Sweating releases toxins from the body?

[Tanone_Hari]

Hi everybody,

I come here often but don't really post much but I listened/watched this video just now and the presenter says that sweating releases toxins from the body.

Was just wondering is this true? If so, what sort of toxins are excreted from the body due to sweating?

And could this be the reason why so many people choose to do infrared saunas nowadays?

 

Any feedback/insight about sweating and the release of toxins would be highly appreciated 

 

 

Thanks!!

Edited June 22, 2022 by Tanone_Hari
Question mark shouldn't have been where it was

[John Cuthber]

41 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

Was just wondering is this true?

It's "barely" true.
While some toxic material will be lost that way, it's nor very effective.

 

42 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

And could this be the reason why so many people choose to do infrared saunas nowadays?

No, that's because they either

(1) like saunas or

(2) have been conned into thinking it's a "detox". (Possibly by videos like that one)
 

[Tanone_Hari]

14 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

It's "barely" true.

Ah okay. In what ways is it true and what exact toxins are released in human sweat? Do these primarily come from air pollution, cigarette smoke and alcohol?

16 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

While some toxic material will be lost that way, it's nor very effective.

What's the best way of releasing these toxins from the human body? Which method would you recommend and why?

[exchemist]

31 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

Ah okay. In what ways is it true and what exact toxins are released in human sweat? Do these primarily come from air pollution, cigarette smoke and alcohol?

What's the best way of releasing these toxins from the human body? Which method would you recommend and why?

It seems to me the whole idea of "toxins" building up in the body is a bit bogus. It's a term used almost exclusively by people trying to peddle health gimmicks, and not by health professionals, so far as I can see.  There are a few real toxins, I suppose, such as lead or mercury, that can be picked up from some polluted foods or environments, and you can get poisoned by substances such as alcohol or drugs, but these aside I don't think it's in general a very helpful idea. Your liver converts most substances capable of causing damage into forms that can be excreted normally via the kidneys or bowel. 

Drink plenty and eat healthily and let those excretion systems handle it. 

[Tanone_Hari]

13 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Your liver converts most substances capable of causing damage into forms that can be excreted normally via the kidneys or bowel. 

As I understand it the liver is the body's detoxification system but are there any toxins which it is incapable of detoxifying? Surely there are heavy metals and toxins that it may not know how to get rid of exactly due to our ancestor's lack of exposure to modern pollutants (so evolution didn't select for us humans of today to have this trait) that may only exist today and not in the past, after the industrial revolution.

[Peterkin]

If those advertised 'toxins' were really building up in our bodies all the time, we'd all be dead by age 40. In fact, humans' environment is very often loaded with toxins, and we do die of them over shorter or longer periods.  Sweating - which their daily work induces in plenty -  doesn't save coal miners from carbon monoxide or farmers from glycophosphate. 

However, poisons like alcohol are removed of neutralized more quickly by the body's natural defenses in the presence of heat  of which sweating is also a byproduct. It's easy to see why the association of sweating and feeling better could be presented as a cause-effect relationship, rather than both being effects of the same cause. 

Quote

Regular dry sauna bathing has potential health benefits. More data of higher quality is needed on the frequency and extent of adverse side effects. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5941775/

 

[Tanone_Hari]

I have also heard that we need to consume broccoli sprouts to get rid of all the pollutants we breathe in from cigarette smoke and car exhaust fumes that we are exposed to on a day to day basis. Each and every day our body is assaulted by thousands of deadly chemicals which if we do not get rid of can act as free radicals, increase the aging process, break dna or deposit themselves in our fat cells. Pollutants/toxins can cause cancer, reduce our sperm count and cause many debilitating diseases. I want to know, what you guys are doing to stop this chronic onslaught on our bodies? Is this something we need to be worried about?

[Peterkin]

6 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

As I understand it the liver is the body's detoxification system but are there any toxins which it is incapable of detoxifying? Surely there are heavy metals and toxins that it may not know how to get rid of exactly due to our ancestor's lack of exposure to modern pollutants (so evolution didn't select for us humans of today to have this trait) that may only exist today and not in the past, after the industrial revolution.

There are lots of poisons for which no living organism has a defense system. In most cases, it's not so much a matter of evolution not having prepared us for it as a basic chemical incompatibility between the processes that support life and processes that suppress it, e.g. methane gas displacing the oxygen required to carry on life functions.

[Tanone_Hari]

3 minutes ago, Peterkin said:

If those advertised 'toxins' were really building up in our bodies all the time, we'd all be dead by age 40. 

What's the reason that we die at all? It could be due to these toxins which build up in our bodies during the course of our lives? Maybe if we can get rid of them somehow, maybe we would live up to 150 years, who knows?

[Peterkin]

4 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

Pollutants/toxins can cause cancer, reduce our sperm count and cause many debilitating diseases. I want to know, what you guys are doing to stop this chronic onslaught on our bodies?

