What's up, doc?

Current Health 2, a Weekly Reader publication, February, 2008

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Q Why do we sweat?

--Kaitlin B., Pennsylvania

Sweat happens from the inside out. When the body gets too hot, it uses sweat to regulate its temperature. "Sweat is produced by specialized glands in the skin called eccrine glands," explains Dr. Joely Kaufman, assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Miami. When we exercise or spend time outside on a hot day, our bodies get hot and our sympathetic nerves (they're the part of our nervous system that deals with stress) signal the eccrine glands to release sweat to the skin. Eccrine glands are located right underneath the skin everywhere on our bodies (except for our lips and the insides of our ears).

When the sweat "evaporates off of the skin, it...

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