Why Is Perspiration Salty?

Sweating is a normal biological process that your body goes through when you are too hot. Sweat contains a number of compounds besides water, including salt. Salt plays a number of roles in the perspiration process and is an important component in regulating wellness.

Regulating Blood Levels

• Sodium levels in the blood are carefully regulated by your body. As you sweat, you lose water from the bloodstream. If sweat did not contain salt, you would increase blood salinity to dangerous levels every time you exercised or mowed the lawn in the summer. Including salt in your sweat allows the body to continue to regulate salt levels in your bloodstream.

Aides in Cell Water Transport

• Salt ions play an important role in the regulation of moisture levels in the blood and in individual cells. Your body stores salt in glands near the skin's surface, which release the salt as part of the perspiration process to maintain healthy sodium levels in the cells.

Inhibits Bacteria Growth

• Once on your skin's surface, the salt molecules in your sweat serve to inhibit growth of smelly and dangerous bacteria. A warm, moist environment is the perfect place for bacteria to grow and reproduce. Without salts, after a run on a warm afternoon, your skin would be covered with harmful bacteria colonies.