I can say without a doubt that I sweat more than your average guy. I sweat way more than I used to and every summer it seems to be getting worse. I’m not sure if this is due to global warming or my metabolism changing or a combination of both. All I need to do is step outside on one of these muggy 90-something degree days and my brow starts to ooze. If I even think about getting the weed eater out or starting the lawnmower it gets worse. Thank Heaven I don’t have to split firewood in the summer.

If horses sweat and people perspire then I’m a horse! Well, it turns out that people and horses are probably the two sweatiest animals on the planet. Primates have sweat glands in their armpits as do many other mammals but humans and horses evidently are the sweat champions.

Of course we all know that perspiring is the body’s way of keeping cool. This is achieved in two ways. First the process of expelling the water and the chemicals found in sweat helps cool us internally. Secondly the water evaporating from our skin cools us externally. Perspiration is the same temperature as our bodies, 98.6 degrees or thereabouts so it doesn’t cool us like a splash of cold water in the face or jumping into a cool stream. We also sweat when we are nervous or under stress, mostly from the armpits, hands and forehead. Sweat from heat and exercise can come from pores all over the body.

Some folks say sweating expels toxins. The sauna and hot tub industries are based on this assumption and indeed there are trace amounts of salts and other dissolved solids in our sweat. The odor can be stronger if we’ve been eating certain foods or spices like garlic and onions so there has to be some truth to this theory, right? The soap and deodorant industries rely on it, but alas the scientists say there’s no proof.

The odor of perspiration is mostly caused by a chemical called urea or carbamide which is colorless and odorless but combines with water to make ammonia therefore creating the odor. An odor that’s pretty recognizable, too. Perhaps garlic causes our bodies to produce more urea.

People are born with between 2-4 million sweat glands that remain mostly dormant until puberty. As a rule men start sweating more quickly than women and twice as much. If this is true then I must be the manliest of men. Ironically, women have more sweat glands than men.

Excessive sweating is a recognized medical condition known as hyperhidrosis. People with hyperhidrosos have overly active sweat glands and can even sweat for no apparent reason at all. About 2-3 percent of the population suffers from primary hyperhidrosis, where the excessive sweating has no obvious cause. Only about 40 percent of patients ever seek medical attention for this condition and in the majority of cases no cause is ever found. It seems to be for the most part hereditary. Most of the time hyperhidrosis is caused by some underlying medical condition. There’s a long list of them including cancer, heart disease and hyperthyroidism. It can also be caused by medications. When there’s a diagnosed cause the condition is known as secondary hyperhidrosos.

Although sweating is annoying and odorous it’s natural and necessary during these hot, humid summer days and I’m glad I’m good at it. The opposite of hyperhidrosis is hypohidrosis and that’s when we should be concerned the most because it’s a symptom of heat stroke.