Been there, done that, have the scars to prove it. We can't do a damn thing about it without changing our lifestyle, economy, social organization and many of our assumptions about how we need to/ought to live. What I did about it was move out of the city at a greatly reduced material standard of living and greatly improved quality of life. 

10 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

Is this something we need to be worried about?

Neh... it's something we should have started worrying about (a few people did, actually) about 300 years ago. Too late to worry now: it's done.    

[Phi for All]

6 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

What's the reason that we die at all? It could be due to these toxins which build up in our bodies during the course of our lives? Maybe if we can get rid of them somehow, maybe we would live up to 150 years, who knows?

If this was true, average life expectancy would have been greater in the past when pollution levels were lower. Instead, we live longer now. 

I get the feeling you didn't listen to the earlier comments about "toxins" and how they're mostly made up by people wanting you to buy their "cleansers". It can't be "due to these toxins which build up in our bodies during the course of our lives", because that's not what happens. Our bodies have the ability to clean up waste and debris at the cellular level. We end up dying because these systems become less effective as we age.

[Peterkin]

16 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

What's the reason that we die at all? It could be due to these toxins which build up in our bodies during the course of our lives? Maybe if we can get rid of them somehow, maybe we would live up to 150 years, who knows?

120 is not unknown, and in pretty good health. https://goop.com/ca-en/wellness/health/the-geographic-areas-where-people-live-the-longest-and-clues-as-to-why/

If you live in a clean place, work hard, never get rich enough to realize you're poor, have good friends and community, help others and laugh frequently, you'll live longer. (barring war, flood, lightning, earthquake, rattlesnakes, famine, plague or a careless misstep on a ladder...)

150 is unlikely, without artificial enhancements. It's not what builds up in your body that kills you - it's what breaks down.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Peterkin

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, Tanone_Hari said:

As I understand it the liver is the body's detoxification system but are there any toxins which it is incapable of detoxifying? Surely there are heavy metals and toxins that it may not know how to get rid of exactly due to our ancestor's lack of exposure to modern pollutants (so evolution didn't select for us humans of today to have this trait) that may only exist today and not in the past, after the industrial revolution.

There can be, obviously, and these cause what we call "poisoning". But by and large these are specific agents, not generally encountered in normal life by most people. 

[mistermack]

40 minutes ago, Peterkin said:

If you live in a clean place, work hard, never get rich enough to realize you're poor, have good friends and community, help others and laugh frequently, you'll live longer.

Not so. I just looked up the oldest person ever, and she never worked, had servants, and lived a life of leisure, but was fairly active with some physical hobbies. But her relatives often lived long lives. 

Smoking is one of the biggest factors, and the reduction is playing a big part in longer life-spans.

[exchemist]

58 minutes ago, Tanone_Hari said:

I have also heard that we need to consume broccoli sprouts to get rid of all the pollutants we breathe in from cigarette smoke and car exhaust fumes that we are exposed to on a day to day basis. Each and every day our body is assaulted by thousands of deadly chemicals which if we do not get rid of can act as free radicals, increase the aging process, break dna or deposit themselves in our fat cells. Pollutants/toxins can cause cancer, reduce our sperm count and cause many debilitating diseases. I want to know, what you guys are doing to stop this chronic onslaught on our bodies? Is this something we need to be worried about?

This all sounds a bit hysterical. We most certainly are not "assaulted by thousands of deadly chemicals" every day. If we were, we would be, er, dead. Yet life expectancy continues to rise in the developed world. That would not be happening if what you claim were true. So it's obvious there is no "chronic onslaught" on our bodies- or not one our bodies are not coping with, for the most part. 

There are some artificial substances around, e.g. endocrine disruptors, where there seems to be a case for reducing our levels of exposure, and there have of course been some scandals in the past. We learn more every day, but it is quite wrong to talk in such apocalyptic terms.  

1 hour ago, Tanone_Hari said:

What's the reason that we die at all? It could be due to these toxins which build up in our bodies during the course of our lives? Maybe if we can get rid of them somehow, maybe we would live up to 150 years, who knows?

No. If you want to know more about ageing, I suggest reading a bit about telomeres: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomere#Association_with_aging 

Forget "toxins". That is mostly health woo for the gullible. 

 

[Peterkin]

1 hour ago, mistermack said:

Not so. I just looked up the oldest person ever, and she never worked, had servants, and lived a life of leisure, but was fairly active with some physical hobbies. But her relatives often lived long lives. 

Yes, there is a genetic factor, which helps to account for clusters of long-lived people in (relatively) isolated communities. And, yes, rich people statistically live longer than poor people, because they eat well, have access to medicine and don't expose themselves to the daily hazards of poverty. I wasn't trying to give the poster a guarantee; just a general outline of what the  clusters of very old people tend to have in common. Also a diet consisting largely of vegetables and little or no access to the social toxins, like alcohol, cigarettes*, white sugar and processed foods .

(*Civilized cigarettes are far and away more toxic than plain tobacco or cannabis stuffed in a pipe.)

