Sweating After Light Exercise

Those beads of perspiration breaking out on your lips and forehead after exercise may be doing more than just cooling you down. They could be giving you valuable information. How much you sweat after light exercise can be a helpful indicator of how hard you actually worked out. While sweating can be affected by heat and humidity, it can also be a useful measurement of exercise intensity.

  1. A Short Course on Sweat

    • Sweating is the body's own air-conditioning system. Normal body temperature will go up in response to internal or external factors. Heat is a key external factor, whether caused by an over-heated gymnasium or a mid-summer day. A primary internal factor would be physical exertion. When body temperature rises, the body automatically releases sweat -- salts and water to help cool you off and get back to normal. As sweat evaporates from the skin, body temperature goes back down.

    Heat and Humidity

    • Two reasons you might perspire after light exercise have to do with external factors, heat and humidity. The higher the external temperature, the more you will sweat in order to cool down. When the climate is dry, sweat evaporates quickly. When it's humid, however, there is already so much moisture in the air, the sweat doesn't evaporate very fast. That is why it seems hotter when it's humid.

    Exercise Intensity

    • Presuming external factors like heat and humidity are not in play, sweating after exercise can be a reflection of the intensity of your workout. Experts at the Mayo Clinic include sweating in their classifications of exercise intensity. Sweating after just a few minutes of activity would indicate a vigorous workout. Sweating lightly after 10 minutes of activity would point to a more moderate workout. Light exercise could be characterized as a workout without sweat.

    Go on, Break a Sweat

    • Whether you are just beginning to exercise or want to ramp up your activity a notch, your perspiration can help determine where you are and help you monitor your progress as you go along. To get the most from your exercise routines, experts recommend you work out at a moderate or vigorous level. If you aren't perspiring after that leisurely stroll around the block, try picking up the pace. Boost your intensity and break a sweat.