Does a high-wicking base layer make you sweat more?



C

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Assumption: The nature of fabrics is such that wicking and
breathability are inversely related.

Question: Do you sweat more in cotton or coolmax underwear?
 
[email protected] wrote:
>
> Assumption: The nature of fabrics is such that wicking and
> breathability are inversely related.
>
> Question: Do you sweat more in cotton or coolmax underwear?

Never noticed any major difference. You sweat according
to body temp (the need for cooling.) Real question is
how dry are you going to stay despite the sweat. This
is really only important in colder air temps.

Cotton is highly breathable, but absorbs almost all
the moisture it comes in contact with. Poly based
materials wick and so both stay drier and keep you
warmer.
 
You sweat as much as you sweat, so unless you're over dressed it makes
no difference in the volume, only how it's handled.
 
In article <[email protected]>,
Tom Phillips <[email protected]> wrote:

> [email protected] wrote:
> >
> > Assumption: The nature of fabrics is such that wicking and
> > breathability are inversely related.
> >
> > Question: Do you sweat more in cotton or coolmax underwear?
>
> Never noticed any major difference. You sweat according
> to body temp (the need for cooling.) Real question is
> how dry are you going to stay despite the sweat. This
> is really only important in colder air temps.

I would think that a material that allows the sweat to evaporate would
keep you cooler in warm weather than cotton, since that's how
perspiration cools you in the first place.


--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson
 
> Never noticed any major difference.

If this is true, then all other things being equal, you dehydrate at
the same rate with either fabric.

Maybe you don't notice a difference because the high-wicking fabric
does it's job so well.
 
"Scorn B Woe" <[email protected]> wrote in news:1112268100.959561.80280
@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> You sweat as much as you sweat, so unless you're over dressed it makes
> no difference in the volume, only how it's handled.
>
>

There was a theory, some years back that if one slept in a sealed bag, one
would just sweat until they were wet, and then stop. After all, once you
are wet, why continue to sweat? Why wouldn't your body just adapt?


I don't know what happened to the concept of VBLs (Vapor Barrier Liners)
for sleeping bags among high altitude climbers, but it was an interesting
theory.

To bring it back to the OP, it suggests that once someone is soaking with
sweat (i.e. in cotton), that they will quit sweating, because there is
nothing further to be gained. And in coolmax or some other wicking fabric,
they'll just continue to sweat.

Worth considering, for sure.

dh
 
Thus said Tom Phillips <[email protected]>:
>[email protected] wrote:
>> Assumption: The nature of fabrics is such that wicking and
>> breathability are inversely related.
>>
>> Question: Do you sweat more in cotton or coolmax underwear?
>
>Never noticed any major difference. You sweat according
>to body temp (the need for cooling.)

....which means the real question is, which fabric allows sweat to cool
your body more efficiently? If the sweat isn't cooling you for whatever
reason, you'll sweat more as your body struggles to avoid overheating.

Sweat will cool your body only if:
- It can evaporate (as opposed to, say, soak into the fibers of your
clothing)
- It has a thermal path back to your body at the time
 
In article <[email protected]>,
David Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Scorn B Woe" <[email protected]> wrote in news:1112268100.959561.80280
> @l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:
>
> > You sweat as much as you sweat, so unless you're over dressed it makes
> > no difference in the volume, only how it's handled.
> >
> >
>
> There was a theory, some years back that if one slept in a sealed bag, one
> would just sweat until they were wet, and then stop. After all, once you
> are wet, why continue to sweat? Why wouldn't your body just adapt?
>


My understanding is that swimmers sweat even when immersed in water. You
don't notice it, of course, but that doesn't mean you aren't losing
water and electrolytes. Most serious swimmers have a water bottle at the
end of the pool for this reason.

--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson
 
Harold Buck <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> David Harris <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> "Scorn B Woe" <[email protected]> wrote in
>> news:1112268100.959561.80280 @l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:
>>
>> > You sweat as much as you sweat, so unless you're over dressed it
>> > makes no difference in the volume, only how it's handled.
>>
>> There was a theory, some years back that if one slept in a sealed
>> bag, one would just sweat until they were wet, and then stop. After
>> all, once you are wet, why continue to sweat? Why wouldn't your body
>> just adapt?
>>
> My understanding is that swimmers sweat even when immersed in water.
> You don't notice it, of course, but that doesn't mean you aren't
> losing water and electrolytes. Most serious swimmers have a water
> bottle at the end of the pool for this reason.
>
While not serious, I did some swim training last year, and learned about
sweating in pools. I had major cramps the first few times out, until I
learned to hydrate before the swim, and keep the bottle at the end of the
pool. My guess is that you sweat pretty much the same amount as during a
run of the same amount of time.

Thinking back to the vapor barrier liners - as Tom Phillips pointed out,
they were intended to keep you warm, not cool, while camping in below
freezing conditions.

Also, as others have pointed out, on a hot humid day you don't stop
sweating, just because your clothes or skin are soaked.

dh
 
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