Your back is all wet and so is your face. Don't sweat it — it's only sweat! Your body works best when its temperature is about When your body gets hotter than that, your brain doesn't like it — it wants your body to stay cool and comfortable.
So the part of your brain that controls temperature, called the hypothalamus say: hi-po-THAL-uh-mus , sends a message to your body, telling it to sweat. Then special glands in your skin called — what else? Sweat is also known as perspiration say: pur-spuh-RAY-shun , and it is made almost completely of water, with tiny amounts of other chemicals like ammonia say: uh-MOWN-yuh , urea say: yoo-REE-uh , salts, and sugar.
Ammonia and urea are left over when your body breaks down protein. The sweat leaves your skin through tiny holes called pores. Cooling down, however, isn't as easy as this sweat just dripping off of you. Some of this sweat has to evaporate off of your skin for this process to actually work.
That's because cooling your body via sweating relies on a principle of physics called "heat of vaporization. It takes energy to evaporate sweat off of your skin, and that energy is heat. As your excess body heat is used to convert beads of sweat into vapor, you start to cool down. The other trade off here, though, is that you also lose water as you sweat — and water is critically important for just about every organ in your body.
This means that when you're sweating, you also need to make sure you're drinking plenty of water so you can replace the water you lose with water you can use. All this to say, releasing heat through beads of sweat that can easily evaporate off the skin is a very effective way of cooling your body down.
By contrast, your dog releases heat by panting — which isn't nearly as effective as sweating. Whether it's your first day of work, a first date or a stressfully close sporting event , I'm sure we've all experienced the sweaty palms and underarms that come along with being stressed, scared or nervous. What you may not realize, however, is that this "emotional sweating" isn't quite the same as cooling sweat.
It happens for a different reason, and it's primarily associated with a different type of sweat gland altogether. In response to something stressful, scary, nerve-wracking or anxiety-inducing — and regardless of your body temperature — your body enters what's called the "fight-or- flight" response.
Among other things, this response revs up a second type of sweat gland found on your body: apocrine sweat glands. To be fair, your eccrine sweat glands get activated to some extent too, hence the sweaty palms, but what you're probably most concerned with are your sweaty armpits — and you have your apocrine glands to thank for that. Unlike eccrine sweat glands, which are found all over your body and produce sweat that's mostly made up of water and salts, apocrine sweat glands are isolated to your armpits and groin and produce a thicker, fattier sweat.
Why does this matter? Because it's what gives your armpits that distinctive odor you might smell if you forget to put on deodorant. To be clear, the sweat released from your apocrine glands doesn't smell itself. On the totally opposite end of the spectrum, people with hypo hidrosis sweat too little. While genetics factor into this, medication to treat nerve damage and dehydration can also be credited as a cause.
The last of a genetic sweating disorder is trimethylaminuria. This is when your sweat smells like fish or rotting eggs. A heteronormative study looked at whether or not smell was identical from both pits. They tested this by having 49 females sniff hour-old cotton pads.
The survey rated no different in right-handers. But in left-handers, the left-side odor was considered more masculine and intense. According to research , you can produce a certain odor that indicates happiness. This scent is then detectable by others, stimulating a feeling of happiness in them as well.
Emily Rekstis is a New York City-based beauty and lifestyle writer who writes for many publications, including Greatist, Racked, and Self. See more of her work on her website , or follow her on Twitter. Learn how they work and get the info to make your own. As we sort through sticky and scented natural deodorants, is there an option that provides less fuss and mess?
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