How often do you sweat?

As I sit in the sweltering heat of our three-season front porch at our summer home by the Sound, I contemplate the evolution of sweating. I realize that while we are at our summer home, I spend every day out on this porch (it’s my office while we are here), sweating, enough to have to wipe the sweat off my brow and…other places. 😳 Then I think about my husband who comes out to the porch for 10 minute intervals and says, “Wow, it’s HOT out here!“ before heading back to the comfort of the air conditioning inside. Why don’t I sit in the air conditioning instead of in the hot porch…I don’t know actually. 😆 My body wants to be out in the porch - for the sounds of summer, for the sun, for the heat, for the fresh, salty air from the open windows that surround me. I don’t really know, but I follow my instincts regardless of how seemingly uncomfortable they may be. I just feel good in the porch, even if I am pouring sweat. There is a tolerance that goes along with sweating. My husband hasn’t built up a tolerance and just prefers to be cool, but if you are used to it, you don’t really think much of it. When he asks why I am still sitting on the hot porch, I honestly don’t even realize how uncomfortable it really is…until he draws attention to it or I walk inside for something. 😯 The blast of cold air that hits me when I open the door actually shocks my system and I can’t wait to get back out to the porch. It probably helps that I’m dressed for the heat rather than the air conditioning most days.

Thinking about this more, I realized that my mother, who has lived in the same house for over twenty years, lives without air conditioning, with the exception of her bedroom. She sweats just about every day of the summer, all summer long. Lightbulb moment…natural sauna?

You know what else is interesting about my mother? She defies all odds, she eats potato chips by the bag, she eats out on the regular and enjoys her cocktails mixed with soda, she lives with mold, she even smoked through most of her youth…yet she is healthier and more active than most people half her age! She even LOOKS great. Could it be that she is effectively detoxifying her body each summer by living in nature’s sauna? Is regular sweating the answer to effective detoxification? Have we eliminated this natural protection with our advancing 1st world technology?

If we think back to a time when air conditioning didn’t exist, it was the norm to sweat in the heat. Summers were an opportunity to detoxify the body of all the previous year’s toxic accumulation, and back then the toxins were considerably less.

Today, we sweat less, unless we specifically intend for it, and our toxin exposure is much greater.

It’s estimated that nearly 90% of American homes have air conditioning.[1] Only 10% live without it and I would assume it’s not by choice. This means that 90% of households in America don’t sweat regularly during the hot months of the year, unless they are active outside, sit in the heat like I do 😊 or use a sauna regularly - to sweat.

When your air conditioner suddenly stops working, think about the panic that sets in! “Oh no, it’s too hot, how am I going to sleep?” and emergency services from the local HVAC are granted to fix the problem, and fast. No tolerance.

In many European countries it is actually as common to have a sauna in your home as it is to have a bathroom. Things that make you go hmmmm.

So why sweating? What are we missing out on by sitting in our temperature controlled environments all year long?

According to the Riordan Wellness Clinic:

Our modern world is full of toxic chemicals and we are all bio-accumulators. Many of these toxins are retained in our bodies in fat cells and intercellular fluid. A significant number of these toxic chemicals are lipid or fat-soluble and tend to bioaccumulate, particularly in the fatty tissues throughout the body. Over 400 chemicals have been identified in human tissue, with 48 in adipose tissue, at least 40 in milk, 73 in the liver, and over 250 in blood plasma.

These environmental toxins are suspected of playing a role in a number of diseases, including cancer, arthritis, weakened immune system, autism, fibromyalgia, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and many more. Many doctors truly believe that the process of cleansing and detoxification is virtually one of the most powerful healing therapies. Cleansing, fasting, and detoxification, are different degrees of the same process of reducing toxin intake and enhanced toxin elimination. The process is a key to health and vitality.

Sauna baths and steam rooms are great for removing toxins from the skin and regenerating one’s health and energy. The tradition of sauna baths goes back at least as far as ancient Rome, with the famous Roman Bath. Saunas have been a way of life in Finland for over 2000 years. One of the first written descriptions of the Finnish Sauna was in 1112. This tradition was also popular in Russia (Russian Banya), among Native Americans, and in Morocco.

Saunas are being used by some doctors to stimulate the release of toxins from the bodies of their patients. These chemicals are often toxic to the immune system, nervous system, endocrine system, and liver. “Sweating it out” reduces chemical stress on the body and generally leads to improved health.

A sauna is an excellent way to benefit from overheating therapy. “Give me a chance to create fever and I will cure any disease,” said the great physician Paramenides, 2,000 years ago. Fever is one of the body’s defense mechanisms and healing forces. In addition to an artificially induced fever, the sauna is specifically conducive to profuse therapeutic sweating. It is generally considered that the skin should eliminate 30% of the body wastes by way of perspiration. Taking sauna baths regularly will help to restore and revitalize the cleansing activity of the skin.

