Sweating and body odor

There are lots of different activities that cause us to sweat more than usual. Hot weather, exercise and doing something that makes us feel anxious all cause the sweat to flow. Sweating is one of the body's ways of cooling down and it is important that we do sweat. There is a very rare condition where people do not sweat, and they are at a very high risk of overheating.

Sweat by itself does not have much of an odour. Most of the smell is caused by bacteria which live on the skin and in clothing. Strange as it may seem, people with unpleasant body odour are unable to smell their body odour. Because they live with it all the time, they are no longer sensitive to the smell.

Underarm deodorants make the sweat acidic which stops bacteria from growing. We still make the same amount of sweat, but there are fewer bacteria to make the smell. Antiperspirants block the sweat ducts with aluminium salts, so that less sweat is produced. Less sweat equals fewer bacteria and less smell. They should only be used on underarms - you need to be able to sweat over the rest of your body to keep yourself healthy.