Sweat Facts for Kids

A Picture of Sweat on Human Skin
  • Name: Sweat (Bodily fluid)
  • Alternate Name: Perspiration
  • Produced by: The integumentary system
  • Purpose: Thermoregulation
  • Composition: Watger and traces of lactic acid, minerals and urea.
  • Production Average: Between 100 and 8,000 mL/day

24 Sweat Facts for Kids

  1. Sweat is a fluid produced from the sweat glands in your skin.
  2. Sweat is also known as perspiration.
  3. Sweating or perspiring is the act of release sweat from the sweat glands in your skin.
  4. Sweat is produced by the human integumentary system.
  5. Humans sweat to keep their body temperature in a certain range, which is also known as thermoregulation.
  6. Sweat cools your body off through evaporation.
  7. Humans typically sweat when they’re in a hot climate, working hard or exercising.
  8. The human integumentary system has two types of sweat glands.
  9. The two sweat glands found in the human integumentary system are the eccrine gland and apocrine gland.
  10. The eccrine glands are located all over your body.
  11. The apocrine glands are in specific areas of your body.
  12. Apocrine glands are found in the armpits, breasts (areola and nipples), ear canal, eyelids, genitalia (some external parts), nostril (wings) and the perianal region (anus).
  13. Sweat is primarily made up of water, but it does contain trace amounts of lactic acid, minerals and urea.
  14. Some of the trace amount of minerals found in sweat include calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium.
  15. It’s estimated that a male human sweats twice as much as a female human.
  16. The average human has between two and four million sweat glands.
  17. The average human can lose between 100 and 8,000 mL of water a day from sweating.
  18. The amount of water lost due to sweating is based on several factors, including but not limited to gender, age, environmental conditions, health status and weight.
  19. An athlete or very fit person can lose between 2 and 6 percent of their body weight in the heat during an extreme workout or sporting event.
  20. In a hot climate it’s important to stay hydrated, the loss of water from sweating can cause undesirable affects to the human body and even be fatal.
  21. Human sweat can have an unpleasant odor due to bacteria that thrive in a sweaty environment.
  22. A person can be diagnosed with a condition known as hyperhidrosis if they sweat more than normal and in excess of what’s need to maintain their body temperature.
  23. A person can be diagnosed with a condition known as nocturnal hyperhidrosis (night sweats) if they sweat excessively while sleeping and that sweat isn’t a result of environmental factors, like a hot bedroom.
  24. A person can be diagnosed with a condition known as hematohidrosis (blood sweat) if their sweat has a red tint. Blood sweat is caused by ruptured capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands in the skin.

Additional Resources on Human Sweat

  • Sweat (Perspiration) – Learn more about Sweat (Perspiration) on the MedlinePlus website.
  • What is Sweat? – An excellent article for kids on the KidsHealth website that explains what sweat is.
  • Perspiration – Wikipedia – Explore the Wikipedia website to learn more about perspiration (sweating).

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