# Exercise and sweating **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 2020, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercise-and-sweating/928702 "2020-12-23T06:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jonpluc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jonpluc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonpluc)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercise-and-sweating/928702/1 "2020-12-23T06:04:58Z")
When i exercise, i sweat from every pore of my skin from the waist up. When im done working out my shirt is soaked. But from the waist down i am pretty dry. I could wear my socks all day. The exercise is even coming from my legs on the stairmaster, so why is this? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercise-and-sweating/928702/2 "2020-12-23T14:37:05Z")
I guess that (waist-up) is where you have pores. FWIW, car engines do all their work in the engine’s cylinders, but a lot of the heat is dumped from the radiator. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercise-and-sweating/928702/3 "2020-12-23T15:56:40Z")
Sweat evaporates from the skin faster if there is air moving across it. It’s possible in your stairmaster example that your legs, if you’re wearing shorts, are getting air movement over them from your stepping action whereas your upper body is staying stationary. I can stay pretty dry on an elliptical if I have a fan blowing at me. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercise-and-sweating/928702/4 "2020-12-23T16:25:00Z")
I’ve always been like that. I think the vast majority of my sweat glands are not only above my waist, but on my face and head. My eye sockets and eyelids _really_ perspire. I can wear long pants and work boots in the heat and humidity, but my legs and feet are still pretty dry. The rest of me looks as though a bucket of water was dumped over me. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercise-and-sweating/928702/5 "2020-12-23T17:16:59Z")
I don’t know the biological answer but I have the same experience. However, when I work out I get sweaty underwear so dry not quite from the _waist_ down. The only time I notice sweat on my legs is in very hot, humid weather. So your legs _do_ sweat some, but it evaporates. (You are sweating at least a little just sitting comfortably still.) The muscles are doing a lot of the work but your whole system is revving up. Your body tries to stabilize the temperature of your core, which includes your internal organs that like to operate within a fairly narrow temperature range. Your heart, kidneys, liver, and brain don’t like to be overheated but I’m guessing your legs, which are all bone, muscle, and connective tissue, are more tolerant. It would seem to follow that your upper body would try harder to shed heat. However, I do not have a background in biology and do not know if that last leap is true–I don’t know if sweat cools that particular part of the body, or whether heat management is more systemic. I suppose that sweating could cool the blood in capillaries which circulates everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercise-and-sweating/928702/6 "2020-12-23T21:05:15Z")
My experience is different. My face, scalp, and feet are my sweaty-ist parts. Oh, and I always collect sweat under my breasts, so much that I have to be careful to avoid rashes. And my underarms and crotch sweat, too, especially my crotch. I rarely notice sweat on my arms or my legs. The patch of shirt at the back of my neck can be soaked through and my arms are still pretty dry. And thankfully, my hands don’t sweat as much as my feet. But I need to change socks pretty frequently if I’m exercising heavily.