Implications of the Onset of Sweating on the Sweat Lactate Threshold

Abstract

The relationship between the onset of sweating (OS) and sweat lactate threshold (sLT) assessed using a novel sweat lactate sensor remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the implications of the OS on the sLT. Forty healthy men performed an incremental cycling test. We monitored the sweat lactate, blood lactate, and local sweating rates to determine the sLT, blood LT (bLT), and OS. We defined participants with the OS during the warm-up just before the incremental test as the early perspiration (EP) group and the others as the regular perspiration (RP) group. Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis revealed that the OS was poorly correlated with the sLT, particularly in the EP group (EP group, r = 0.12; RP group, r = 0.56). Conversely, even in the EP group, the sLT was strongly correlated with the bLT (r = 0.74); this was also the case in the RP group (r = 0.61). Bland-Altman plots showed no bias between the mean sLT and bLT (mean difference: 19.3 s). Finally, in five cases with a later OS than bLT, the sLT tended to deviate from the bLT (mean difference, 106.8 s). The sLT is a noninvasive and continuous alternative to the bLT, independent of an early OS, although a late OS may negatively affect the sLT.

Keywords

• lactate threshold
• sweat rate
• exercise testing
• incremental exercise
• sweating
• perspiration