Why Humans Sweat
We all know that you sweat in order to attempt to lose heat and reduce the temperature of the body. But why is it the chosen method for humans? And how does it function?
Humans have a large skin surface area. In fact, if all the skin cells of the body were lined up next to each other they would reach around the circumference of the planet. No wonder we spend so much on skincare. Add to this the fact that the surface of the skin is largely bald, and you have one very large, flat heat exchange area that is brilliantly adapted to losing heat quickly, although it can be restricted by beauty products on the skin. Dogs do not have sweat glands the same as us and even if they did they would not lose heat efficiently from the skin surface as it is covered in hair. This is why they choose to loose heat from the most flat and large exposed area of skin, which is the tongue.
When a human sweats and heat is taken away from the surface of the skin, this process is know as evaporation. Now liquid evaporates all the time from loads of places. mud, grass, the ocean…They all evaporate at one rate or another, but what also happens is that as the water gets taken up into the air, heat goes with it. This is because turning water into a gas requires energy. The heat is needed to turn the liqued into a gas and this heat is taken from the skin surface whent sweat is lying on top. up to 75% of the body is made of water and therefore we have a great deal of it to use. This is why sweating is mostly our chosen method of heat loss but as you can imagine causes problems when our resources are depleted as all our organs also need water to function. Although a fast and effective way to lose heat, humans struggle to survive in extremely hot and dry places, and this why sweating is not an option for desert animals.
Filed Under: Cardio • Weight Training
