Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff Works. Hey, their
Speaker 1: brain stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. If you're preparing for
Speaker 1: a hike, especially one that involves sleeping under the stars,
Speaker 1: every last thing you pack should be questioned, will you
Speaker 1: need rain gear? One walking sticker to which freeze dried
Speaker 1: snacks are actually tasty enough to eat? One essential rule
Speaker 1: from experienced hikers is no cotton clothing. Clothes made of
Speaker 1: cotton can act as a sponge. The material soaks up
Speaker 1: sweat and holds moisture next to the skin, which eliminates
Speaker 1: the insulating effect of the cotton, causes skin irritation, and
Speaker 1: eventually leads to copious amounts of body odor. A body
Speaker 1: odor isn't a personal affront. Every adult whose body temperature
Speaker 1: becomes high enough to cause certain glands to secrete fluid
Speaker 1: onto the surface of the skin is at risk for
Speaker 1: emanating at least a little bit, and it isn't without purpose.
Speaker 1: Sweat produced by the acrine glands that cover most of
Speaker 1: the body helps regulate body temperature, while the milky or
Speaker 1: fluid released by the apocrene glands in the armpits and
Speaker 1: growing area is a signal that the body is under stress.
Speaker 1: Apricrene glands are primarily responsible for body odor, and although
Speaker 1: acrene glands secrete primarily odorless sweat, the smell produced by
Speaker 1: this sweat changes over time. Perspiration acts as a magnet
Speaker 1: to bacteria on the skin, and these bacteria use it
Speaker 1: as a fuel to multiply. When the growing numbers of
Speaker 1: bacteria metabolize the sweat, they produce a smelly byproduct commonly
Speaker 1: called body odor. Clearly, cotton isn't the right choice for
Speaker 1: working up a sweat, since it can actually make body
Speaker 1: odor worse. But what about other types of fabrics? Do
Speaker 1: all fabrics increase a person's propensity to develop body odor.
Speaker 1: The key to using clothing to prevent or lessen body
Speaker 1: odor lies in the fabric's ability to release sweat quickly
Speaker 1: before bacteria can begin to feast on it. There are
Speaker 1: natural and man made fabrics that expertly wicked moisture away
Speaker 1: from the skin and to the edge of the material,
Speaker 1: where it can evaporate. Other fabrics, however, will trap moisture
Speaker 1: in the fabric and on the skin and make body
Speaker 1: odor worse. Fabric's ability to transmit and release moisture is
Speaker 1: known as breatheability, which is the common term for the
Speaker 1: moisture vapor transmission rate, or m v TR. The m
Speaker 1: v TR is measured by calculating how many grams of
Speaker 1: moisture move through a square meter of fabric in twenty
Speaker 1: four hours. Generally, the greater the m v t R,
Speaker 1: the less likely the fabric is to absorb and retain
Speaker 1: odor causing moisture. You may be thinking, great, now, all
Speaker 1: I have to do is find clothing labeled breathable, and
Speaker 1: bo will be a problem of the past. Not so fast.
Speaker 1: There's not an industry standard regarding breathability. Nearly any label
Speaker 1: can carry the term, usually preceded by words like ultra
Speaker 1: or extremely. This means you'll need to arm yourself with
Speaker 1: information about specific fabrics rather than relying on label hype
Speaker 1: as a guide. Natural fabrics created from the fibers of animals, bugs,
Speaker 1: or plants are a good place to start. You'll want
Speaker 1: to steer clear of one cotton fabrics because they take
Speaker 1: a long time to dry and will allow body odor
Speaker 1: to bloom in the meantime. This is largely because cotton
Speaker 1: fabrics are composed of fibers that swell with moisture and
Speaker 1: thereby reduce the pores of the fabric. However, other natural
Speaker 1: fabrics absorb and release sweat quickly, including hemp, a fabric
Speaker 1: woven from these stem fibers of the Cannabis sativa plant,
Speaker 1: and linen woven from flax stems. While it sounds counterintuitive
Speaker 1: to wear wool to prevent body odor, this natural fiber
Speaker 1: is an excellent choice. Wool can absorb up to thirty
Speaker 1: of its weight and moisture without feeling wet, and will
Speaker 1: dry quickly. Will also releases minute amounts of body heat
Speaker 1: as it absorbs moisture, so it will help keep you cool. Plus,
Speaker 1: will is naturally antibacterial, which means you can wear it,
Speaker 1: sweat in it, and keep wearing it, sometimes for consecutive
Speaker 1: days without reeking. When it comes to making body odor worse,
Speaker 1: synthetic fabrics tend to trap odors at a greater rate
Speaker 1: than natural fabrics. Although many of these man made fabrics,
Speaker 1: like polyester, are quick to wick moisture away from the
Speaker 1: skin and equally quick to dry, their construction can up
Speaker 1: the stinc quotient within the weave of synthetic moisture. Waking
Speaker 1: fabrics are notches designed to pool minute amounts of sweat
Speaker 1: as it transfers from the inner layer to the outer
Speaker 1: layer of the fabric. The concept is a good one,
Speaker 1: as the moisture will generally evaporate once it reaches the
Speaker 1: fabric's outer layer. The problem is that as sweat collects
Speaker 1: in the mix and crannies of the fabric on its
Speaker 1: way to freedom, it is devoured by bacteria that have
Speaker 1: themselves made a home in those same recesses. This traps
Speaker 1: body odor within the fabric. To reduce rowdy odors, look
Speaker 1: for sympthetic fabrics that have an added antimicrobial ingredient. For example,
Speaker 1: the addition of silver to polyester or spandex fibers can
Speaker 1: help prevent body odor from accumulating. Silver nano particles. That's,
Speaker 1: particles so small that eighty thousand of them could fit
Speaker 1: within the diameter of a human hair can be integrated
Speaker 1: into synthetic fabric. When they get wet, the silver nano
Speaker 1: particles release silver ions that initially slow the growth of
Speaker 1: odor causing bacteria area and eventually kill them off altogether.
Speaker 1: Some fabrics are infused with a different type of odor
Speaker 1: inhibiting agent, molecules of volcanic ash. The ash molecules have
Speaker 1: a poor size that's similar to that of an odor molecule.
Speaker 1: When the two meat, the odor molecule is adsorbed and
Speaker 1: trapped within the ash molecule. This prevents the odor molecule
Speaker 1: from releasing its characteristic smell until the fabric is washed
Speaker 1: in warm water. To prevent body odor, look for clothing
Speaker 1: made from fabrics that will help keep you dry and
Speaker 1: have the added mite of antimicrobial helpers, and don't forget
Speaker 1: the antiperspirant or deodorant. Today's episode was written by Laurie L.
Speaker 1: Dove and produced by Tristan McNeil. For more on this
Speaker 1: and lots of other stink free topics, visit our home planet,
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com