SDS 026: Sweat every day

I’ve already mentioned previously on the podcast Lewis Howes and his School of Greatness and his podcast. Well, I was browsing around Lewis’s website a couple of months ago and I came across this very interesting notion which I wanted to share with you today. So the notion is about sweating every day. So basically, doing some form of exercise to release sweat and to do that on a consistent basis, practically daily. And why is that a good idea? Well the first thing that came to my mind is because as data scientists and analysts, we focus a lot on developing our brains, our minds, our capacity to process data and think, and all these skills on the computer, and we’re constantly in front of our monitors and even though we’re developing that part of our body very, very well, sometimes we may forget about the rest of our body. And we might end up sitting in front of a computer for days in a row and not really go outside, not really go to the gym or do any sports, and it’s very easy to neglect and forget your body.

And so, while on one hand you might be advancing in your career and achieving great results at work, at the same time, your health is experiencing detriment. So a good way to keep track of that is to every day, at the end of the day, ask yourself, “Did I sweat today? Did I do something that made me sweat?” And that way, it’s a good rule of thumb that “Yes, if I did, that means I’m not forgetting about my body. And if I did forget to sweat, and I forgot to do some exercise, then tomorrow I have to get onto it.” And eventually with time, you’ll probably come to a routine where you will be sweating every day and doing something, and you’ll actually be enjoying it.

And this also led me to do some additional research, what are the medical benefits of sweat? What are the actual physiological benefits of sweating every day? Well, there’s actually so many benefits and good, positive side effects of sweating. And here’s a couple. For example, sweating releases endorphins, which make pain go away. So if you have some chronic pain, or you just hurt yourself somewhere, or some kind of pain, sweating and exercise might help with that because it releases endorphins. Sweating also controls mood swings, and it helps your brain to be happier. You know how before going to the gym you might be cranky, and then afterwards, you’re all pumped up and you’re all excited about life? That’s exactly what’s going on.

Also, sweating fights kidney stones. So you know sometimes when people might develop kidney stones? Well, sweating means you’re doing exercise, and it means you’re drinking more liquids, means that you’re flushing your kidneys more and that helps prevent kidney stones. Also, there’s heaps more benefits. For instance, sweat releases antimicrobial peptides onto your skin and helps fight things like colds and other infections, helps release pollutants and toxins out of your body, and it also even helps heal wounds, there’s something to do with stem cells there, but I’m not a doctor, I’m not going to go into detail on that.

But out of all of those, my favourite one is probably that sweat helps regulate your body temperature. Meaning, obviously when you’re sweating and you’re exercising, your body temperature goes up, so if you’re doing it at some time during the day or in the morning, you get pumped up for the day and your body temperature goes up. But what that also means, and this is something I learned from another podcast, something else I was listening to, is that on the flip side, 12 hours from there, when night time comes, your body temperature will drop lower. So if during the day your body temperature went up higher than normal, then during the night it will drop lower than it normally does. And that is the key to a good night’s sleep. So if you don’t exercise and your body temperature is pretty consistent throughout the day, then it doesn’t drop that much during the night. But if you make it, force it, to go up during the day through exercise and sweating, then during the night it will drop lower so it’s like a sine wave, or a cosine wave, something like that. It fluctuates up and down, and the volatility of that fluctuation down is higher when the volatility of the fluctuation up is higher. We’re talking mathematical terms. But basically, that means you’ll sleep better. And if you sleep better, you can work better, you can learn better, your mind has a better rest.

So those are the benefits of sweating every day. I challenge you to start thinking about that this weekend. At the end of Saturday, look back and ask yourself, did you sweat? At the end of Sunday, ask yourself the same thing, and maybe you’ll get into the habit of that and that might help you lead a better and healthier lifestyle.

Thank you so much for being on this show. I love you so much. Can’t wait to see you next time. And until then, happy analyzing.