Explainer | Sweating benefits your body by helping keep it cool, but what if you sweat too much?

We typically sweat 500ml to 700ml in a day. We sweat when we’re hot, stressed or eating spicy food – and it has a ‘cooling’ effect

What if we sweat too much? Antiperspirant deodorants and creams can help, we can block nerves that cause sweating with pills or Botox and try therapy or surgery

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Sweating is a natural process. Here’s why we do it, how to treat it when we overdo it and some little known facts about sweating. Photo: Shutterstock

Hattie Rowan

Published: 6:45pm, 22 Oct 2021Updated: 12:29pm, 23 Oct 2021

Horses sweat, men perspire, ladies merely glow … so goes the adage.

But we all sweat. And sweating takes all manner of forms – different volumes, colours, places and smells. While for most people perspiration is normal and almost unnoticeable, for others, it can be so extreme that it affects their quality of life.

Why do we sweat? The function helps regulate body temperature; sweat glands found all over the body secrete a salt-based fluid in response to changes in temperature.

Dr Joyce Lai, a general practitioner in Hong Kong, explains that we can sweat from almost anywhere on our body, but more commonly from the forehead, armpits, palms, groin and soles of the feet.

Fitter people tend to sweat more because their bodies are quicker at responding to an increase in temperature when exercising. Photo: Shutterstock

There are three main types of sweating: thermal sweating is the most common and helps to cool the body and maintain its temperature at 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Psychological sweating occurs in response to sensations like fear, stress and pain. Gustatory sweating is typically triggered by eating or drinking something hot or spicy.

There is no absolute definition of a “normal” amount to sweat, but textbooks suggest people typically sweat 500ml (17 fluid ounces) to 700ml throughout the day – more when they undertake demanding physical activity. Lai says “there is a wide spectrum – some people just sweat more and some just sweat less”.

Explainer | Sweating benefits your body by helping keep it cool, but what if you sweat too much?

We typically sweat 500ml to 700ml in a day. We sweat when we’re hot, stressed or eating spicy food – and it has a ‘cooling’ effect What if we sweat too much? Antiperspirant deodorants and creams can help, we can block nerves that cause sweating with pills or Botox and try therapy or surgery