As the saying goes, “Sweat is your body’s way of showing progress.” My guess is most people in the Southeast, Midwest, or Northeast portions of the United States are showing a lot of “progress” as it has been sweltering! According to the National Weather Service, nearly half the country has been under a heat advisory affecting 169 million Americans, with Nashville also experiencing record heat.
As we know, when it is hot and humid, it is important to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Why? The clinical answer is simple: we must hydrate because we lose bodily water through sweating, a necessary function that regulates body temperature and helps prevent heat exhaustion.
According to the World Health Organization, the average person can lose 500 milliliters (16.9 ounces) of water per day while simply resting in a cool environment. Conversely, that loss could be up to 10 liters, or 2.64 gallons when in the summer heat, outside, and exercising. Though based on expanded research, the benefit of sweating expands well beyond regulating our body temperature and/or reducing body heat.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, perspiration helps keep our body temperature at just the right level, which is typically around 98.6 degrees.
Perspiration has other benefits, including:
- Hydrating your skin. Sweat contains substances like amino acids, which function as humectants. This means they lock in moisture at your skin’s surface to keep your skin from drying out.
- Protecting your skin against infection. Sweat contains antimicrobial peptides like dermcidin. These are natural chemicals that support your immune function and combat invaders like bacteria or fungi.
- Lifting your mood. Exercise-induced sweating is known to increase the release of endorphins, the body’s natural mood enhancer.
- Science also shows that perspiring helps detoxify and boost the immune system.
The Cleveland Clinic notes that about 99 percent of a sweat droplet is water. The remaining one percent includes substances like electrolytes and low levels of toxins such as heavy metals and Bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins (yes, toxins we do not need)!
A study from 2022, referenced in the National Library of Science, National Center for Biotechnology Information, compared the difference between sweating as the result of exercise versus sweating in a steamy sauna. The study revealed the cause of how an individual sweats impacts their excretion of heavy metals, nickel, lead, copper, and arsenic. Interestingly, the outcome of detoxing was higher during exercise compared to relaxing in a sauna.
Daniel Amen, MD, PhD, and double board-certified psychiatrist, professor, and 12-time New York Times best-selling author, notes symptoms like brain fog and fatigue can occur when our body’s detox systems are overwhelmed. Dr. Amen also suggests sweating, whether through physical exercise or sauna sessions, is one of the most natural ways to support the body’s detox efforts.
Additionally, in May 2024, Dr. Amen cited studies through his social media account (Instagram), highlighting another benefit of perspiring/sweating. “People who take the most saunas have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. I have scanned 250,000 brains, and I believe saunas are the most effective detoxes.
So, whether you are “progressively” sweating due to the stifling humidity this summer, while exercising or enjoying a steamy sauna, the need to hydrate, perspire (and hydrate again), is clearly backed by a myriad of science to regulate temperature and detox those unwanted chemicals. At the same time, it is important to note that the liver and kidneys are responsible for most of the “cleansing” to remove toxic waste from the blood. For those looking for additional detoxing support, try Clean Slate, at www.therootbrands.com/purelivingroot.
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