Sweat

It is one of those beautiful but heavily dewed June mornings that emerge from the misty darkness. My morning walk is a delight but the humid air brought an almost immediate sweat. (OK; I admit the air coupled with carrying extra pounds.) A shower before my stroll instead of after perhaps wasn’t wisdom.
I thought to myself—what a curse it is to sweat (perspire to more genteel folks). This particular sweat progressed beyond taking a quick “Rite Guard shower” when I got home. I was frustrated even though in some circles I know it’s considered a good thing to sweat. I was determined to see if there could be any good in sweating.
When I got home and showered, I started my research on the computer with “Google,” “Wikipedia,” and a new site to me called “How Stuff Works.” My findings were fascinating.
Most of us have an average of 2,600,000 highly regulated sweat glands over most areas of our bodies. All of these are controlled and regulated by a special center in the brain where special thermo sensitive neurons get their input. I found that I am in select company consisting of only primates and horses to even be able to sweat under the armpits rather than panting from the oral cavity and pharynx to perform the same function. The primary purpose of sweating is to decrease the core temperature as muscles exercise. The resulting evaporation cools the skin surfaces as well. Nausea, nervousness (think lie detectors), and stress can produce the same effect. I also learned that male sweat may in theory affect the hormone levels of opposite sex.
I also learned that sweat can produce up to from about 3 ½ ounces to almost 9 quarts of water a day. In addition, up to 1% of the discharge may be special solids, minerals, and electrolytes such as sodium (salt), nickel, zinc, chromium, lactate, and urea, etc. I remember taking massive quantities of salt pills in Texas and in the tropics but never understood why. I just knew I didn’t want to experience the heat strokes a few others encountered.
I went on into other “rabbit trails” such as how the aluminum chloride in antiperspirants work to swell and “close” the sweat glands and may cause them to actually shrink. However, when I got back on track, I sat in awe (again) of the complex engineering of my physical body—even the parts and functions I don’t like. Who am I to question that Someone who did such a marvelous job of intricate design (and even knows how many hairs are left on my head after each shower) doesn’t care for me?