How Estrogen and Testosterone Can Change the Way Your Body Handles Heat

Estrogen and testosterone can affect how the body handles heat, with men often starting to sweat at a lower temperature during exercise.

Medicine

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Sweating is one of the body’s main ways of getting rid of excess heat, but people do not all respond to temperature in the same way. Age, genetics, sex and hormones can all influence sweating patterns. Research discussed in BBC Science Focus notes that the sex hormones oestrogen and testosterone affect how the body responds to outside temperature. During exercise, men tend to begin sweating at a lower temperature than women, suggesting that hormone differences can influence the body’s heat-control system. Sweat itself is more than water. Most sweat from eccrine glands is about 99 percent water, with small amounts of salts and urea, and it helps cool the skin as it evaporates. Other glands, especially apocrine glands around the armpits and groin, produce a different type of sweat that becomes noticeable when skin bacteria break down its proteins, fats and other compounds. Hormonal changes can also alter sweating at different stages of life. Puberty activates sweat glands, while later hormonal shifts such as perimenopause can contribute to hot flushes and sweating. These changes show that temperature control is not simply a matter of the weather. It is a biological system influenced by several interacting factors, including hormones. Scientists are also studying sweat for another reason: its chemistry may contain useful clues about health. Researchers are investigating whether sweat can help monitor conditions or reveal biological changes without needing a blood sample. That field is still developing, so promising findings should not be treated as established diagnostic tools yet.

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