Very few people wake up in the morning, excited about getting their sweat on. Social conventions don’t look kindly on sweaty armpits or glistening skin. But there are a number of positive reasons to incorporate regular sweating into your health program.

Detoxification

Believe it or not, your body expels one liter of sweat every single day. This helps keep you cool but is also one of the primary ways your body is able to get rid of unwanted toxins or other harmful chemicals. In some cases, the body prefers to eliminate these substances through the skin rather than through the bowels or kidneys.

Prevention of Kidney Stones

Research has shown that sweating can actually help prevent kidney stones by allowing your body to remove excess salt from the bloodstream. However, don’t forget the importance of staying hydrated to help prevent the formation of the kidney stones in the first place.

Skin Healing

Instead of reaching for an antibiotic ointment when you have a cut, scratch, bite or sting, let your sweat glands do the job. Sweat contains antibiotic substances not produced anywhere else in the body that help kill off pathogens on the skin that might otherwise gain entrance to the body and cause an infection. As well, sweat can help reduce acne breakouts by maintaining healthy bacteria on the skin.

Positive Emotions

If exercise is not your gig, you might want to reconsider. Science has confirmed again and again the emotional benefits of sweating caused by strenuous exercise. Pleasure hormones are released when your body heats up enough that it needs to sweat. When this happens, your brain is exposed to certain chemicals that provide that happy, contented feeling.

Pain Relief

Exercise-induced endorphins bring about a pleasurable feeling but recent studies have shown that they can act as natural pain relievers. Patients with chronic pain experienced positive pain responses when their exercises were tailored to their physical abilities. Another group found that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise brought about a noticeable reduction of pain.

There’s no denying that sweating is a good thing but how’s the best way to go about it? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Hop in any kind of sauna or steam room
• Go for a hike in the mountains on a warm day (but be sure to stay hydrated)
• Do some kind of interval training at home or at the gym
• Enjoy a raunch in the bedroom

No matter which one you choose, remember to stay well hydrated throughout the day. But the most important thing is just to start sweating!