Top 10 Facts About Sweat

It’s time to accept that sweating is just an everyday part of our lives. Humans sweat, animals sweat, and even celebrities sweat. Here are just some fun tidbits about this sometimes unpleasant human function.

1. Men sweat 40% more than women. Sorry, guys, it’s the truth. Why the unfairness? Women are just better able to regulate the amount of water they lose.

2. The normal human being sweats around 278 gallons each year. This is said to be enough to fill up the gas tank of three mid-size SUVs. Maybe sweat should be the next alternative fuel.

3. In some Micronesian cultures, sweat is thought of as a warrior’s essence. To drink such an essence, is considered a great honor. It’s a good thing American culture hasn’t picked up on this “great honor.”

4. Did you know that cows sweat through their noses? It’s true. Dairy farmers often have to spray off their cows in order to cool them down in the summer. They say a comfortable cow is an economical cow. Does this work for mother’s-in-law? …kidding

5. Your feet have over 250,000 sweat glands. That’s a lot. The sweat from your feet is actually odorless. It’s the bacteria that thrive in the dark, humid, oxygen deprived shoes that create “stinky feet.”

6. Tom Cruise admitted to not bathing for weeks while he was filming “The Outsiders” in order to truly get into his character. Talk about taking your job seriously. Other cast members claimed that Tom plain “stunk.”

7. Hippo’s sweat is red. Scientists have found that the red pigment in the hippo’s sweat not only acts as a protection from the sun, but also helps kill the bacteria that grow on their exteriors.

8. The saying “sweating like a pig” is actually pointless in describing your sweaty state. Pigs don’t sweat that well or that much. They have to bathe in mud to cool their bodies down. The saying is thought to have come from the way pigs actually smell, instead of how they sweat. I think it comes from the guy at the gym who literally showers his “essence” on the treadmill and walks away without wiping up. Can you be more piggy?

9. During his life, King Louis XII of France only took two baths. This might seem a little extreme, but back then, not bathing was a sign of prestige. When people began to stink, they tried to cover up with perfumes, oils, and spices. Now days, prestige is a little dog in a purse and plastic surgery. Both stink in my opinion…just sayin.

10. The mistresses of King Henri IV of France said he “smelled like a carrion.” (A carrion is a rotting animal carcass.) Although he changed his shirt every day, he refused to bathe or cover up the smell with cologne. When his second wife, Marie de Medicis, met her future husband, she fainted from his sweaty stench.