Backseat Positivity
"Able to make serious topics lighthearted and fun - I even laughed at some points!"
Get your bi-weekly dose of positivity in this fun podcast with Dr Dawn Barlow, who helps you navigate all of the weird/best/worst parts of life!
Dawn takes you on the self-improvement journey you didn't realise you needed... Bought to you by a doctor who hasn't had life as sweet as many of her comrades. She knows firsthand just how rubbish life can be, yet has managed to turn her life around for the better!
From relationships to mental health to happiness, make sure you buckle up twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays) the join her and her guests for candid self-improvement. Don't forget of the course, the "weird thoughts" segment, where Dawn and her guests share weird thoughts from their lives.
Dawn says:
Sometimes life reminds me of being in a washing machine. It's a bit spinny and turbulent for a while, but then it stops and gives you a little break before spinning you into oblivion once more. It feels like the washing machine wants to wash something bad out of all of us... positivity.
Some might EVEN say that positivity is shouting from the backseat and no-one wants to listen to it... [backseat positivity] More than once a week, but less than 4 times a week, you can shove me in your auditory canals and listen to me chat about L.I.F.E., self-improvement, mental health and anything else that my little monkey-mind paws can grasp onto.
Sometimes other humans actually dare to join me.
It's candid, it's fun. Woo!
Backseat Positivity
Unpacking the Myth of Sweating Out Illness: The Truth About Fever, Detox, and the Power of Hydration
Have you ever tried to "sweat it out" when you're feeling under the weather, convinced that a good sauna session or some intense exercise was the key to beating a cold? Join me as I debunk this health myth with insights from my emergency department experiences, revealing why this well-intentioned advice may not be the panacea we've been led to believe. We unravel the truth behind our body's fever response and how, despite popular belief, sweat isn't the hero in our battle against illness—it's the heat response that takes the lead.
There's a certain allure to the idea of detoxifying through sweating it out in a hot yoga class or a sauna, especially after indulging in a night out. As a hot yoga enthusiast myself, I uncover the real effects of these practices on our health while paying homage to the true champions of detoxification: our liver and kidneys. We also take a fascinating detour through the wonders of human anatomy, celebrating the astonishingly intricate work our organs perform that far surpasses the capabilities of sweat.
As we wrap up this enlightening session, my devoted doctor friend and I share heartening stories and our gratitude for the journey towards positivity we're on together. We highlight the importance of hydration and discuss the actual benefits of sweating, like skin exfoliation and mucus clearance, that do have their place in maintaining our well-being. So before you roll out that yoga mat or step into the steam, tune in and let's uncover the sweat-soaked truths together. Goodbye for now, and remember to hydrate, rate, and join us again for more invigorating discussions!
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Have you ever heard the phrase I'm gonna go and sweat it out? Well, the other day, literally yesterday, I was thinking about going and sweating out my cold, or like going and sweating out toxins or whatever. And then I was like wait, they're dawn. You realise that it has literally no basis in science whatsoever. And then I was like you wrote a podcast episode on this. Get your act together. So today I'm sharing why sweating it out in inverted commas is actually a myth and I'm going to be talking a little bit about my hot yoga session and a little bit about saunas as well, because I am sick again.
Speaker 1:It's kind of getting annoying having to cut all of the coughs out of my podcast. Basically, I think, because I work in the emergency department. I see people, I'm on the front line, I'm at the highest risk of dying, so basically they all come in, they're sick and they cough in my face and I'm obviously not wearing a mask because I don't know I'm stupid, or because I don't like wearing them, or because all my patients are deaf and they can't hear me with a mask on. Also, I don't feel like I can communicate properly with a mask on. Also, we don't actually have a diagnosis, like some people come in they go, oh I've got stomach ache, and they end up like randomly having COVID, but you don't know that until well. You just don't find out until you get sick. I suppose Then I had norovirus, I'm pretty sure, and I had a.
