As far back as I can remember, sweating has always been linked with burning calories, individuals experiencing weight loss whether it being from sitting in a sauna or going on a run. From a scientific perspective, does sweating actually burn calories?
First off, what is sweating, and why do we do it. Our body’s natural defense when overheated is to perspire from the body’s sweat glands. Sweating regulates a person’s body temperature by cooling it by evaporating on the skins surface. When we exercise or do hard physical activity, our body is like a machine constantly working, it starts to overheat with constant physical activity. The fluids we consume throughout the day with sodium becoming the salty sweat we know so closely. Another example sweating utilizes its benefit is when we suffer from high fevers, our body’s natural response to it is to perspire to cool us down to save our organs from overheating.
Does sweating make a person lose weight? Yes and no. It will make a person lose water weight, but the water weight lost will only be temporary and gained back quickly. Sweating does not boost the body’s ability to burn calories or fat, but is usually a side effect of being hot. How much someone perspires does not monitor how hard they are working, some individuals won’t even break a sweat under rigorous activity. Being in a cold setting on the other hand has been linked to fat loss by the body’s ability to try and remain warm by burning the calories in our body as energy to fuel this.
