I hope you break a sweat

http://www.ba-bamail.com/content.aspx?emailid=10311

I absolutely hate sweating! I feel like I sweat an abnormal amount. The humidity here is a killer. I absolutely hate feeling of being overheated. Can you even imagine how it would feel to not sweat? You would have no way to cool yourself off. In my Architectural Engineering 211 class, my professor taught us about the different processes that our body goes through when it heats up. The body has certain mechanisms that help regulate the body’s temperature. When the body gets hot, the surface of the skin starts to dilate. The body then starts to sweat to cool down the body through evaporation. If the body can’t handle the heat, the final mechanism is to pass out (Moses AE 211). Sweating is an involuntary act that is a necessity when it comes to prevent heat exhaustion. The body goes through mechanisms to warm up as well. Instead of the skin dilating, the pores start to close, while the veins restrict (Moses AE 211). The involuntary response is shivering. Now if our bodies didn’t sweat, we would always pass out from heat exhaustion.

Anhidrosis means the inability to sweat.

Some people are born without sweat glands, while others have rare diseases that precent them from sweating.

Cystinosis is a disease that affects about 2,000 people and (along with many other complications) takes away their ability to cool themselves off.  You can read more about a girl and her struggles with this disease in the link above. Without the ability to sweat, someone must be limited in how long they can be outside without the risk of passing out. It’s safe to say that even though sweating is gross, it is quite necessary to live an active life in the long summer days.

you can learn more about Cystinosis.

You can also learn about the research that is continuously being done to explain the disease and hopefully find a cure.

This is an example of something in science that can’t really be explained at the moment, but scientists are diligently working to provide explanation.

One thought on “I hope you break a sweat

  1. Emaan Ali

    Hey Hannah! I can totally relate, just a ten minute walk from my dorm to the Forum building has me sweating profusely. This article has solutions for people like us! Despite the studies done by the University of British Columbia, proving ‘miraDry’ was successful in reducing sweating, i don’t think I would go to that much of an extreme!

Leave a Reply