Speaker 1:I was ill before that. So I'm having a great winter three sicknesses in a row with a few days in between. So sweating it out has been on my agenda, but I actively avoid exercising or doing any kind of sweating whilst I'm whilst I'm ill, and I'm going to tell you why. So I feel like sweating it out, kind of I'm going to take a hazard of guess here and guess that it came from when we basically have a fever and we sweat out. Sweat out I'm going to keep using that phrase, but I mean it in invert commas because you don't sweat stuff out really. But I'm going to tell you what you do sweat out, don't worry.
Speaker 1:So basically, when you have a, an illness like I have when I had norovirus, I definitely I'm pretty sure it was norovirus. I'm like 98% sure Because of just the way it sort of manifested itself within my body. It was horrendous, but it was over within 24 hours and that's, you know, norovirus for you. Also, I'm pretty sure I had a fever and I don't I've never measured myself like having a fever, because it's not a very common thing for me to have, so you know. But I felt, I felt feverish, and people always go, oh, I feel hot and cold, and like being hot and cold is kind of normal. But the thing is, having a fever is different. It's like it's being really hot but you feel really cold but you're also sweating. So I had that and the whole purpose of that is to kill the virus off or the the bacteria off, because they can't survive at certain temperature and in a way it does kind of damage you, but the bacteria or virus or pathogen or whatever is also damaging you. So it's like well, let's weigh up what's the best option here. That's your body doing the talking and your body goes right okay, fine, we better kill off the pathogen and the fever ensues. So basically, the enzymes start denaturing at like I want to say 38 or something so the enzymes that help them reproduce. So that's basically what the fever's all about.
Speaker 1:I haven't learned that in a while. I'm pretty sure that's still true. I don't think modern medicine has changed. But you know, let's let's assume it hasn't. I think a lot of people say they want to go sweat stuff out when they talk about alcohol or um, toxins, do you even know what toxins means? Like I didn't, until I really started looking into this and then, because I was like, does sweating it out, like, really do anything? I'm not really sure. So I really had to think about it, you know, and I really did some, did some research, so and I also I've recently I did an episode on hot yoga and I love going to the sauna because I was thinking why do I like going to the sauna? Like why? And I'm thinking it's because not just because of the benefits, which I will get into in a bit. I think it's also because it's so immediately gratifying having sweat pour out of your body and you feel like you're ridding yourself of stuff. But you're not really. And but there are other benefits of saunas. It's not like, oh, I'm you know there aren't any benefits, because otherwise people wouldn't be doing it. Well, that's not true, because smoking people still do that and there aren't many benefits. Well, social atmosphere, I suppose mindfulness. Smoking is actually like kind of a mindful activity because it makes you breathe slowly. So those are the benefits of smoking not that I'm convincing you to smoke, because please don't, because the risks significantly outweigh the benefits there. So, yeah, I recently did a hot yoga session for you, actually, and I really loved it.
Speaker 1:I felt like I really, you know, cleansed myself, and I think that's the general feeling. You feel like I'm cleansing my body of all sins, and we've all got lots of sins, haven't we? And we've all got lots of toxins, I think maybe it, you know, not only do you feel like you're sweating stuff out from inside your body, you feel like you're clearing your pores out, because your pores have to like open when you're, like you know, really hot and it just pours out of you and you are pouring with sweat. But actually some of these things can do more damage than good and I was like, well, that kind of makes sense. So why are we still doing it?
Speaker 1:Well, like I said, there are benefits. The biggest damage it does and this is probably the biggest problem with going and exercising or sweating it out when you've been drinking or you are ill. So that's why I don't exercise when I'm sick, because I know that it will make me feel worse. The biggest problem is that it basically dehydrates you and most of the time when we're sick or we've been drinking we don't tend to drink enough, like because we feel unwell or, you know, we don't replace what we've lost from all of the. You know, alcohol is a diuretic. It makes you pee loads.
