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Why is my sweat so salty?

grosso27grosso27
in General Training Discussions

I posted this in the Nutrition forum too, I guess I'm not sure which it applies more to.

Serious question here.  Even when it's not that hot out, I have white crusy lines on my face.  When it actually is hot, just about everything I wear is covered in white streaks.  My sweat burns my eyes terribly.  I watch so many other people out there sweating w/o a visor or headband on, & they seem to get by just fine.  But even with a visor, dealing with the searing sweat in the eyes is barely tolerable.

So the real question is, do I need to take in more salt b/t I am a naturally salty sweater & am losing alot of salt, or do I need to cut back on dietary salt as that's why I'm secreting so much salt?

What's the deal?

Comments

  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    It's well known that (a) the salt content of people's sweat varies a lot from person to person; and (b) the surest way to make your sweat saltier is to eat more salt.

    So, my suggestion is to try cutting back on the salt and see how it goes for you. You may be naturally heavy on salt in the sweat, or it may be from all that gatorade and Campbell's soup. :-)

    But you dn't want to get into a situation where you're cramping from lack of electrolytes, either. Just don't get trapped in the idea that you lose a lot of salt so you have to replace more than usual...that's self-fulfilling (see 'b" above).

    Good luck!
    Wm
  • ghernandghernand
    Ed:

    Don't put sunscreen above your eyes. Only below. Use visor or hat for protection above the eyes. Sometimes this helps with the burning of eyes.

    Salt on your clothes is not a problem. Functional issues like cramps or high blood pressure or changes in mental status due to too little or too much salt are a problem.

    Put in your body what u lose. Your sweat has salt and water, so put in salt and water. Salt requires glucose to be absorbed properly, so this is why Gatorade has sugar in it. Weigh yourself before and after workouts to get an idea of how much fluid you lose typically and this will give you a good gauge for how much to replenish with electrolytes/water/sugar. Otherwise, your body will take care of keeping everything balanced on it's own. In some it may mean lots of white streaks sooner than others, but after a long day of endurance exercise everyone of us will end up with salt deposits on our skin/clothes.

    If you are experiencing the aforementioned more serious symptoms, then you should see your doc.

    Hope this helps a bit.

    Gh

    Gh
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