Sweating…

It’s pretty common for people to feel self conscious about sweating during exercise.

This is totally understandable, as sweating is an involuntary action controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which is the part of our nervous system over which we have zero control.

We don’t consciously think to ourselves ‘this is tough, I think I’ll start sweating now’!

Sweating is basically what gives your body the ability to regulate its temperature. 

During exercise, your core body temperature increases & this fires a signal in your brain (in the hypothalamus) to start a cooling mechanism within the skin (in the sweat glands), and the sweating begins.

Sweat is almost entirely made of water, with the inclusion of small amounts of other chemicals such as urea, ammonia, along with salts & sugars. 

Sweat leaves your body through the pores in your skin.When the sweat hits the air, it causes evaporation. As the sweat evaporates off your skin, you will in turn begin to cool down.

Think of sweating as your body’s automatic air con unit that you don’t have to set or program!

The actual amount an individual sweats is dependent on many factors including gender, the number of sweat glands you have (more glands often equals more sweat, on average anywhere between 2 & 4 million glands per person), environment temperature & training  intensity.

There are also a number of emotional factors that can affect sweat levels – including anxiety levels, stress, nerves, anger, embarrassment & fear.

Sweating is completely normal, natural & essential.

Don’t sweat about sweating…

That’s all for today, have a good day, have a good workout, have a good weekend!

Tristan ‘sweater’ Buttle.