Study proves men perspire more than women

Sweating is an essential body mechanism which naturally cools us down. As we release fluid through our skin, it evaporates and this process takes heat from the body, lowering our overall temperature.

Researchers at Osaka International University and Kobe University in Japan found that men perspire twice as much their female counterparts.

Study details and findings
For the study, researchers examined 20 women and 17 men, nearly half of whom were fit or trained, cycling continuously at various intensities for an hour in a room heated to 30 C.

The participants were asked to cycle at 35, 50 and 65 percent of their maximal uptake of oxygen for an hour, with a relative humidity of 45 percent.

None of the females had taken oral contraceptives, which might have altered the sweating results.

Researchers stated that the men benefit more from exercise as cooling centers in brain get activated with longer hours of rigorous workouts.

Further findings revealed that unfit females had to work harder in order to achieve a maximal activated sweat gland response.

Lead researcher Yoshimitsu Inoue, from the Laboratory for Human Performance Research at Osaka International University said, "It appears that women are at a disadvantage when they need to sweat a lot during exercise, especially in hot conditions."

"Women generally have less body fluid than men and may become dehydrated more easily. Therefore the lower sweat loss in women may be an adaptation strategy that attaches importance to survival in a hot environment, while the higher sweat rate in men may be a strategy for greater efficiency of action or labour," he said.

Scientists averred that increase in the sweat gland's response to physical training was notably smaller among trained females than trained males.

One more reason for this could be that men have higher testosterone levels than women, and the male sex hormone could play a role in enhancing perspiration.

The findings of the study were published in the ‘Experimental Physiology.’

Gender differences in sweating
According to researchers, there could be an evolutionary aspect as to why men and women have evolved to sweat differently.

While men may have evolved to sweat more as they tend to be more active, women’s bodies contain less water than men so if they perspire too much, there is a danger they will become dehydrated, the experts said.

“It's likely that women lose heat by other mechanisms. They may lose more heat via the skin because of their size and surface area - in the same way that smaller animals lose more heat than big animals," Professor Tim Cable, who was not involved in the study, said.

More research needed
Perspiration is generally salt and water, with trace amount of electrolytes, which helps regulate the fluid balance in the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.

This fluid comes from the eccrine glands, which get stimulated when our body temperature goes up. This kind of sweat helps in cooling the body as it evaporates on the surface of the skin.

But, there is another kind of sweat that comes from the apocrine glands, which is associated with emotional stress, and the accompanying odor comes from bacteria breaking it down.

“In future, further research would look at the effectiveness of different kinds of sweat, and also examine how the sweating response relates to reproductive hormones,” study authors said.