by Frances Yeager

Created on: April 08, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Sweating has a bad rap. Culturally, sweating is generally seen as smelly, gross, and unclean. Yet, sweating is one of out body's most fundamental and natural processes. Sweating is as basic and integral as body functions like digestion and circulation, and has a variety of health benefits.

The primary purpose of sweating is to cool us off. The average person has approximately 2.6 million sweat glands all over their body. When our internal temperatures rise due to exercise, higher temperatures, overstimulated nerves, or spicy foods, sweating keeps the body from overheating. The excretion evaporates off our skin, excess heat is removed, and we are left feeling cooler. While our bodies work up a sweat to cool our hot engines, a number of valuable things happen. As our systems work hard to perspire, we increases our heart rates, our cardiac output, and our metabolic rate, thus kicking our heart into shape, and helping us to lose excess weight.

Sweating is also part of our body's waste management system. Everyday we take in toxins from our environment. While our kidney's sort through and expel toxic metals like copper, mercury, cadmium, zinc, lead, nickel and sulphuric acid, sweating helps aids the kidneys, and purges these dangerous carcinogens through our pores. Everyday we rid ourselves of 30% of our body's toxins through perspiration.

Sweating also releases other bodily wastes, such as excess salt, urea and lactic acid that are produced by our metabolism. The expulsion of these wastes wards off body aches, nausea, stiff muscles and headaches and general fatigue.

Our skin can also benefit from all this perspiration. Sweating gets rid of dirt and other impurities that tend to clog pores, cause acne, and age our skin prematurely. Natural antibiotics, such as dermcidin, have been found in human sweat. Dermcidin can limit disease causing bacteria that could potentially lead to skin infections.

Working up a sweat is overall, a great way to cleanse your body. There are numerous ways to work up a healthy glow. Cardiovascular exercise is a great option. Cardio burns calories, strengthens your heart, increases your lung capacity, reduces high cholesterol and blood pressure, releases endorphins, helps you sleep, reduces stress, and of course, gets you sweating.

If you are looking for another way to sweat after a long day, when you just don't have the energy required for that 2 mile jog, consider the sauna. The sauna offers plentiful health benefits in addition to a good, clean sweat. Saunas can also provide relief for those suffering form asthma and chronic bronchitis, as well as pain from rheumatic diseases. Saunas can help athletes increase their performance during endurance sports by upping their exercise tolerance, and increasing their respiratory oxygen intake. These treatments have also been found to be calming due to their reduction of adrenaline hormone levels that often cause stress.

However you choose to sweat, whether it be an intense cardio exercise, a relaxing sauna or spicy meal, learn to love your sweat, since it is working for you.

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