The therapeutic property of the sauna is attributed to the following facts: overheating stimulates the metabolic processes and inhibits the growth of virus and bacteria; all vital organs are stimulated to increased activity; the body’s healing forces are aided and assisted; and the eliminative, detoxifying, and cleansing capacity of the skin is dramatically increased by the profuse sweating.

THE MAIN BENEFITS OF SAUNA ARE:

Skin rejuvenation. Sauna use slowly restores elimination through the skin. The skin is the largest organ of the body and a major eliminative channel. In most people, it is inactive, congested and toxic. Continuous use of synthetic clothing, bathing in chlorinated water, and exposure to hundreds of chemicals, damage the skin. Excessive sympathetic nervous system activity and negative emotions cause blood to be withdrawn from the skin, contributing to inactivity of the skin.

Enhanced sweating. Sweating in a sauna is a by-product of applying heat to the body. The sweating process gently and safely helps eliminate all heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Medical studies demonstrate that most toxins can be eliminated through the skin, relieving the burden on the kidneys and liver. Sweating during sauna therapy is a great way to reduce the fluid levels in the blood, causing the toxin rich intercellular fluid to be available for detoxification. Sweating increases dramatically in most people after several months of sauna use.

Exercise benefits. Saunas provide many of the benefits of exercise with much less expenditure of energy. These include enhanced circulation and oxidation of the tissues. Repeated sauna use can lower elevated blood pressure and improve the elasticity of the arteries. Saunas are helpful for cardiovascular rehabilitation, arthritis, allergies, skin conditions and chemical sensitivity. Cholesterol level mean reduction was found after sauna therapy. The sauna therapy resulted in improvements in psychological test scores.

Decongesting the internal organs. Heating the body powerfully shunts blood toward the skin to dissipate heat. This decongests the internal organs and greatly stimulates circulation. The sauna has an effect on oxygenating and hydrating the cells and organs, and improving circulation. Sinuses, joints and many other tissues benefit greatly.

Fever therapy (hyperthermia) for infections. Our bodies naturally develop a fever when we are ill in order to enhance our metabolism and to help destroy viruses. Raising body temperature powerfully assists the body to kill parasites such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. It helps people with low body temperature to fight chronic infections such as infections in the sinuses, ears, eyes, bladder, throat and intestines.

Tumor cells and mutated cell elimination. Hyperthermia also helps to kill abnormal cells. Toxin-burdened cells and tumors are weaker than normal cells and tolerate heat poorly. Raising body temperature hastens their death. Though not a conventional method, hyperthermia is a researched therapy for cancer. Heat also disables or kills cells that have been mutated by radiation or damaged by other toxins.

Inhibiting the sympathetic nervous system. This is a tremendous benefit not offered by many therapies. It enables the body to relax, heal and regenerate itself much faster, causing recovery from many types of ailments.

Elimination of fat cell store toxins. Most environmental contaminants are fat soluble. Thus they have an affinity for body lipids or fatty tissue. Sauna therapy increases metabolism, which burns fat for energy, releasing some toxins for removal. The body uses metabolic systems, particularly the liver, to convert fat-soluble substances into water-soluble chemicals to facilitate excretion. The physical heat from the sauna helps liquefy fat, further breaking down the chemical lock on the toxic molecules. It is this “fat sweat” that makes saunas so efficient at eliminating toxins.

Elimination of toxic metals from the body. Concentrations of zinc, copper, iron, nickel, cadmium, lead, manganese, sodium, and chloride were determined after collections utilizing a total body wash down technique (sweating in sauna). The results demonstrated that the concentrations of nickel and cadmium in sweat were higher than those reported for urine, with similar results for lead. The loss of toxic trace metals in sweat could have therapeutic importance.[2]

And this little gem:

There has been demonstrable evidence of restored immune functions as well. In a German study, 22 kindergarten children who took a weekly sauna were compared with a control group in which the children took no saunas. The children were followed for 18 months and a careful record was made of their incidence of ear infections, colds, and upper respiratory problems. Children who did not take saunas suffered from twice the number of sick days as their counterparts. The conclusion of this study is that children who used sauna therapy regularly have an improved resistance to infections.[2]

It would seem that the benefits of sweating are enormous and air conditioning, something I’d guess no one ever even thinks twice about, may be largely responsible for our decreased detoxification. Wow!

I am not going to suggest you toss your A/C in exchange for a hot humid house, because that would be insane 😳 and actually potentially conducive to mold growth, but I would recommend finding a way to sweat more often. Sit outside during the summer for long hours, even if it’s uncomfortable (you will adjust and develop tolerance, not to mention the added benefits of vitamin D if you sit in the sun short term), join a gym and sweat often, and/or use a sauna regularly. Remember to replenish fluids and electrolytes anytime you are sweating.

Resources:
1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-10/why-we-always-fight-over-air-conditioning

2. https://riordanclinic.org/2011/12/detox-natural-cleansing-to-remove-body-toxins/