Speaker 1:So what ends up happening is you end up dehydrating your organs. You know, let's say, the main ones that detoxify your body are your liver very important organ, not my favorite organ, but it's up there. But secondly, probably my second favorite organ is the kidneys. Oh my God, they are so cool. They just do so much Like, and without I mean, you literally have to. All you have to do is look at people with renal failure to realize how much they do for you. They monitor your fluid. They make sure you know I've I'm like well hydrated, but like not too fluid-y that I end up puffing out. But they make sure you don't like dehydrate. But they also make sure that they balance your salts within your body and it manages your blood pressure. And what else does it do? It just does. It's just cool. And they also feel really nice like.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you felt kidneys, but they're like slippery little slippery boys. They're fun and this sounds weird, but I am a doctor. I felt a lot of organs. I did biology at A level we had to dissect stuff. So I felt eyes, I felt, and I've also been inside of humans, like cutting them open and I've, you know, during surgery or whatever. So I, and also during an autopsy, so like I do know what organs feel, like it's not a weird thing and I, you know, you also chop up meat, don't you? Like I personally don't eat liver or kidney, but I think I've chopped it up before and I also skinned a rabbit and obviously that had organs in it. We had to take them out? I think so, and the little the kidneys were so tiny. But anyway, that's my weird organ chat.
Speaker 1:My favourite organ is the brain. I think I've mentioned this before because I just think it's so cool, like it's literally telling me what to do, but it's like deciding it itself and I'm just, I'm honestly baffled by the fact that how much our brains can do, like I'm so amazed and just. It's like constantly doing something, while all organs are to be fair, but it's like constantly like I don't know. I just find it so cool, like, if you don't think the brain is cool, then what is wrong with you? What is wrong? Something's wrong, maybe your brain is wrong. If you, if your brain doesn't think your brain is cool, then it's the most narcissistic organ. And then the thirdly is the lungs. Just because they feel cool, like and oh, they just they flow and they're just cool. They just look and feel cool anyway. So I actually blew up some lungs like with air when I was in A-level biology and it's just really crazy to see them inflate and deflate, like honestly wild.
Speaker 1:Anyway, you didn't come here for chats about organs, but that's what you got. So it basically dehydrates the liver and, well, just all of your organs, but mainly the liver and the kidneys. The kidneys are not a great one to dehydrate because they love the fluids, they love them, so they are the main detoxifying organs. Liver breaks it down and the kidneys excrete the toxins. We're just, we're saying toxins generally. Now I did read some studies about what actually comes out in our sweat and I'll tell you that in a bit.
Speaker 1:But let's talk about the benefits of doing you know. Firstly, hot yoga. I think one of the benefits is I mean, yoga is just like a really good thing to do anyway. Just, you know, as an exercise it's a good, it's a great thing to do. It's not you don't have to do it hot, but I do think it makes you feel more limber and it's also just a fun experience. I would say so. I do enjoy it, but I also recognize that I probably severely dehydrate myself whilst doing it because I sweat definitely more than I drink. So, yeah, not great.
Speaker 1:But saunas for me, I like doing it because it makes it feel like a reward at the end of my gym session. So basically, I finish the gym session or I finish the class and then I'm like you know what? I'm gonna go for a little swim and I'm gonna go for a sit in the sauna for 20 minutes and it's just, it's like a mindful moment for me. I sit down and I chill out, and it's not necessarily. I don't think about the physical benefits as such. I'm more like more like worried, not worried. I'm more thinking about like how it's just relaxing to sit in there and I do some stretching in there and sometimes it's just nice to sit there, you know, in the dark, and it's like got that glowing light, and that's why I get kind of annoyed when people chat in the sauna I'm like, guys, I came here to relax and you're just chatting about I don't know football, like I did not come here for that, go away, go and talk about that in the pub, so.
