If you don’t sweat you’re doing it wrong! That’s what sportspeople say.
Sweat; the salty droplets that run down our foreheads, leaving patches under our armpits – it’s all good! Yet Western society still likes to promote the notion that sweating is wrong, should be covered up and that women don’t sweat, they “perspire”.
So many words and phrases in our speech are all about sweat being a process that is unattractive, something to cover up and suppress. Don’t sweat, sweating like a pig, no need to sweat over it to name but a few. Nothing confirms this more than the explosion of the anti-perspirant industry. Sure, the well-known brand explain on their website that aluminium salts in their anti-perspirants form a gel that sits on top of the sweat glands and stops sweat being formed. In short, using this product stops you sweating or significantly reduces the amount of sweat produced. They claim 48 hour effectiveness in stopping you sweat. That’s 48 hours in which your body isn’t doing what it’s naturally meant to do.
Why do we sweat though?
We sweat because we need to cool down. Sweat is a part of thermo-regulation and the evaporation of sweat cools us when we have got into a situation in which our body needed to warm up. Exercise, danger, anxiety, menopausal hot flushes. All of these activities are natural and our body is telling us that something bigger is going on.
Can you imagine what would happen if our sweat pores were blocked with a layer of aluminium gel? Now whilst Sure are claiming that there is no link between aluminium salts and cancers there is plenty of information out there to suggest otherwise. Keele University did a study in 2007 which identified that higher amounts of aluminium were found in those who had breast cancer than those who didn’t.
Sweating is a way of attracting our perfect mate. We are attracted to people whose sweat we like. So if we cover up and suppress the process are we attracting the wrong person into our lives? just a thought….!
The difference between an anti-perspirant and a deodorant is that a deodorant stops the bacteria from smelling but doesn’t stop the sweating process. Reasons that this is much healthier are:
- Sweat eases pain by allowing the brain to release endorphins which are natural painkillers.
- Sweat gets rid of grime and dirt within the skin.
- It flushes the body of toxins which build up inside the body
- The more you sweat the less the risk of kidney stones
- It helps your mood. Doing exercise makes you feel happier.
So next time you reach for the anti-perspirant just have a think about the long term effects and try a deodorant instead.
