Page 64 - (DK) Help Your Kids with Growing Up: A No-Nonsense Guide to Puberty and Adolescence

62 HEALTH Y BOD Y

Sweat and smells SEE ALSO
‹
60–61 Keeping clean
Healthy eating 68–69 ›
During puberty, the body produces more sweat, and more smells. Body image 72–73 ›
As teens sweat much more than children, maintaining good Exercise 74–75 ›
personal hygiene will help reduce self-consciousness about
being sweatier or smellier than before.

▽ Sweat glands
Explaining sweat There are up to four million
Sweat is produced by two types of sweat apocrine and eccrine sweat
glands, which are long, coiled tubes in glands all over the human body.
the skin. Active from birth, eccrine
glands cover most of the body and Sweat Sweat
produce a clear fluid that empties
directly onto the skin. As this fluid
evaporates from the skin, it cools the
body’s temperature.
Apocrine glands are found in the
armpits and genital regions. These
glands produce a thick, milky fluid when
a person is nervous or stressed. This
substance is full of proteins that are Apocrine
broken down by bacteria on the skin, sweat gland
causing bromhidrosis, known as “body This gland empties
odour” or BO. sweat into a hair
follicle close to the
surface of the skin.
Eccrine sweat gland Hair follicle
This gland empties sweat
directly onto the skin’s surface.

GOOD T O KNO W Sweaty teenagers
Sweating
The apocrine glands only become active once puberty starts, which is why teens
Sweating is caused by: find that they sweat more at this time. The hormonal changes of puberty can also
make a person more sweaty. It can take a while to get used to sweating more and
• high temperatures
to learn how to deal with it, but it’s important to remember that it’s a natural
• exercise and physical activity bodily function. Whether a person’s being active or inactive – everyone sweats
throughout the day.
• emotional distress
• eating hot or spicy foods
• hormonal changes.
Some people sweat more or less
than others, and it’s worth seeing a
doctor if a teen is concerned.

▷ Daily sweats
Some activities will make you sweat
more than others, as will certain
feelings, such as anxiety.

062-063_Sweat_and_smells.indd 62 24/03/2017 17:16