Speaker 1:But there have been many benefits shown. There have been shown to be many benefits of going into the sauna. Firstly, I would also say that it does increase your calorie expenditure only, apparently, for the time that you're in there, from 1.5 to two times what you would have at a normal temperature. Basically, your heart rate goes quicker. Your body works like to sweat. It has to. It doesn't just come out with you, you don't just start leaking Like, your body has to push it out. And to push it out and create the sweat you have to use energy. And I think we forget that every action requires energy. Even tears requires energy to make it Like. Because it's so. It's like such a passive process for us, like sweating. We don't think, oh, I need to sweat, you know I need to work for this. Obviously, if we're exercising, then yeah, but like it just happens, we don't control it. So by that point, you just forget that it's like a really it is an energy intensive process, like, not significantly, not as much as muscle contraction, but you still require energy to shift that fluid from one place to another. It's still an energy transaction. Like that is everything, energy transactions. So it does increase calories, apparently for the time you're in there and then obviously a bit for the time after, just the time that you're sweating. You can also do stretching in there. You know, warm muscles equals stretchy muscles. It's been shown to be beneficial for musculoskeletal. So like muscle pain, joint pain, tendon or ligament problems, that's what I mean by musculoskeletal. What does that even say? Oh, mindful, I read it as mineapple, like it's in pineapple, but mineapple, and I was like what have I written? So it's been shown to chronically lower blood pressure and also improve over the long term.
Speaker 1:Arterial, which is your blood vessels that carry the oxygenated blood away from your heart. Arterial compliance basically, we get high blood pressure when we're old because over time our blood vessels get stiffer and they get calcified. Well, they get calcified and then they get stiffer because the calcium basically sits in the wall and makes them like stiff. Like you know, calcium is, it's like a salt, so it stiffens up the blood vessel. As a result, your blood pressure, because when you've got like when your heart rate goes up or whatever, or you've got a certain stimulus that would make your blood pressure go up. Your arteries can't widen because they're so stiff, which is why you get high blood pressure problems as well as other things. There's many factors that play into it chronic stress, et cetera but as a result of arterial improved arterial compliance and stretchiness, you basically have better blood pressure outcomes in the long run.
Speaker 1:So I'm guessing that's because you know over time it just you know it makes your blood vessels release, like dilate and then constrict, and then dilate and then constrict, which is why the sauna and then going straight into a cold plunge or a cold shower is really good for your blood vessels, especially over the long run, and it releases dopamine and orphans as well. Perfect, don't you all just wanna feel happy? Come on, you gotta say yes to that. I mean, the thing is with these things is people who sit in saunas are generally gonna be healthier people anyway. They're gonna be people that go to gyms, they're gonna be people that exercise. So it is gonna be difficult to compare, like for like, you know, people that don't look after themselves and go to the sauna, because there are actually contraindications to not going into saunas, mainly people with. Ironically, because it's good for people you know, it's good for preventing these things, but unfortunately if you have these problems already, then it's not good for you. Things like heart problems or vascular disease, especially heart problems in particular, like angina, because it can make your blood vessels constrict and dilate really quickly. It could do that to your heart blood vessels as well, which would not be great, and it can also mean that you could collapse or something like that, if you haven't got very good arterial, you know, or blood vessel compliance.
Speaker 1:So I did read some studies that showed that sweating does and sort of doesn't, detox you, in inverted commas again. So the main thing is that comes from sweat, is water I think it was like 90% water and then like something like 8% salt, which is sodium chloride together. So they actually come out as two ions, which this is all getting a little bit complicated now, isn't it? They basically come out as two separate molecules and then they combine or they can combine to form salt. I believe they come out as two separate ions. Now I'm questioning it like do they? Anyway, whether they come out together or not, it doesn't matter, because they eventually they're salt basically, and that is why we call it salts, because salt that you get from rocks is literally the same shit that you can lick off of your body.
Speaker 1:I have when I've sweated loads and then it's been really hot weather so it's dried, like the water's all evaporated. I can see actual salt crystals on my body and I could start like a salt business, like a bodily. You know body salt. I should just call it and you can put it on your. You know it's eco-friendly, it's renewable. You don't need to go and get it from the sea.
Speaker 1:I produced it. It came off of my body. Now the main issue is obviously it would have bacteria in it. So not ideal, but you, I literally could take pinch off off of me. I've seen it before. It's quite bad.
