Many say that one of the benefits of sweating for health is preventing asthma from relapse. Do doctors agree with this?
Have you sweated today? Although it makes the body a little uncomfortable, sweating actually brings many health benefits, you know. According to some, one of the benefits of sweating is preventing asthma.
Asthma is a disease that occurs due to narrowing and inflammation of the airways. This disease has the main symptoms of shortness of breath and wheezing, can also cause chest pain and coughing.
Until now, the exact cause of asthma is still unknown. However, there are several risk factors for asthma that you should still be aware of. Asthma risk factors in question, for example:
- Exposure to cigarette smoke and air pollution
- food allergy
- Stress
- Weather, including changes in air temperature
- Humid or dusty room conditions
- Sports or physical activity
Because the cause is still a mystery, asthma can only be controlled so that the symptoms do not recur frequently. In this case, several ways that can be done are:
- Recognize and keep away from everything that can trigger asthma
- Recognizing the characteristics of an asthma attack and the appropriate treatment steps
- Take the medication according to the doctor’s recommendations
In addition, there is also an assumption that sweating can help prevent asthma flare-ups. Is this assumption medically justified?
An observational study conducted by Dr. Chan Park and colleagues from Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California recruited 56 male and female Marines aged 18 to 32.
Participants were referred to a specialized marine health care center with possible exercise-induced asthma (EIA).
This study looked at the correlation between the two groups. The first group had EIA and was positive when tested with the methacholine challenge test. While the second group also had EIA but had negative results when tested with the same test.
The methacholine challenge test is the standard test used to diagnose asthma. Methacholine which is a synthetic chemical will be used using a nebulizer machine, which will then be inhaled by the patient. This material will stimulate the nervous system and cause narrowing of the diameter of the airways.
After that, participants were asked to do a trial to measure how fast and hard their breathing rate using FEV1.
As for sweat itself, it is stimulated in the skin using a drug called pilocarpine. The study volunteers also took saliva and tear tests. The researchers analyzed the correlation between the results of these tests and the rate of sweating.
Researchers concluded that excessive sweating, salivation and tears are physical characteristics of individuals who are resistant to hyperactive airway diseases such as asthma.
From these findings, the researchers concluded that low sweat production is associated with a lack of fluid in the respiratory tract. And this is what allegedly protects humans from EIA.
However, this is still temporary. This is because this research is observational. This means that this study cannot determine a causal relationship so that the results are still considered tentative.
The proportions of male and female participants who were included in this study were not clearly known, so it was very difficult to determine its effectiveness in each gender.
Furthermore, the application of this study to groups outside the study participant population is also unclear. This is because participants aged 18 to 32 years, who had an EIA, did not apply these results to childhood asthma.
In short, studies that find out the relationship between sweating and asthma still need further investigation to get more accurate results. This means that the benefits of sweating that are said to prevent asthma flare-ups are still uncertain.