SWEATING IT OUT  (2021)

Being outdoors during the dog days of summer in the Deep South is often a profusely sweaty experience.  Some residents limit these occasions and stay indoors much of the time, and away from summer heat and humidity extremes.   

The increasingly presence of air conditioning in workplaces and homes after World War II was a huge boost in the quality of life for those in the Deep South.  Population studies show many Americans migrated in the decades after 1950 into states from the far Southwest to the Atlantic Southeast.   Air conditioning has been credited with making these states more attractive for permanent residency. 

I’m old enough to remember sweating through early classroom experiences with only ceiling or portable fans available.  I also remember sweaty summer trips to visit my aunt and uncle in El Paso.  For the 1000-mile trip, my father once rigged up a portable air cooler to hang off a back car window.  This contraption required many stops on the way for packaged ice.  Sitting in the back seat of our vehicle for the two-day drive, my brother, sister and I would argue over which of us had to sit closer to the air cooler and try to avoid the melting water from the cooler dripping on our pants.   

Americans seem to have a love/hate relationship with the notion of breaking sweat.  We believe that sweating is good for us, and we go to health clubs, gyms, and on outdoor excursions to recreate and “sweat it out.”  My gym teachers in high school emphasized the virtues of sweating to remove the poisons and toxins from our bodies.   The acrid smell of many sweaty gym shorts, T-shirts and underwear in the gym’s locker room was adequate proof to me then that something foul was being released. 

Scientists told us then that our skin is the largest human organ.  Skin glands release fluids that push salt and certain toxins out of our bodies, thereby helping our immune systems.  I worked several summers during college at a West Monroe paper mill and around paper machines and heavy equipment producing intense heat.  Health and safety programs and posters reminded us that salt tablet dispensers were located short distances apart throughout the mill.  The advice and expectation then was that we should swallow or suck on these salt tablets to replenish the loss of salt in our bodies due to excessive sweating.  Frequent hydration obviously was also encouraged.      

Some of this earlier information concerning sweating out toxins has been rejected or revised.  According to some recent health experts, the kidneys and liver do the overwhelming majority of cleansing toxins from our bodies.  Sweat is largely composed of sodium, chlorine, potassium and water rather than flushed-out toxins.  We can’t expect sweating to rid our bodies of the harmful pollution that we breathe or the pesticides that may remain on agricultural products that we consume.  We can’t expect to sweat out much of the alcohol that we might drink either.    

The health-related benefits of sweating include its helping to regulate the temperature within our bodies and to cleanse the pores in our skin of accumulated dirt and residue.  Less is known scientifically about sweating’s effect on our brains and our mental and emotional well-being.  Sweating is one by-product of the physical exertion or exercise that has been consistently shown to have mental and emotional benefits.   

Many cultures view sweating, regardless of associated physical exertion or exercise, as having a vital mental, spiritual and emotional benefit.  Sweat lodge ceremonies are common and central still for many Native American cultures.  Sweating has long been promoted and ritualized for re-purification and connection to traditional and more natural lifestyles.  These cultures believed that excesses and poisons of outside influences need to be sweated out.   Somewhat similar beliefs and sweating practices can be found throughout history and around the world, particularly among the Greeks, Romans, Turks, and Scandinavians.  Sweat baths and saunas were often considered essential and naturally included in architectural plans for homes and buildings. 

The closets of most Americans contain sweatshirts, sweatpants and sweaters.  These clothing apparel basics were obviously named for their traditional connection to the process of sweating.  Sweaters keep us warm and can induce sweating even in cold weather.  Sweatshirts and sweatpants can stimulate sweating outdoors and for exercise purposes, as well as conceal sweat better than simple T-shirts, gym shorts or some other clothing options.  Of course, technology has advanced well beyond the options of choosing simple cotton or traditional fabrics.  You see many outdoor enthusiasts these days sporting more expensive moisture-wicking fabrics that draw out sweat and keep it away from the skin.  Polyester and polypropylene will serve that purpose, but alternatives like micromodal and bamboo fabrics have softness, odor reduction or other advantages over polyester and polypropylene.  Being old school, frugal and rarely pushed to extreme and extended outdoor conditions, I prefer the feel of cotton T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants. 

Many people go to great lengths in most social contexts to avoid having others see them sweat or to conceal sweating outcomes.  Manufacturers and marketers make billions globally offering antiperspirants and chemical blends to mask or reduce body odors associated with sweating.  I’m sure that most of us have been in an elevator or confined space where we truly regretted that someone near had not bathed more recently or used an antiperspirant product.    

I’ll conclude by strongly agreeing with Edgar Allen Poe’s quote that “The best things in life make you sweaty.”  I’ll just add that a good bath or shower after hot outdoor excursions or intense exercise can also be among the best things in life.