Speaker 1:I do sweat a lot. If I'm in a hot country, rip me, because I'm going to be going to Asia. Rip me, I'm scared. So yeah, I'm being prepared, though this time I'm taking things with me to try and reduce the like, the sweating levels, but the other like 8% or so or maybe no, sorry, a few percent there's. The extra few percent are there's been shown to have. I don't know if you remember hearing about BPA, which is I can't remember exactly what it stands for, but it's basically that shit that comes out of plastic and it used to leak into food and leak into water and then they stopped using it in plastic bottles. Now that has been shown to come out sweat not in great quantities, though that's the problem. So you can't really rely on sweating as a source of getting rid of these extra things.
Speaker 1:The other things that have been shown to come out are heavy metals. Again, these are things that are generally excreted by the we, so the kidneys, and higher concentrations, I believe, have been found in we or blood rather than sweat. But it is another way to get rid of it. So things like mercury, nickel, lead, copper, zinc, chromium, aluminium, arsenic, and there was cad, cad, cad, adium, that one, you know, the one, I mean CA, I think it is the letters. So it has been shown to have. You know, the heavy metals come out of it and no, we're not talking about a band but not in great quantities, like very insignificant quantities, not anything that you could write home about, but it has been shown. So but the important thing to know is it's been shown to be higher concentrations in exercise than in just sitting in a sauna.
Speaker 1:So really, if you want to get all the benefits, go and exercise, sweat it out and then rehydrate, obviously, and then go to the sauna after, and then you get the best of both worlds. You get the. You know, for me, like I said, it's a treat. I love just sitting in the sauna. I find it really relaxing when there's not loads of lads in there, which is unfortunately the case for me at the moment.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to figure it out, I'm trying to find out a way, and the steam room is also another option, but it's really good for I find the steam room really good for, like, clearing out my mucus, because it loosens, it, basically hydrates all of the. You know, if your mucus isn't very well hydrated, ie viscous, I think I always forget which way round viscous is, but if it's more like sticky and then you the water comes into your lungs and makes it looser, then you can cough it up easier. It's the same for your sinuses and, yeah, and also it probably does clear out your pores. I don't really know, I might just be making that one up, but you know what I find actually I haven't mentioned this what I find when I come out of the sauna is all of my.
Speaker 1:I have like a new layer of skin. I'm like a snake, like it all peels off of me, not like in a sheep, but in like like it's like I've exfoliated myself and if I sit there I go, I go, wash it off in the shower and start like a new. I'm a new sleek snake lady because I don't know what it does. It just like, takes it just like kind of self exfoliates all of the old shit off. I guess it sweats it all off and it's honestly the best and I don't quite know what's happening. But it sounds good and it feels good and like I'm sat in the sauna, my legs are getting kind of itchy so I kind of scratch them and then all of this, like old dead skin this is so gross. Old dead skin comes off. I don't just leave it there, guys. I promise I go to the shower, I wash it off and then I go back in because I think it's gross as well. Gross but nice.
Speaker 1:And there are lots of things in life that are gross but nice, because you know coughing up phlegm is gross, but nice. Like it's gross because it's phlegm, but it's also nice because you need to do it and it's nice because it's relieving and it's nice to, you know, go for a big poo or whatever, but it's gross. And it's nice to go for have a nice big burp, you know, but it's arguably gross anyway. Um, I think that's going to be it, guys. Basically, the summary is you don't need to improve your health by sweating it out, but it will. It will probably lead to dehydration more than anything, so make sure you rehydrate. But there are other benefits to sitting in, you know, saunas and steam rooms, etc. Or doing hot yoga than just sweating like. The main benefits are not the sweating, so think twice before you sweat it out anyway.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for listening. It's been a nice having you. It's dawn here. Your lovely doctor friend and I upload every Monday and Thursdays and this has been Backseat Positivity. Thank you so much and goodbye. Don't forget to like, like, subscribe, five-star rating. We say it every time. Who does it? Nobody. Bye.