Anyway, while there are plenty of harmful chemicals and particulates in the modern urban - and more frequently, work-place -  environment, most of those pollutants are not classified as poisons. They may be carcinogens, but we have modern medicine to rescue us from much of their effect, so we can live longer, if not always better. There are foods and food additives that are harmful but not directly toxic: they'll just make us obese, diabetic and ischemic. There are radiations and medications and fuels and garden sprays and microplastics https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/from-fish-to-humans-a-microplastic-invasion-may-be-taking-a-toll/? the long-terms effects of which are not sufficiently known. You can survive (technically, that counts as living) a long time with chronic ailments that can't be cured but can be managed with medical treatment.     

And you cannot sweat any of them out. They're either neutralized and expelled by the kidneys, or stored and sequestered in the liver, until it can't cope anymore https://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/toxic-liver-disease .

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by Peterkin

[iNow]

2 hours ago, Tanone_Hari said:

What's the reason that we die at all?

Shortening of telomeres during replication and division at chromosomal level leads to increased failure rate in foundational autonomic systems required to sustain life. 

[zapatos]

2 hours ago, Tanone_Hari said:

What's the reason that we die at all?

Disease, bullet holes in sensitive areas, rapid deceleration, religious zealots, political zealots, angry girlfriends, stupidity, etc.

[TheVat]

 

 

Some good replies to the OP.  Worth noting that sweating often accompanies exercise, so it's possible the real benefit is how you came to be sweating, not the sweating itself.

Sweating, btw, tends to lead some to more tapwater consumption, which increases chlorine or chloramine in the GI tract.  While the hydration is good, it may help to use water that has been dechlorinated with a home purification system, or use water that has sat (in a safe place where foreign materials can't settle in it) for at least 24 hours.  This is the same advice aquarium hobbyists get, btw, as many fish species are sensitive to chlorinated water.  

Also, sweating does deplete electrolytes.  Sodium is not a concern, as most diets have more sodium than the body requires.  But for heavy sweating, potassium should be recharged, with potassium-rich foods.  

And, btw, if you're retaining water, try not eating wheat, rye, barley, and oat products for a few days.  These grains cause mild water retention in the muscle tissue. 

 

7 minutes ago, zapatos said:

Disease, bullet holes in sensitive areas, rapid deceleration, religious zealots, political zealots, angry girlfriends, stupidity, etc.

Every Python fan knows it's the randomly dropped sixteen ton weight that may get you in the end.  

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, exchemist said:

Forget "toxins". That is mostly health woo for the gullible. 

If we sweated out any significant amount of noxious substances, our clothing would show the effects. And our skin is actually a barrier against toxins, so it's not a good mechanism for the body to use. The scam that really gets me is the electrodes in the foot bath that allegedly remove "toxins" through the soles of the feet, and you know it's working because the water looks rusty and brown.

[Peterkin]

1 minute ago, TheVat said:

Worth noting that sweating often accompanies exercise, so it's possible the real benefit is how you came to be sweating, not the sweating itself.

That's why I (and the research I cited) restricted the question to saunas. There is benefit to be had from the heat itself, notably, blood vessel dilation, which does aid in the transport of chemicals, good and bad, to their desired destinations.

A side benefit of living in a clean environment, rather than an urban center, is the quality of water. While I have lots of calcium in my well-water, there is no chlorine or fluorine, lead or whatever else old city pipes may contain. However, I am at risk to bacteria and pesticide that may leach into the ground-water, so I have to have it tested every year. Not all rural communities have access to safe water supply, as nearby industry, mining, forestry, factory farming and other commercial activity can devastate an entire water-table.

13 minutes ago, TheVat said:

And, btw, if you're retaining water, try not eating wheat, rye, barley, and oat products for a few days.  These grains cause mild water retention in the muscle tissue. 

I didn't know that one.

[exchemist]

13 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

If we sweated out any significant amount of noxious substances, our clothing would show the effects. And our skin is actually a barrier against toxins, so it's not a good mechanism for the body to use. The scam that really gets me is the electrodes in the foot bath that allegedly remove "toxins" through the soles of the feet, and you know it's working because the water looks rusty and brown.

Oh I don't know that scam. I must look out for it.

But people are naïve. Several quite educated people I know think these Brita water filters must be good because you see a few black particles in the water reservoir at the top. In fact that's just a bit of the activated carbon filtration material that has escaped: they really work mainly by ion exchange but use carbon to trap chlorine etc. (I use one because it makes better tea, with less insoluble tannin deposit in the cups and teapot).

[John Cuthber]

4 hours ago, Tanone_Hari said:

I have also heard that we need to consume broccoli sprouts to get rid of all the pollutants we breathe in from cigarette smoke and car exhaust fumes that we are exposed to on a day to day basis.

Mankind was using fire and breathings smoke before broccoli was bred.
On the other hand, Broccoli, like other brassicas is actually toxic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goitrin

To a good approximation, sweat is water; and anything that can be carried out of the body in solution in water will be excreted in the urine, much more than in sweat simply because we don't normally sweat that much.