I HATE to sweat!

Maybe you can feel good about sweating.

Welcome to lazybones.substack.com. Every other week I’ll be sharing psychological insights and techniques to help you (or a friend) overcome the friction preventing a more active lifestyle. This week I’ll be discussing exercise and sweat.

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If I asked, “Do you like to sweat?” I’m guessing that your answer will be a definitive NO! You’re not alone. When I was encouraging members of my weight control program to join the aerobics class at the hospital gym, one of the most common objections to participating was, “I HATE to sweat.” Although the negatives of sweating seem obvious, let’s take a closer look.

You have between two to four million sweat glands. They help regulate your body’s temperature. When it’s hot and you sweat it evaporates and cools the skin. You’d be in trouble if you never sweat but unless you do Bikram yoga in a heated gym, it’s not going to be too hot when you exercise.

Sometimes you sweat even if it’s not too hot. Events like a job interview or taking an important exam, or even meeting someone new may make you anxious causing you to sweat. Although you might be a little uneasy starting a new exercise routine it’s unlikely that just thinking about exercising would be stressful enough to make you sweat.

Another, more relevant reason for sweating when it isn’t hot is sweating while exercising. Agreed, sweating when you’re hot or when you’re psychologically stressed is unpleasant. But sweating because you’ve been exercising doesn’t have to be nasty. Actually, it can be good.

I asked Paulina what her objections to sweating while exercising were. She replied,

I hate it when the sweat makes my clothes stick to my skin and leaves a stain near my armpits. Also, it stinks and I hate the smell.

I agreed that staining a nice blouse would be distressing and sweaty armpits don’t smell like a spring day on the farm, but exercising wouldn’t cause either problem. You’re not likely to be wearing your finest clothes when working out. Instead, you’ll be wearing a t-shirt or gym clothes that you can throw in the washer when you’re finished.

 You’ll probably shower after exercising which will get rid of any unpleasant smell so there’s one less problem. By the way, sweat doesn’t smell. It’s the interaction of sweat with germs and yeast on your skin that causes the smell. If you really can’t stand the smell while you’re working out, you can avoid it by washing first and then doing your exercise.

Once you’re past the negatives you can start to change how you think of sweating. It might help to know that heavy sweating could be a sign that you’re becoming physically fit. Fit people sweat sooner because they generate a lot of heat in a short period of time and need the sweat to cool down. You can view your sweat as tangible evidence that you’re improving your cardiovascular fitness and decreasing your health risks. Let yourself feel good about your sweat.