255175.
- com. “The Health Benefits of Sweating”
- JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(4):542-548. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187.
- “Sweating Benefits: Beyond Body Temperature Regulation.” 25 Apr. 2019, healthline.com/health/sweating-benefits.
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