Yes! I want to talk about that gross moisture that comes out of your pores! I want to talk about that yucky stuff that comes out of your body when you are outside on a hot summer day or doing physical activities. Sweat has gotten a bad rep and I am here to stand up for it!
Sweat can do SO MUCH good for us and I realized this after chatting with Work It Out Gym instructor, Lindsey Larkin. She had just got done leading a major outdoor work out class sponsored by WiO & The W Hoboken and leaned in for a hug and apologized for being sweaty. Of course I was just as sweaty as her, she just KICKED my butt as the sunset was beating down.
As our sweat stains began to dry, Lindsey and I got to discussing our paths to our own creational careers. We discussed the act of juggling careers and joked about how it can be hard sometimes to fit in even a shower. (Cue the EWWWW DISGUSTING remarks.) We laughed and got to chatting about sweat and how it actually does so much good for us and yet at times we are ashamed of it, just like we were in the beginning of our chat.
This convo with Lindsey inspired me to understand what actually happens to our body when we sweat and IF we happen to skip a shower. What I found is that it’s time to take pride in those sweat marks and forehead droplets, because we are doing so much right for our bodies when we perspire!
First off, what is sweat technically? Sweat is made up of mostly water but also contains minerals, urea, lactic acid, ammonia and sugar. Sweat is your body’s very own air conditioning system. Your sweat glands are trained to turn on when your body starts to heat up and its job is to cool you down.
We ladies need to understand that sweating is a natural and important process designed to help our bodies stay cool and can support detoxification, clear skin, and even increase the blood circulation in our bodies to support a healthy immune system. OoOo, what’s thattt?
Detoxification: Sweating is a natural and pure way to detox your body. Through this process, many of your body’s toxins and impurities are able to exit your body by way of your open skin pores. Sweating can flush the body of substances like alcohol, cholesterol, and salt. Those not so great things are reasons why your sweat can sometimes be smelly. We’ll talk more about that later…
Clear Skin: During sweating, your skin’s pores open and any dirt or impurities on the surface layers of the skin have a chance to exit. Sweat purges the body of pollutants that can clog pores and plague the skin with pimples and blemishes. Sweating regularly can help you to achieve softer and smoother skin.
Healthy Immune System: The almost 1 liter of sweat our bodies produce per day can strengthen your immune system. Sweating expels toxins, which supports proper immune function and helps prevent diseases related to toxic overload. When your body heats up, your body generates more white blood cells. This strengthens your immune system!
The major key to Sweat Success all depends on what you fuel your body with. When you fuel your body with healthy habits, our sweat is purer and cleaner. When our sweat is healthy, we feel it and it can help us skip a shower when in a time crunch. When you throw in a night of partying or 2am Johnny Rockets, that’s when our body has to purge toxins. That’s the stuff that causes our sweat to smell, for pimples to appear, and for getting sick. That kind of sweat, is unhealthy sweat and is the reason why sweat has gotten a bad name! Trust me, one indulgent night isn’t going to throw off your sweat completely but you will notice it! When you’re fueling your body with healthy food and plenty of water, your sweat and the benefits of sweating will prevail.
I hope this motivates you to embrace your sweat and feel proud of it when leaving a workout, going for a walk, or just sitting outside on a warm day! You are doing your body a substantial amount of WEALTH from heating it up and getting your sweat on!