We’ve been living with environmental toxins for as long as we’ve been human, which is why we come equipped with our very own detoxification system that works hard to get rid of them. 

Our liver, kidneys, gallbladder, digestive tract, and skin help clear our system of everyday toxins. Together, they work to metabolize, mobilize, and foreign substances from the body through urine, stool, and sweat. 

These organs are designed to clear our system of waste. But nowadays we’re exposed to so many chemicals, which overwhelms our system and poses big challenges for our health.

We Are Living in a Toxic World

Heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury have always been a part of our ecosystem, but after the Industrial Revolution, pollution and chemical byproducts flooded the environment. Now they permeate our air, soil, water, and food supply at unnaturally high rates.

The pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides sprayed on our crops have been linked to chronic diseases like cancer, obesity, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and others.

Because we live in a world flooded with toxins, our detoxification organs have a hard time keeping up. Think of your body like an empty cup—the more toxins we’re exposed to, the fuller our cup gets.  

Eventually, things starts to overflow and our detox organs become damaged and less efficient.

Sweat to Remove Excess Toxins From Your Body

Studies show that sweating is an effective means for detoxification. Most notably, the blood, urine, sweat study, a study published in 2012, showed that sweat was extremely effective at mobilizing and eliminating toxins, like BPA and phthalates. 

This study also showed that toxic heavy metals were detected in sweat and exceeded all other elimination routes (feces and urine) with markedly higher levels of aluminum (3.75x), cadmium (25x), cobalt (5x), and lead (15x). This means that sweating is an effective means to clear out heavy metals from your body.

Anything that causes you to sweat is beneficial. For many people, endurance exercise is best because we tend to sweat more than resistance exercise, which serves its own benefits like building lean muscle mass and strengthening our bones. If cardio isn’t your thing, there are other ways to perspire, like saunas, hot baths, playing sports, or other activities that help to elevate your body temperature.