Two nights ago, I went to the track for a run. It was a disgustingly hot day, and I planned it out so that I'd get to the track with just enough sunlight to do what I had to do. I wanted my run to be as cool as possible.But then I started sweating, and sweating, and sweating. I couldn't go on. I was too darn dehydrated and wet. I was like a 65 year-old on a treadmill.
And then the question hit me--why was I sweating so much?
It was an incredibly humid night, and every time it's humid, I sweat like John Daly on the back nine.
Thinking back to high school biology, I thought that due something similar to osmosis, humidity should preclude sweating. If there's more moisture in the air, wouldn't my body be more likely to retain water rather than sweat it off?
As the humidity continues to rise, and sweat marks begin to appear on office workers across America, I ask the question--why do we sweat more when it's humid?
3 comments:
I offer a hypothesis: We sweat to keep our body cool. Since the concentration of water vapor in the atmosphere is higher on humid days, not as much sweat will evaporate off the skin. When the coating of sweat is warmed by body heat, it makes us hotter and induces us to sweat more.
JT, it's nothing to be worried about. You're starting a period of your life called "puberty."
Miller I think has hit the nail on the head. We are supposed to sweat because when the sweat beads off it will promote osmosis and thus more water will be carried away by the wind or other forced and make us cooler.
However, how much we sweat and when/where (on our bodies) we sweat seems to be determined by genetics. For example, I won't sweat much at all during strenuous exercise, but when I stop and take a breath or a break, IT ALL POURS OUT, primarily from my head I've noticed.
With humidity, the sweat stays on your skin, and thus you get hotter and it begins a vicious cycle.
However, it is fairly likely that you'd be sweating more, but less noticeably, were it a more arid day.
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