Imagine waking up to a day when the sun illuminates you with all its warmth. You got up and took a shower after looking around for a while. After a nice shower, you sprayed deodorant on your armpits, brushed your teeth and put on your predetermined clothes. Before going to work, you made yourself an ice-cold coffee and while you were drinking it, you scrolled through social media.
After you finished your coffee, you went out and started to wait for the bus that will take you to work at the bus stop. The bus was packed as usual. You got on the bus and proceeded to the middle to wait standing. At that very moment, you felt a cloud of scent coming towards you from the person in front of you. Actually, the person in front of you didn’t look that bad, but there was a very heavy smell of sweat.
Has this short story we tell ever happened to you before? Have you ever wondered why some people smell more sweat? Why does that person smell so much sweat and not you or the other people around him? Today we will try to explain to you why some people smell more of sweat.
Does our sweat really smell?
Especially in crowded environments such as public transportation, the smell of sweat, which we think about even more, can be very annoying. Actually, there is a misconception here. Sweat isn’t actually something that smells bad. The bad smell coming to your nose comes from the bacteria on our skin, which can reach the desired environment in sweat. Everyone has bacteria in their body. Bacteria that love wet and humid environments reach the environment they want, especially when we sweat, and start to develop and grow. When bacteria develop and grow, they begin to produce their own odor. The type of sweat emitted by people, which acts as a host for bacteria, has an important place in the formation of this odor.
Humans have two types of sweat glands.
Humans have two types of sweat glands. These are the “eccrine” and “apocrine” glands. The most common are the eccrine glands and can be found all over the body. These glands, which provide sweat directly to the skin, work as our body’s cooling system. Eccrine glands excrete large amounts of water and some oil and salt through sweat. Apocrine glands are mostly located in the armpit and inguinal regions. We can say that the general responsible of this heavy odor is the apocrine glands.
Why does our sweat smell?
Apocrine glands begin to work during puberty and are a gland associated with hair follicles in the armpits and groin. The apocrine gland produces a thicker sticky sweat than the eccrine gland. This protein-rich sweat is happily accepted by the bacteria. Bacteria, which is also powered by the dark environment around the armpits and genital area, breaks down the protein in this dense sweat and emits high concentrations of odor. Eccrine sweat glands regularly control body temperature and have no serious connection with odor.
Why do some people smell more sweat?
We learned that the main factor in the smell of sweat is bacteria. If everyone has these bacteria in their body, why do some people smell more sweat? There are several reasons for this. Every person has a different variety of bacteria. Even the house we live in, the places we touch, even the people we just meet allow us to share bacteria on a regular basis. Have you noticed that every family home has its own unique scent? The reason for this odor is shown to be that people who live together constantly eat similar food and carry similar bacteria in their bodies.
The fat and proteins in the sweat that comes out of our body are also related to the food we eat. So depending on what you eat, you’re giving bacteria more room. They also take advantage of this opportunity very well. For example, let’s say you ate spicy food with strong-smelling vegetables such as garlic and onions. Your body produces compounds as it digests these foods and releases these compounds through the skin’s pores. This, when combined with bacteria, causes you to smell like spoiled vegetables. In other words, the food that a person eats, the amount and variety of bacteria on it can cause it to smell more.
Sometimes it can just be dirty.
Of course, we should not attribute everything to bacteria. While some people tend to smell more, they can also be really dirty at times. Especially in hot summer months, if someone does not take a regular shower, the smell will be inevitable. In addition, applying deodorant under the armpits, which is the main place where the smell spreads, is an important solution to prevent odor.
How can we prevent the smell of sweat?
There are several ways to prevent the smell of sweat. The first of these, of course, is taking a shower. If a person regularly washes his body with soap and then dries it well, he will not smell for a long time, even if he sweats again. Because, as we said, the thing that provides the smell is not sweat, but bacteria that develop in the environment where sweat is present.
Sweat-smelling places are usually armpits and genitals. The thick sweat produced by the apocrine glands in these areas stays for longer if there is hair in these areas. It is possible to prevent odor by cutting the hairs that prevent sweat from evaporating.
Regular showering and shaving would remove the odor to a great extent, but if you want it to last longer, you need to use antiperspirants. Deodorants reduce the formation of sweat in your body. In addition, deodorants, which also change the amount and activity of bacteria, ensure that the body does not smell for a long time.
If you can’t get rid of the odor despite all these, you need to see a doctor. It is seen that the odor, which has treatment options such as aluminum chloride and botox, can also be solved by surgical intervention in some cases. However, there is a reason why these procedures are under the supervision of a doctor. Sweat is our body’s cooling system. If we eliminate it completely, our body will constantly warm up. This leads to serious events that result in death .
Today we tried to explain to you why some people smell more sweat. If you want more content like this, you can write in the comments.
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