How Your Tattoos Could Be Messing With Your Sweat Glands

Tattoos are, of course, becoming more and more common. Back in the day, only fun ladies and military dudes (or I suppose convicts) really sported ink on a regular basis, but since the nineties, they’ve continued to trend as a common, if permanent, accessory.

Perhaps that’s why scientists are really just beginning to wonder whether or not there could be any long- or short-term effects of having ink deposited right beneath your skin – and this recent study seems to conclude that one of those effects could be a poor ability to sweat.

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The paper was published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, and featured a pretty small sample size of 10 participants. The subjects wore tube-lined suits containing warm water, which induced them to sweat – though skin covered by a tattoo or tattoos produced 15% less sweat than skin left unmarked.

This research joins more like it, like another small 2017 study that used an electric current to produce sweat, and found that inked skin produced 50% less perspiration, but is belied by at least one study that found no difference in sweating ability between inked and non-inked skin.

Image Credit: Pexels

There doesn’t seem to be conclusive evidence, nor does the study make any comment on why or how a tattoo could affect one’s ability to sweat.

For now, it seems like you’re safe to continue amassing as much ink as you like, though if this does eventually prove to be an issue, the more tattoos you have, the more trouble you might have cooling off on a hot day.