Have you ever wondered why we sweat when it’s hot outside and why your dog seems to be unaffected by it? If you keep reading you will find out more about the way that your best friend stays cool in summer and what exactly makes you sweat out salty water.
How does sweat work?
Sweating is basically our body’s way of cooling us down. Our ideal temperature lies between 36°C and 37°C and if our body gets hotter than that, for whatever reason, it starts to cool us down. The hypothalamus, the brain region responsible for our temperature, sends signals to our eccrine sweat glands which are spread all over our body. The glands then start producing sweat, also known as perspiration, which contains mostly water and a small amount of ammonia, urea, salt and sugar. Once the sweat leaves the skin through our pores and hits the air, it evaporates. Sweating technically takes energy in the form of heat and it relies on a principle of physics called “heat of vaporization”. As soon as the sweat evaporates your body starts to cool down. Since the body loses a lot of water while sweating, it is crucial to drink lots of water to prevent dehydration.
What makes us sweat?
The first reason why we sweat is heat, obviously. As we already know, when our body gets too hot it automatically cools itself down. But what are other reasons why our body might get too hot? Being angry is one of them, our body releases stress hormones which raise your heart rate and blood pressure and also your temperature. Eating spicy food tricks your brain into thinking that your mouth actually is hot by setting off the nerve receptors which react to heat. This causes you to sweat, even though you are not actually hot. Besides cooling sweat you might also experience something as “emotional sweating” when you are nervous, scared or stressed. It relies on the body’s “fight-or-flight” response to seemingly dangerous situations. The glands that make you sweat when you are nervous are only located in your armpits and groin and are called apocrine sweat glands. Our fight-or-flight response was passed down to us from our ancestors who relied on it to survive. It releases adrenaline and other stress hormones which raise your heartbeat, increases blood flow and tenses up your muscles. Additionally, the adrenaline also activates the apocrine glands and causes you to sweat.
Why don’t dogs sweat?
Contrary to what you might have learned about dogs not being able to sweat, they actually do! Just in a slightly different way than us. Since most dogs have a thick coat of fur, sweat would never be able to evaporate because it wouldn’t get that far through the fur. To still cool them down in hot weather their seat glands can actually be found under their paw pad and on their nose, where dogs usually don’t have a lot of hair. You might notice that your dog is sweating by them leaving damp paw prints all over the floor. Since the paws and the nose are far smaller compared to the area on our bodies that are covered in sweat glands, dogs rely on panting to cool them down. The moisture from their mouths evaporates as the air from outside cools them down in the same way that a cold breeze on sweat would cool down us. While many people believe that shaving a dog’s coat helps with staying cool in summer, it can actually be harmful to them. Dog’s fur acts as an insulator, it keeps the heat out in summer and the cold out in winter. Additionally, to not shaving your dog’s fur, you should always make sure that your dog has enough shade and water when he is outside to prevent a heat stroke.
Now you know how your dog reacts to hot weather and what you can do to help him feel more comfortable! I hope you learned something new through this article.
Sources:
https://www.houstonmethodist.org/blog/articles/2020/aug/how-sweat-works-why-we-sweat-when-we-are-hot-as-well-as-when-we-are-not/
https://www.healthline.com/health/sweat-what-is-it#1.-Sweat-is-your-bodys-way-of-cooling-you-down-
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/ss/slideshow-sweat-causes
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/do-dogs-sweat/#:~:text=Most%20dogs%20are%20covered%20in,takes%20place%20when%20sweat%20evaporates
https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/10/09/why-dont-dogs-sweat/
https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/sweat.html