How do we sweat
sweat glands
We have about 3 million sweat glands distributed over the entire body, especially in the armpits, neck, head, forehead, palms of hands and feet. They are missing in the red of the lips, on the nail bed, on the eardrum and mostly in the genital area. There are up to 350 sweat glands in just one square centimeter on the hands, feet, forehead and armpits.
A distinction is made between eccrine and apocrine sweat glands
The eccrine sweat glands are the most common in humans and are responsible for the majority of sweat production. They are directly connected to the central temperature regulator in the diencephalon, serve to regulate the body's heat and excrete not only water but also toxins and metabolic waste products with sweat. Depending on the temperature, between half and eight liters of fluid can be excreted daily.
Apocrine glands differ in that they secrete thicker secretions. They are also called apocrine sweat glands. The body only develops these at the hair roots during puberty; mainly in the armpit, on the anus and in the genital area. Scent glands are less used for heat dissipation, they are also particularly affected by strong emotional stimuli, such as. Anger and pain, fear and sexual pleasure activated. Apocrine sweat is odorless when it comes out on the skin's surface. An unpleasant odor is only caused by bacteria and yeast fungi on the skin, which break down the sweat. Especially in the armpits there are particularly large sweat glands, the secretions of which cause pungent smelling and unpleasantly wet sweat stains under the arms.
What is sweat made of?
Sweat consists of 99% water and, in addition to table salt, also contains potassium, magnesium, phosphate, sulfate, urea, volatile low fatty acids, neutral fats, immunoglobulins, cholesterol and fragrances. Diseases of the sweat glands can manifest themselves in the form of overproduction of sweat (hyperhidrosis), too little sweat production (hypohidrosis) or the complete absence of sweat production (anhidrosis).