Whooo, there must be some healthy people in Ross Cross with all that sweating going on! Join us tomorrow (Thursday) night at 5:45pm or Friday morning at 5:45am to get your sweat on!!! The reality of sweating When you sweat, theres a lot more happening than just the visible signs of perspiration. Your sweat glands — nearly two million of them — are dispersed throughout almost all the skin on your body. Theyre found in the layer known as the dermis. Nerve cells within the dermis control sweating. Most people think of sweat as a way to stay cool when you overheat. But in fact, your body sweats continuously. Or at least, thats the case if youre healthy. The amount of sweat you produce is heavily affected by several things. These include not only air temperature and your activity level, but also — a surprising one — your emotional state. Sweat itself is made up primarily of water. It also contains minerals, lactic acid, ammonia, urea, and sugar. Sweat levels increase for most people when they exercise, when the weather (or room temperature) is really hot, or when theyre particularly angry or upset. Sweat levels can also increase when youre ill — a fever being the obvious case. Sweat comes in two varieties: Active and passive. Active sweating happens when you exercise, and it invigorates your body. Passive sweating, which has more of a therapeutic effect, happens when your core body temperature rises (usually because the air around you is hot, as in a traditional sauna or a steam room). The more advanced far infrared saunas are something else. They induce a passive sweat by heating the body directly, not just the air. In both active and passive sweating, your breath quickens, your circulation improves, and your metabolism speeds up. This combination of responses contributes to getting your body back to a normal temperature. In fact, temperature regulation is the most important benefit to sweating. On average, you burn approximately 2,500 calories in a single day. That means your body generates enough heat from oxidation to boil somewhere around 25 quarts of water. Since your body cant tolerate that kind of heat, you have a built-in cooling system. Sweating slows down the rate at which your body burns calories. It also helps blood vessels within your skin dilate in order to release heat. Sweat brings your body temperature back to normal. 8 more healing benefits of sweat Beyond temperature regulation, your body benefits from sweating in several other ways: Energy boost: Sweating through exercise releases endorphins that prompt an energy boost. Immune system boost: The theory is that as your body heats up, you generate more white blood cells. In turn, this strengthens your immune system. Cardiovascular benefits: Along with increasing the dilation of your blood vessels, your heart gets a workout each time you sweat. Your heart is a muscle, after all. Stress relief: Sweating is also relaxing. Its an effective stress reliever and helps get rid of fatigue in your body brought on by muscle tension. Pain relief: As the body heats up and starts sweating, circulation improves and those energy-boosting endorphins are released. But endorphins are also a natural pain-relieving chemical and help limit any discomfort you might feel from sore muscles or arthritis. Healthier skin: The November 5, 2001 issue of Nature Immunology, an online publication, cited work from Eberhard Karls University in Germany on the contents of human sweat. One ingredient the researchers discovered is something called dermcidin, an anti-microbial (antibiotic) peptide. Dermcidin plays a role in limiting the spread of disease-causing bacteria that lead to skin infections like impetigo. Also, some experts say heavy, regular sweating can slow the early signs of skin damage and aging. Weight loss: Sweating doesnt necessarily speed weight loss in the way many people think. What it actually does is force you to lose water, which does indeed result in a temporary weight loss. But even if the numbers on the scale change, you need to replace that water loss by drinking water — otherwise, you risk dehydration. But sweating does contribute to the weight loss process. When you exercise and your body heats up, water-soluble fat leaves your body through sweat. Detoxification: According to Dr. Lawrence Wilson, author of Sauna Therapy for Detoxification and Healing, cells that are damaged by toxic metals and other chemicals tend to be weaker than normal cells. When you heat these weaker cells, you speed up their death. This hastens the removal of metals and chemicals that may have been trapped in those damaged cells. Detoxification through sweat plays an important role in disease prevention and treatment. Toxins, we know, cause a host of problems — cancer being one of them. Regular sweating helps you reduce this toxic load. In fact, as much as 30% of your bodys waste gets removed through sweat. We see a lot of other cultures use this principle as a healing technique (think of Native American sweat lodges, for example). The second someone starts to feel ill, theyre sent to a dry sauna. Theres an old saying that a good sweat has the power to stop a cold in its tracks.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 21:39:25 +0000
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