Does a hard-working woman sweat like a man? A new study published this month in the journal Experimental Physiology provides persuasive evidence that women do sweat copiously during exercise. But fit women seem to sweat differently than unfit people of either sex, and quite differently than fit men。

　　For the study, researchers at Osaka International University and Kobe University in Japan recruited a pool of trained athletes, male and female, as well as the same aged group of untrained volunteers. People in the two groups were similar in terms of weight. All of the volunteers rode bikes in a physiology lab heated to a balmy 86 degrees. The beginning of the session was leisurely, then it became tougher. Throughout, researchers monitored how much perspiration the cyclists were producing. The researchers also determined how many sweat glands were active during each rider's session。

　　What the researchers found was that the fit men perspired the most, significantly more than the fit women, especially during the more intense exercise. But the athletic men weren't using more sweat glands. The fit women had just as many glands active and pumping; they produced less sweat from each gland. Meanwhile, the unfit women perspired the least, especially during the strenuous cycling。

　　These results, the scientists concluded, "Revealed a sex difference in the effects of physical training on the sweating response" and "a sex difference" in "the control of sweating rate to an increase in exercise intensity." In other words, the women, whether fit or not, were less adept of ridding themselves of body heat by drenching themselves in sweat。

　　Does this difference in sweating rates have practical implications? "It appears," said Yoshimitsu Inoue, a professor of physiology at Osaka International University and one of the authors of the study, "that women are at a disadvantage when they need to sweat a lot during exercise in hot conditions." On the other hand, it may be that women, during evolution, had the good sense to get out of the hot sun, and their bodies adapted accordingly。

　　The "lower sweat loss in women may be an adaptation strategy that attaches great importance" to preserving body fluids "for survival," he wrote in an e-mail, while "the higher sweat rate of men may be an adaptation strategy for greater efficiency of action or labor."

　　美国《纽约时报》10月21日文章：女人和男人流汗量不同？

　　女人在大量运动后出汗量和男人一样多吗？本月《实验心理学》杂志最新刊登的一篇研究论文指出，女人确实会在运动过程中大量流汗。但是和身体不好的男性或者女性相比，较为健康的女性出汗机制似乎有所不同，如果比较对象是健康男性，这种差别就更大。

　　该项研究中，来自大阪国际国大学和神户大学的研究人员招纳了一批训练有素的运动员，有男性也有女性，以及另外一批同年龄的未经训练的志愿者。两组人员体重接近。所有受试人员在温度为86华氏度的心理实验室做骑车运动。运动强度由小变大。整个过程中，研究人员检测骑车者的出汗量，以及测量活跃汗腺的数量。

　　研究人员据此发现，健康男性出汗量最多，远远多于健康女性，这在剧烈运动中尤为明显。但是这些运动型男性的活跃汗腺数目却不多。健康女性和健康男性活跃汗腺数是相同的，只是每个汗腺的排汗量少一些。而身体不好的女性排汗量最少，在强度变大了的骑车过程中这种现象尤其突出。

　　科学家于是据此得出，这种现象“解释了在物理训练队排汗机制影响方面的性别差异”，以及“通过控制排汗以增加运动强度”的“性别不同”。换句话说，不管健康与否，女人还是不太擅长通过排汗调节体温。

　　那么这种排汗差异的现实意义是什么呢？作为该研究撰稿人之一的大阪国际大学心理学教授井上吉光说道：“看起来，通过大量排汗从而能够在高温条件下运动，不是女性的专长。”另一方面，也有可能是女性在进化过程中对于避开烈日更为敏感，故而身体也相应地进化成了不能大量排汗的样子。

　　“女性排汗量少，这可能是一种非常重要的适应手段”，这样就能保留体液“得以生存”，井上吉光在一封电子邮件中写道。而“男人排汗率高，这大概是对高效行动或劳动的一种适应性策略。”