Peripheral sweat gland function, but not whole-body sweat rate, increases in women following humid heat acclimation

The purpose of this study was to compare both the whole-body and pharmacological-induced sweat rates of men and women following humid heat acclimation. Whole-body sweat rate was significantly (P<0.05) increased 20% in men following heat acclimation; however, it was essentially unchanged in women. The most important new finding was that humid heat acclimation produced a significant (P<0.05) 60-70% increase in pilocarpine-induced sweat rate in both men and women. These results suggest that humid heat acclimation significantly improves peripheral sweat gland function equally in both men and women. However, during exercise in humid heat, the increased peripheral sweat capacity in women is suppressed via either pre- or post-glandular mechanisms, thus limiting wasteful sweat production. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.