Are you one of those athletes who feel that they’re more fit simply because they perspire more? Does it mean you’re healthier now than before because you’re sweating more? Don’t be so sure.
If you sweat a lot, you shouldn’t equate it with fitness and health. Your ability to perspire and the amount of sweat you produce are caused by a variety of factors. It could be in your genes, gender, and lifestyle; or it can also be the weather. What’s certain is that sweat is an indication of the physical effort exerted by a person and the body’s natural way of cooling its inner temperature – certainly not the singular indication of fitness.
Some studies in the past actually suggested that athletes sweat more than untrained individuals. The Experimental Physiology journal published such a study in 2010, showing that fitness training increased the sweating rate of a person, enabling them to keep the body at lower temperatures during intensive workouts.
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In a separate study conducted in 2011, however, they found that the rate of sweat is dependent on physical work exerted by a person and the surface area of that person’s body. This finding was published in the American Journal of Physiology.
If you really want to know how fit you are, your sweat is not the best indication. Try doing a regular exercise routine, instead, and record any changes regularly. The recommended frequency is weekly or monthly. Exercising will not yield immediate results, so it’s not practical to monitor changes daily.