During a vigorous workout session at the gym, you might have wondered what all that sweat does to your skin? Is it beneficial, or does it damage your skin in any way? Well, the good news is that perspiration has an overall positive effect on your skin. This is because our bodies are complex machines and, as such, it has natural mechanisms in place to make sure everything works smoothly.
Perspiration or the act of sweating is one of those mechanisms. Put simply, perspiration is your body’s response to a rising temperature. As you exert energy and put your body to work, your body temperature increases, which activates your skin’s sweat glands. Your body begins to cool down when the sweat starts to evaporate when it comes in contact with the surrounding air.
However, while sweat does regulate our body’s temperature, it also affects our skin by opening up the pores, ridding the body of toxins, and providing natural exfoliation. But what is sweat made up of, and how exactly does it impact your skin – both negatively and positively? Here we will look at that and answer the question of how sweat affects your skin? Let’s get into it.
What is Sweat Made Up of?
Alright, so sweat is completely natural and normal, but how does it affect the skin? To answer that, let’s look at the brew of chemicals that make up sweat.
Sweat is primarily composed of water. No surprises there, but within that water, you can find varying amounts of toxins such as urea, ammonia, and other chemicals like salts and proteins.
While your liver and kidneys do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to ridding your body of toxic waste, sweat does help with excreting additional toxins, albeit in trace amounts.
How Does it Affect Your Skin?
So now that we know what sweat is and what it is made up of, we need to take a look at what impact it has on the largest organ in – or more accurately – on your body. Here is a look at both the upsides and the downsides of sweating regularly.
The Positives
When you work out, play sports, or do anything involving rigorous physical activity, your body will respond to the increase in your body temperature via sweat. Conquering those daily workout goals is a good thing in itself, but while your body is dealing with your elevated heart rate and body temperature, your skin receives the following benefits:
1. It rids the skin of dirt and impurities
In your day-to-day life, you encounter a host of different pollutants and dirt particles that sit on your face, gradually settling in your pores. Sweat helps your skin by expelling this build-up of contaminants from the pores giving you healthier skin. If it weren’t for your sweat glands pushing out those impurities from your skin, your skin would look rough and dry.
2. Gives you a youthful appearance
Have you ever noticed how your face looks radiant after a workout? This happens because of the increased blood flow to the skin and the expulsion of impurities through the sweat. Your pores open up naturally when your body heats up as a result of physical activity. The sweat then pushes onto the skin surface from their respective glands, ridding your body of oil and dirt build-up.
3. Acts as a natural exfoliator
Closed and messy pores are a no-go for healthy skin and can result in skin problems like acne and dry skin. If you have ever read tips on maintaining healthy skin, exfoliation is often at the very top. The reason is simple. You need to exfoliate daily to rid your face of dead skin and other impurities that may clog your pores. Sweating does this naturally by pushing against the contaminants that clog your pores, resulting in much healthier skin.
4. Protects the skin against E. coli and Staphylococcus
While nobody likes sweat-induced BO, you can rest assured that your skin is protected against harmful bacteria such as E. coli and Staphylococcus. Researchers have found that our sweat carries an antibiotic peptide called Dermicidin that helps protect the skin against bacterial infection.
The Negatives
Alright, so before you celebrate your skin’s amazing ability to thwart off bacteria and make you look younger, there is something which, if ignored, may prove counterproductive. However, don’t “sweat” because this isn’t anything that you cant take care of easily.
As you know by now, a lot of stuff happens on your skin when you sweat. Your skin pores open up and sweat drives out all the contaminants residing therein. However, if you leave all that sweat to dry out on your skin, all those impurities will settle right back in, causing problems such as rashes, irritation, and other skin problems.
However, this is nothing that some cold water and soap can’t take care of. To avoid any untoward ramifications from sweating, simply wash your face shortly after completing your workout. Ideally, you should take a shower when you arrive home, but if you are going to be a while, then using the restroom at your gym to wash your face will suffice. Just make sure you properly exfoliate and clean your face and body once you do get home.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, sweat is a natural process whereby the body regulates its temperature and, while doing so, helps with expelling toxins and impurities from the skin, resulting in a youthful and healthy appearance. However, while sweating is beneficial overall, it can cause problems if left to dry out on the skin.
Sweat contains salts, toxins, and other impurities that can result in rashes, bacterial infections, and different skin-related problems if reabsorbed by the skin.
Hence, the best thing to do is wash your face with cold water and soap shortly after a workout. Once you get home, you should take a shower to clean the dried-up sweat from your entire body. Also, don’t forget to exfoliate your skin regularly.
