Sweating primarily cools the body, but it does eliminate small amounts of waste products and trace elements, though the liver and kidneys handle the bulk of true detoxification. While sweat contains water, salt, urea, and other compounds, significant "detoxing" through sweat isn't the main function, but studies show it can help excrete heavy metals and industrial chemicals like BPA, suggesting it's a minor but potentially useful route for some toxicants.
The detox process will naturally cause peaks and troughs in your core body temperature and sweating helps with regulating these changes. This response is primarily driven by your autonomic nervous system, which can be dysregulated as your body gets used to functioning without a substance it has grown to depend upon.
Sweat is 99% water combined with a small amount of salt, proteins, carbohydrates and urea, says UAMS family medicine physician Dr. Charles Smith. Therefore, sweat is not made up of toxins from your body, and the belief that sweat can cleanse the body is a myth.
Beyond being one the primary ways to cool the body, sweating also aids electrolyte regulation, removes wastes and some medications, and helps hydrate the skin, says Cameron West, M.D., FAAD, a dermatologist with U.S. Dermatology Partners Wichita.
Myth #1: Sweating More Means Better Detoxification
The truth: Sweat glands are not designed to detox your body. One of the most widespread myths is that sweating heavily helps "detox" the body by eliminating toxins. However, this isn't how detoxification works.
The five most common signs that your body is effectively detoxing include:
While 99% of it is simply water, that other 1% of sweat is electrolytes, which are important nutrients our cells need. Minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium work together to produce electrolytes, which help move water around in our cells, as well as hold water where it's needed.
Many believe that when exercising, the more we sweat, the more body weight we'll lose. However, this is not entirely accurate. In reality, the number of calories burned during exercise is not solely based on how much or little the body sweats. In fact, sweating means the body is losing water, not burning fat.
It Removes Some Toxins from the Body
Eccrine sweat glands, the ones primarily responsible for thermoregulation, release mostly water along with electrolytes like sodium, chloride, and potassium, Zuhl says.
You should wipe sweat off for comfort, hygiene, and to prevent skin issues, but let it dry (evaporate) for the body's natural cooling; for maximum cooling when dripping, blot the excess and get air, as sweat only cools when it evaporates, and wiping it all away or leaving it to soak doesn't change how cool you feel after it's done its job. Wiping removes bacteria and salt, preventing odor and irritation, but leaving it allows natural evaporation, so blot excess, then get moving air.
Drink plenty of clean water to help flush out your system. Some dietary supplements may naturally help remove toxic metals from the body. There is limited evidence, but for the most part they are safe. Cilantro (coriander) is a widely available herb often used in Asian and Mexican foods.
It's mostly water, with small amounts of sodium, chloride and other substances. Sweating is good for you in the sense that it keeps you from overheating, but it's not the main way your body gets rid of toxins (your liver and kidneys do this). Sweating a lot to cleanse your body isn't necessary.
Sweat glands are used to regulate temperature and remove waste by secreting water, sodium salts, and nitrogenous waste (such as urea) onto the skin surface. The main electrolytes of sweat are sodium and chloride, though the amount is small enough to make sweat hypotonic at the skin surface.
Digestive issues
The most prevalent symptoms of toxins leaving the body include digestive issues like bloating, gas or constipation. Gastrointestinal problems occur as waste products move through the colon – the worse your diet beforehand, the more severe the symptoms!
The idea that saunas help sweat out toxins is a common belief, but the reality is more nuanced. Sweat is mostly water (99%) with small amounts of salt, urea, and trace minerals. While some toxins (like heavy metals and BPA) have been detected in sweat, the amounts are minimal.
The three phases of detoxification
“The body typically requires three stages to detoxify . We talk about mobilisation, biotransformation, and elimination as processes,” explains Charatsi. “Within the mobilisation phase, the body starts moving the toxins from the tissues where they are accumulated.
Sweat is made up of 99% water, with small amounts of salt, urea, and other electrolytes. While trace amounts of heavy metals, alcohol, and some metabolic waste products can be found in sweat, the amounts are so minimal that sweating isn't considered a significant detox pathway.
Within the “golden hour” after exercise, which is described as the 30 to 60 minutes after a workout has ended, your body is most effective at absorbing carbohydrates and protein. This is because muscle stores of glycogen are at their lowest level, and muscle fibers have been depleted.
“Sweating helps release heat, which helps maintain optimal body temperature,” says Pamela Webert, an exercise physiologist at Henry Ford Health. “If we didn't sweat, our bodies would literally cook from the inside out.”
No single body part loses fat first. Everyone loses fat from different places initially, depending on a variety of factors. In general, women may lose fat from their legs first, and men may lose fat from their torsos first — but it's highly individual.
To burn 1000 calories through exercise, engage in activities like running, high-intensity interval training, rowing, using the elliptical machine, cycling, using the vertical climber, or jumping rope.
Another common question is whether sweating can help you lose weight in specific areas, such as the face, but again, this is a myth. Sweating does not eliminate localized fat in any part of the body, including the face.
In addition to mineral losses, water-soluble vitamins, including B1, B2, and vitamin C, can also be lost in sweat. Depletion of vitamin C, as well as calcium and potassium, can have adverse effects on blood pressure.
A good rule of thumb is if you're exercising at an intense level for over an hour or exercising in the heat, you should replenish electrolytes. Any time you're sweating a lot, you are losing both fluids and electrolytes — and it's important to replace both.
The contents of eccrine sweat are mainly water and NaCl. It also contains chemicals from the interstitial fluid and the eccrine gland. Eccrine sweat glands can also be thought of as an excretory organ, since they excrete waste products as well.