08/03/2021 by MBC Team

Do men or women sweat more?

The way the human body cools down depends on its size, not its gender, which means that larger individuals sweat more than smaller ones during room temperature exercises. This shows a study published in Experimental Physiology.

The human body cools down in two main ways: sweating and increasing blood circulation to the surface of the skin. The shape and size of the body dictate which of these two ways to rely. Scientists have studied the blood flow to the skin and the sweating reactions in 36 men and 24 women. The study found that smaller males and females with more skin surface area per kilogram body mass were more dependent on heat loss by increasing blood circulation and less dependent on sweating.


References:

Sean R. Notley, Joonhee Park, Kyoko Tagami, Norikazu Ohnishi, Nigel A. S. Taylor. Variations in body morphology explain gender differences in thermoeffector function during compensable heat stress. Experimental Physiology, 2017; DOI: 10.1113/EP086112