A study by the University of Southampton has revealed a surprising link between breast size and the amount of sweat produced by the breast during exercise. The study looked at 22 women of different ages and breast sizes while they ran in a warm climatic chamber—measuring how much sweat they produced across the breast, how much heat their bodies were producing and how many sweat glands they had on different parts of their breasts. The study is published in the journal Experimental Physiology .
Sweat production is primarily influenced by factors such as body size , metabolism, and environmental conditions. However, the research team hypothesized that breast size could also impact both sweat production across the breast and comfort during physical activities. The research, conducted by Hannah Blount—a postgraduate researcher in thermal physiology at the University's ThermosenseLab—has found that bigger breasts have fewer sweat glands, meaning they produce less sweat when working out.
She said, "Over 85% of women deem a sports bra an essential piece of equipment for exercise, but it's actually really hard to find one that's comfortable and supportive, so a lot of women struggle with this. Our thought process was to look at how sports bras offer support to women and comfort to women of varying breast sizes, especially in hot conditions, when women are more likely to experience issues like chafing and significant sweat accumulation in the bra. "Specifically, we were intereste.