There’s nothing like breaking a sweat after a great workout.

Whether you’re jogging along the scenic coastline in Cape Town, hitting the gym on a cold Johannesburg morning, or joining a weekend soccer game in Durban, exercise is a cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. It improves your mood, strengthens your heart, and keeps your body in shape.

But there’s one part of your body that often gets overlooked during workouts: your skin. Many people have noticed the radiant glow that follows a workout.

This is thanks to increased blood flow, which delivers oxygen and nutrients to your skin cells. But when sweat beads up on your skin, things can get a little more complicated. Sweat has both benefits and potential downsides for your skin.

With summer heating up in some parts of the country, let’s explore how sweat affects your skin and, more importantly, how to strike the perfect balance between staying active and maintaining that healthy glow.

What happens when you sweat? Sweating is your body’s natural way of cooling down.

When you exercise or your core temperature rises, your sweat glands get to work, releasing a mix of water, salts, and other compounds. But sweat isn’t just about temperature control. In trace amounts, it can also help flush out impurities and toxins.

Believe it or not, sweat can be good for your skin!

Here are a few of its surprising benefits:

Interestingly, sweat and anti-ageing: How it keeps your skin young.

Our skin tends to lose youthful qualities as we age; the inner layers thin out while the outer layers thicken, resulting in dryness, fine wrinkles, and a lack of flexibility. Sweating and frequent exercise, however, can reverse these ageing symptoms.

This technique promotes a fresher appearance by improving circulation and stimulating skin cell regeneration. According to research, sweating helps repair damaged skin cells by influencing mitochondrial DNA, which is vital to skin ageing.

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Glow or no? The surprising impact of sweat on your skin and how to dodge damage