Sweating a Lot Doesn’t Mean You Have a Good Workout.
Let me introduce you to your good friend, dear. For now, ignore the gross sensations and potential of BO and think about what it does for you: When your body gets too hot, threatening to raise your core temperature higher than healthy, small glands in your skin squeeze the moisture droplets onto it. surface. As soon as the breeze hits these droplets, they evaporate, carrying away some of your body heat.
Pretty cool, huh? So let’s take a look at what it means to sweat while exercising:
- You are hot
- Your body wants to cool you down
- That’s all . Promise.
Sounds too simple? Let’s take a look at scenarios in which you sweat. On a hot day when you mess around? Check. Indoor air-conditioned when you exercise? Also check. Exercise raises your body temperature (muscles generate heat when you work), so you will feel warm and sweaty. It is not the exercise itself that causes sweating, but the warmth.
You can get a great workout even if you don’t sweat a lot
At the same ambient temperature, harder training can lead to more heat in the body, which is why we created a link between perspiration and hard work. Although this is deceiving.
If you run 10 miles in hot weather, you sweat. Ten miles on a treadmill at room temperature and you might not sweat as much, but you will still be dripping. Run 10 miles in winter, though, and you won’t get very wet. This is because your body doesn’t need to worry about getting cold.
Why do some people sweat more than others?
One of the biggest differences between people who sweat a lot and those who sweat less is body size. It doesn’t matter if you are fat, muscular, tall, or some combination of these; the more you are, the harder your skin has to work to cool you down, and therefore the more you sweat. Compared to adults of average or larger size, children and miniature people have a larger surface area (skin) compared to their body weight, which needs cooling. In other words, they have a higher surface area to volume ratio , so they can cool down with less sweating. It’s just physics.
If you lose significant weight, you may sweat (slightly) less for this reason. On the other hand, the more fit you are, the more you can sweat, as research shows that runners’ bodies turn on sweat glands earlier than sedentary people and that they sweat more during the same workout.
Finally, if you feel like the biggest sweater in a group of friends, see if you are really making relevant comparisons. If you drip as you run in the midday sun and see your friend post a selfie from an air-conditioned gym, don’t expect the two of you to sweat the same way.
What’s the connection between sweat and weight loss?
Sweating a lot during exercise doesn’t mean you’re losing fat, so let’s debunk this myth right away. However, heavy sweating can make you lose weight, which is only temporary.
Our body contains a certain amount of water in the blood and in the various cells and divisions of which we are made. We can lose it a little, get a little dehydrated and not even notice. Or we might drink a ton of water and get very hydrated and have to urinate a lot to get back to normal. In extreme cases, we can become so dehydrated that it threatens our health, but this is rare during normal activities.
When you sweat and that sweat evaporates or wears off (say, you dry your forehead with a towel), it is water that comes out of your body. You can actually weigh yourself before and after your workout and notice a change in weight if you sweat enough. Every pound of weight you lose is two cups (16 ounces) of water that has left your body. So you technically “lost weight,” but it wasn’t fat. You just have to drink two cups of water and then you will be hydrated and happy again.