A lot of us avoid sweating and even go to great lengths to avoid doing it. I’ll admit, even just the word sweat sounds gross to me. It sounds like the words moist, stench, and just an array of unpleasant words that can make you cringe.
However, sweat is a purposeful body process. While many of us actually find it unpleasant, it is, in fact, good for our health. This isn’t to say that you should allow yourself to sweat without caring for the stench, but rather, we should accept it as a normal bodily process.
Sweat or perspiration is primarily water with tiny amounts of chemicals, such as ammonia, urea, salts, and sugar. Whether it’s through dancing, working out, or even yoga, sweating is good for your health.
Here are a few benefits of sweating.
- It boosts your mood
Isn’t it ironic, that sweat actually boosts a person’s mood? Who would have thought, that a smelly liquid coming out of a person’s body is actually good for them? Sweating helps your brain make more endorphins, which are those feel-good neurotransmitters that come on strong after a good workout or dance session. The good thing is, for those who don’t have time, there are applications with vigorous exercises that are as short as 7 minutes, and they do the job of making you sweat. At the end of it, you feel much better about yourself. Foods That You Should Try Out To Boost Your Mood And Elevate Your Energy
- Good for your skin
Almost everyone is after smooth skin with few blemishes. That’s the definition of healthy skin. Sweating purges the skin of bacteria, dirt, oils, and impurities. The optimal pH factor for the skin is the same as the pH factor of sweat. On the other hand, the impurities that sweating helps flush out can stay on your skin. When the skin begins to re-absorb them, pH factors change and can lead to irritation and rash. That’s why it’s important to shower immediately after your high-performance activity to flush these toxins out of your skin.
- Weight loss
For those who are looking to lose some weight, then I’ve got some good news for you. Sweating itself doesn’t burn a measurable amount of calories, but sweating out enough liquid will cause you to lose water weight. However, your calorie burn isn’t measured by the amount of sweat you shed during a workout but rather by the amount of intensity or effort you put into it. This means that sweating alone cannot make you lose weight, but rather it contributes to a negligible amount of weight loss. Here are 6 Weight Loss Alternatives To Consider
- Detox
Simply put, detoxification is the elimination of toxins from the body. The body appears to sweat out toxic materials including heavy metals and bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in plastics, for instance, have been detected in sweat. As per a study carried out and published in the US National Library of Medicine, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury may be excreted in appreciable quantities through the skin, and rates of excretion were reported to match or even exceed urinary excretion in a 24-hour period.
- Boosts immunity
Sweating improves the body’s ability to fight against diseases. The sweat glands help our skin filter toxins out of the body, which in turn boosts our immune system. Sweating also cools our body and maintains proper body temperature. You have probably heard of people who believe in ‘sweating out a cold.’ This is the idea that using heat, exercise, or things that can make us sweat, makes a cold go away faster. According to Healthline, inhaling warm steam visiting a sauna or steam room and exercising may temporarily relieve nasal congestion because they help to loosen nasal mucus. Health: Foods That You Should Eat To Boost Your Immunity
- Heart health
There has been a spike in the number of heart diseases, particularly in recent years. This includes high blood pressure and heart attack. According to research published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Hypertension, men who sweat it out at least four times a week are nearly half as likely to develop high blood pressure. Both exercise and passive heat exposure can cause the core body temperature to rise. The body responds with a higher heart rate to pump more blood through the skin and begin perspiration. Health: What Should You Do to Keep Your Heart Healthy?
