Everyone sweats, but it’s unlikely many people ever consider the social and economic impact of our bodies’ built-in air conditioning system. With summer’s hottest days likely still to come, Michael Heffernan, assistant professor of dermatology at the School of Medicine, helps St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Jeff Daniels take a closer look at this hot topic.
(Republished with permission from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.)
By Jeff Daniels
As you’ve probably noticed, the weather scene is a maddening place, one where popular meteorological terms include “changeable skies,” “there may be a chance” and “I can’t rule out.” So here’s a Doppler-be-damned truism to rely on:
The sweat is already all over us.
Beading sweat. Pooling sweat. Dripping, soaking, stinking sweat. The kind of sweat that reappears before the dampness of your last shower dries. The kind of sweat we love to badmouth and berate.
But to paraphrase John Lennon in a way that probably shouldn’t be allowed – imagine there’s no sweat. Go ahead. Give it a try. Seems pretty good at first, doesn’t it? Refreshing even.
Then, like George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” you begin to see the nightmarish effects of an alternate reality. On the economy. On entertainment. On fashion. On so many aspects of our daily lives.
Eradicate sweat, and you have a world devoid of “Cool Hand Luke” and “Body Heat.” Without the word sweat itself, you’d have no Mister Rogers sweater or Tony Soprano sweat suit. Take away perspiration, and you sap James Brown of his very essence, while a Tennessee Williams play would lose its steamy, sultry soul. A little known fact: The playwright originally titled his 1954 play “Cat on a Humid Tin Roof.”
Back here in the nonfiction world, a sweatless society would provide nothing short of a severe economic blow. Granted, it’s a bit difficult to calculate exact figures, being that there’s no National Sweat Council or American Perspiration Association to turn to for charts and graphs. But the industry of sweat is impressive nonetheless – and perhaps on par to those devoted to human waste, bad breath, hair loss and blotchy skin. (Talk about bad company.)
Begin with a look at clothing and hundreds of millions of dollars spent yearly on wickaway items containing Dri-fit, Cool Max, Hydromax and Cool Best. Those high-tech, sweat-dispensing technologies can be found in everything from underwear and hiking socks to sports bras and running tights. Scientists get paid to dream up this stuff; sales people tell us why we need it in our closet. It’s big business – and getting bigger each year.
Underneath that wickaway wear, you’ll likely roll on some anti-perspirant and deodorant, splash on a little perfume or cologne, rub in some sweet lotions and magic potions – all in an effort to keep sweat at bay or cover its tracks. You’ll turn down the thermostat on your AC unit, a wonderful friend – ranked number 10 in the National Academy of Engineering’s list of top 20th-century inventions – which requires yearly service and constant filter replacement. Think there’s not a few mortgages being paid with the help of all those purchases and expenses?
And that’s just the outside of the body. Look inside, then try to calculate the jobs involved in the bottled waters and sports drinks downed for rehydration on a daily basis. Gatorade, invented in 1967 by football staffers at the University of Florida, is so prevalent that it’s now a major part of our pop culture lexicon – as is Evian, one of the early entries into the crowded market of pre-packaged H20. They’ve been joined by a sweat-filled ocean of sport drinks and water brands.
Added all together, it’s enough to give a whole new meaning to the term sweat equity. And to think, you briefly considered ridding the world – or at least your own body – of perspiration. Not such a good idea. For the arts, for the world economy and, as any doctor will tell you, for you yourself.
“Sweating is the body’s own version of air conditioning,” says Dr. Michael Heffernan, assistant professor of dermatology at Washington University. “People have this mistaken belief from Madison Avenue and Hollywood that it’s not normal to sweat, so they go to great lengths to avoid doing it. They would have a much happier life if they weren’t so fixated on it.”
Then again, easier said than done. Sweating is one of our great summer pastimes, a time-honored tradition. Some of us have even grown to enjoy it.
“I definitely like to sweat,” says Nofa Shibley, a St. Louis area chiropractor who also teaches Pilates classes and runs the occasional marathon. She does qualify her statement a bit by adding that sweat isn’t such a pal when she’s trying to keep her hair looking spiffy. Still, she wouldn’t think of letting the chance to perspire expire – even if someone were to invent a pill that made such a feat possible.
“Not all,” Shibley says. “Sweating is a way of showing that I’m working hard, a way of showing that I’ve accomplished something.”
And a way, it would seem, to show that the ol’ AC system is working just fine. Because much like the water that drains from that little tube on our Carrier AC unit, sweat drains from our sweat glands – or something to that effect. As for the liquid that trickles down our brow all the way to our Dr Scholl’s sweat-absorbing insoles? Mostly water, with salt and a trace of other minerals tossed in.
“You hate to say it, but it’s basically Gatorade,” Heffernan says.
Copyright 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.