Most people try to avoid sweating at all costs, but you may be doing your health a disservice if you do not work up a sweat now and then.
From exercise to sweat bathing in a sauna or steam room, encouraging your body to perspire has many health advantages that extend beyond just regulating your body temperature.
Your body has four million sweat glands that are there for a reason, and their purpose is to eliminate and excrete water, excess salts, proteins, and amino acids from your body as well as unwanted pollutants.
But, why would we want to sweat? Here are the top eight benefits of sweating.
Detoxification of Heavy Metals
When you sweat, your body can remove all kinds of pollutants and contaminants from your system. In fact, some compounds are more effectively removed from your body via your sweat glands than through other excretory pathways.
Heavy metals, including mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic, are more readily and easily removed from the body during sweating than through the urine, according to a Chinese study (1).
Those who sweat more frequently, through exercise, sauna use, or some other activity, are known to have lower levels of heavy metals in their systems than those who sweat less.
As levels of toxic metals rise in our food and water supplies, it becomes even more critical that we effectively remove them from our bodies, and sweating is one way to accomplish this.
Promotion of Healthy Skin
When you sweat, you also encourage the elimination of harmful bacteria and pore-clogging pollutants on your skin.
When you sweat, you improve the production of new skin cells and are also expelling bacteria on the skin that can lead to acne.
Sweating enhances the texture and tone of your skin and can boost your circulation, which can help your skin clarity and overall appearance.
Protection for Your Heart
When you boost your circulation and sweat while exercising or using a sauna, you are also strengthening your heart and entire cardiovascular system.
Those that use a sauna regularly are at a lower risk for having heart disease or dying from a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack.
In a longitudinal study of Finnish sauna users, researchers noted that those who use a sauna more frequently are less likely to have a fatal cardiovascular event or to suffer from heart problems (2).
Sweating is the result of raised body temperature, which is also accompanied by improved blood circulation.
Hot temperatures, such as in a sauna, increase vasodilation, which can have several health benefits to your heart as well as areas of the body that suffer from poor circulation, as well.
Removal of Harmful Chemicals
Our bodies today are exposed to many chemicals that can cause harm to our brains, tissues, and organs.
For example, BPA (bisphenol A) is a chemical found in many plastics that can disrupt your endocrine system function. According to recent research, sweating is the most effective method of removing BPA from your body, beating out urine and blood as methods for removing or filtering this chemical compound from your tissues (3).
Researchers have also discovered that sweating is an effective method for excreting other endocrine disruptors and environmental chemicals, including PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) (4).
Improvement for Immunity
Your skin is an integral part of your immune system. It is a significant barrier to pathogens entering your body and serves as a defense against environmental microbes and pollutants.
When you sweat, you produce a natural germ-killing protein that destroys harmful pathogens that can cause you serious harm, including TB and MRSA (5).
Your sweat is just as crucial at fighting diseases as your gut lining, and the more you sweat, the more germs and toxins you are flushing from your body before they can make you sick.
Sitting in the high heat of a sauna can also kill bacteria that are living on your skin, which can reduce your risk of infection or improve healing time for wounds.
Your body responds to the various microbes present in your body by releasing different proteins in your sweat, which is another example of how sweating is connected to your immune system health (6).
Lowering of Inflammation
Sitting in a sauna can also reduce excess inflammation and help to treat pain within the body.
When you expose your body to elevated levels of heat and induce sweating, your body releases heat shock proteins, which are anti-inflammatory in nature.
They turn off the inflammatory response and help reduce pain and other symptoms associated with chronic inflammation (7).
When you sweat, your body also releases antioxidants, which can help reduce oxidative stress, which is responsible for inflammation in many cases, too (8).
Improvement in Mood and Outlook
Whether from exercise or sauna bathing, sweating activates a response within the nervous system that tells your body to relax while also slowing certain functions like digestion.
This response is meant to allow you time to recover from vigorous activity.
When you sweat, you also reduce your levels of cortisol and other stress hormones while increasing levels of positive hormones and neurotransmitters.
Sweating can, therefore, boost your mood, enhance your outlook, and help you to feel more relaxed and positive.
Enhancement of Recovery After Exercise
Sweating and increased circulation boost your body’s ability to recover from strenuous exercise while also reducing the pain and other symptoms often associated with working out or engaging in physical activities.
Improved blood flow to muscles helps to flush out excess lactic acid while providing your tissues with elevated levels of oxygen and nutrients for enhanced regeneration.
Sweating also increases your production of growth hormones, which help to repair muscles and connective tissues after exercise.
Conclusion
In addition to these many benefits, sweating is also helpful for lowering your risk of neurological degeneration, can help you lose weight, and enhances your body’s ability to regulate your hormones and treat many common conditions.
Sweating is a necessary and essential part of your health, and it can keep you healthy and well.