I collected 2L of my own SWEAT! (and it was disgusting) | Know Brainers
54Did you know that humans can sweat around 1-3L per hour? That’s a lot of sweat. To honour Science and to gross out his co-worker, Laura, Lucas decides to see how much of his own perspiration he can collect.
He calculates his sweat rate with a mathematical formula to try to predict an achievable amount of sweat to collect. His sweat rate is 1L per hour, so he decides to aim for 2L of sweat.
To do this, he uses a Sauna Suit, to try to trap the sweat before it evaporates, and also to keep his Body Temperature high enough to trigger his body to release sweat. This is the type of suit athletes and fighters use to lose water weight before a game. Except Lucas doesn’t want to lose the water weight, so he agrees to stay hydrated throughout the process.
Staying hydrated isn’t just about drinking water, it’s about drinking electrolytes as well. These are minerals, such as salt and potassium that help the body stay hydrated. Without these, Lucas might risk feeling fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea or muscle spasms.
Lucas starts the process by cycling in the office, and Laura helps him by running a private spin class for him. She starts to notice the sweat being absorbed from the suit and all the gross places Lucas is sweating from.
Lucas discusses how sweat is crucial to survival because it regulates temperature. There are 2-5 million glands in your body that release sweat and they basically look like coiled loops that remove the liquid between your cells, bones and organs. When the sweat evaporates from your skin, it takes some heat from the blood in your skin with it. The cooler blood travels around your body, helping you stay at a standard temperature of 36.1 – 37.2 degrees C.
At his first collection, Lucas only collects around 100mL of sweat. He realizes he is losing so much of it through the seams of his workout clothes. He decides to make a suit out of garbage bags to help him trap the water from getting absorbed so he can collect it more efficiently. Laura helps him collect his sweat and at the second collection, he collects around 800mL of sweat. They are off to the races.
Lucas talks about the difference between Eccrine Glands and Apocrine Glands and the difference between the sweat that they excrete. Apocrine Glands produce sweat that have fatty acids and proteins that keep it from evaporating longer. It develops an odor on your skin which is why sweat can sometimes smell!
The fitter you are, the sooner you’ll sweat and some athletes can even sweat off 2-6% of their body weight.
As the day turns to night, Lucas starts to get exhausted. He has pushed himself so hard, collecting over 1L of sweat, but his body is so dehydrated he can’t produce sweat at a rapid rate any longer. His fingers prune, he gets a headache, he looks pale and he doesn’t feel well. He decides to make one final collection, collecting about 1.7L of sweat at the end of a few hours.
The next day, Lucas shows all of his co-workers his jug of sweat. Most of them don’t believe him and think he is pulling a prank. Some are grossed out, which leaves Lucas wondering, was it disgusting? Or is it impressive?
0:00 Sweat Opener
0:33 How To Calculate Your Sweat Rate
1:26 The Famous Sweat Suit
2:27 What Is Sweat?
2:47 Laura Runs A Spin Class
3:20 Overheating
4:07 The First Haul
4:53 The Garbage Bag Suit
5:30 Fun Sweat Facts
6:13 Things Take A Turn
8:06 The Next Day
8:59 What Are You Gonna Do With Your Sweat?
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#SweatChallenge #SweatScience #HydrationMatters