As temperatures soar, you’re probably breaking a sweat walking from your house to your car. Not to mention the hot and humid weather makes it feel like you’re working harder during exercise. But does that extra sweat on your brow equate to burning more calories in the hot summer sun? Ahead, experts answer your questions.
The body works very hard to maintain a steady internal temperature of around 98.6 F. This is a physiological process called .
If the body senses that its internal temperature is rising, sweat glands activate to perspire and keep the body cool. Sweat evaporating from the skin cools you down. Regardless of how hot or sweaty you feel, the body does a good job of staying cool.
It doesn’t require more calories to produce sweat, and, therefore, you don’t naturally burn more calories in the heat. Some people produce more sweat than others, but there isn’t any research to suggest that more sweat equates to a higher calorie burn. However, higher sweat rates do increase the risk of dehydration.
“When it is very hot out, people may sweat a lot which puts them at risk for dehydration,” says Dr. Marc Eisenberg, clinical cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York. “When you’re dehydrated, blood pressure may drop and, in response to a low blood pressure, one’s heart rate may increase to compensate for the low blood pressure,” adds Eisenberg.
He notes that an increased heart rate doesn’t tran.