There of a number of alternative health practitioners who would suggest that if you are exposed to water soluble toxins, you should be able to extrude these toxins from your body via perspiration. The logic might be reasonable if the toxin is not already absorbed into your body in another cellular structure, thereby still in general circulation.

Toxins in our circulation will be most efficiently and effectively be addressed by our liver enzymes and our urinary system. For water soluble toxins to be substantially addressed by perspiration they would have to persist at very high circulatory volumes in the presence liver and kidneys that are not working very inefficiently. It would then be highly likely that you would be experiencing other symptoms related to their circulatory concentration and subsequent effects on other organs. It is unreasonable to attempt to “detoxify” your body by sweating.

As such, what are you doing in a moist sauna, steam room or sweat lodge? In the case of sore superficial muscles, you may be increasing circulation to these muscles, nourishing, oxygenating and relaxing them. In the case of an upper respiratory condition that is acutely or chronically producing bothersome pulmonary or sinus mucous, you may be loosening the congestion. In the case of small vessel narrowing in your hands and feet, you may be helping with vasodilatation, improving your peripheral circulation.

Not everyone is physically fit enough for prolonged exposure in these environments. Additionally, not all of these environments are readily adjustable to set temperatures that would be tolerable for the most sensitive. Uncontrolled heat exposure in inadequately monitored settings may result in unanticipated dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and death.

That said, if you still believe that you can detoxify yourself via perspiration, put on a comfortable work out attire and exercise; shape up and clean yourself out.

You are what you eat, drink, breath and absorb into your system in any manner via consumption, work or ambient atmosphere in which you live. Unfortunately, whether by choice (e.g., smoking) or environmental contamination, our bodies are subject to exposure to numerous chemicals that are not healthy for us.

We can rid ourselves of some of the offending agents acutely via coughing, sneezing, the body’s excretory systems, phagocytosis (white blood cell work) and liver/bile detoxification. In the event of acute excessive exposures, there may be some medical interventions that we mey use to trap or flush a portion of the toxicants. However,  the clinical objective (and expectation) is to move these patients from toxic (and critical) to exposed, but minimally symptomatic. In most cases, only symptoms are being treated. The majority of “poisoning” by industrial toxins is not treatable and we simply attempt to avoid and minimize net exposure effects.  The effets of exposure may be completely reversibe if the body has the ability to manage the toxin and heal itself. Permanent damage follows exposure to deleterious materials in excess of our bodies’ abilities to defend themselves.

What happens if our bodies cannot effectively capture, process and discharge the offending agents? If the agent is voluminous and poisonous, you die. If the exposure is less voluminous and poisonous, with treatment you may be able to limit systemic damage. Given a minor exposure or time limited cumulative trauma, you may be able to fend off acute effects and there may be very limited organ dysfunction or change in tissues.

Regarding abnormal tissue changes, only a limited number of histopathology data types demonstrate that body tissues actually incorporate toxins into their matrices (e.g., lungs and fiber/silica/coal disease, or liver and metals). Otherwise, there is no medical evidence that the liver, brain, nerves, lungs or other tissues store the chemicals to which they are exposed, so as to make the chemicals available to be released via  appropriate agents. There is some literature support for the slow release of circulating toxins from dental amalgams.  As such, replacing old filling has resulted in neuropsychological benefits in numerous patients. However, there is no evidence that microscopic amounts of material or chemicals are bound in otherwise inactive cell vacuoles or entrapped in tissue pockets accessible by blood flow that may extract the offending agents if treated with some attractant or binding agent or if we are induced into excessive sweating or diuresis (excessive urination).

Flush yourself regularly to regulate your bowels for a healthy feeling. However, you cannot fully “detoxify” yourself via products that you consume, in which you soak or apply to your feet, or by induction of excessive perspiration or urination with or without complementary agents (e.g., niacin).

So, watch what you eat, drink, breath and absorb into your system in any manner via consumption, work and via the ambient atmosphere related to where you have chosen to live.