Health Benefits of Sweating

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Sweating is a natural mechanism of a body that regulates our temperature. During a day, we go through many changes in our environment that are followed by changes in temperature. Sometimes, these changes vary a lot. To keep our bodily temperature at the optimal level, sweating help us cool down and prevent our organism from overheating. Sweating usually appears as a result of hard work, intense physical activity, our emotional condition, high environmental temperature, etc. Medical experts claim that sweating has many health benefits that affect our bodies in different ways. One of the roles of sweating is to flush out toxins from our bodies. Namely, studies have shown that sweat contains various toxins such as cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and lead. Furthermore, recent researches have also found out bisphenol A (BPA) in sweat, an extremely dangerous chemical present in plastic bottles and cans. According to scientists, sweating is very beneficial regarding kidney stones. By sweating, our body loses salt that prevents it from being accumulated in the kidneys and create stones. Moreover, people who sweat a lot, drink more water, which in turn improve kidney function. Interestingly, new evidence has discovered that sweat contains highly beneficial antibiotics that influence bacterial infections that attack our skin. To find out more about amazing antibiotic, called dermcidin, and health benefits of sweating, the article “Scientists Unveil Secrets of Important Natural Antibiotic Dermcidin” goes deeper and gives us the whole picture.

Scientists have known for some time that dermcidin is activated in salty, slightly acidic sweat. The molecule then forms tiny channels perforating the cell membrane of bugs, which are stabilised by charged particles of zinc present in sweat. As a consequence, water and charged particles flow uncontrollably across the membrane, eventually killing the harmful microbes.

Through a combination of techniques, scientists were able to determine the atomic structure of the molecular channel. They found that it is unusually long, permeable and adaptable, and so represents a new class of membrane protein.

The team also discovered that dermcidin can adapt to extremely variable types of membrane. Scientists say this could explain why active dermcidin is such an efficient broad-spectrum antibiotic, able to fend off bacteria and fungi at the same time.

The compound is active against many well-known pathogens such as tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or Staphylococcus aureus.

There is one more significant by-product of sweating – endorphin. Endorphin hormones are better known as happiness hormone. It is usually secreted during intense physical activity, particularly when exercising in a group. For that reason, many of us feel happy after a good workout. It also lowers our stress level and relieves tension. In this way, our brain generates a good chemistry that makes us feel better and improves our mood. It helps us feel relaxed. And all these health benefits of sweating are the very reasons for regular physical activities.