Sweat Glands

Don't let that sweat pouring down your face, your back or other places put a damper on your day. Moist and messy is not pleasant. But think of it this way: Your drippy body is saving your life. If your sweat glands were not pumping out water (plus a little bit of salt) in weather like this, you'd be in big trouble, says Dr. George Petri, adjunct professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. You'd get heat stroke. You'd become incoherent, disoriented, maybe even pass out - or pass away.

The temperature hit 94 degrees at 2 p.m. yesterday. It should top 90 again today. And tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, too. There is little good news here. The sticky humidity that mugged Philadelphians yesterday should lighten up a bit today and tomorrow. But another humid wave is predicted to envelop the city Thursday and Friday. And then on Saturday, just in time for a weekend at the shore, a thunderstorm may roll in. The harbinger of these bleak tidings is Walter Goldsworthy, an Accu-Weather meteorologist in State College, Pa. But don't blame the messenger.

The elderly are susceptible to heat-related death because their bodies can't cool down as effectively as those of younger people. And if the elderly have a cardiovascular condition, the stress of the heat may be too much, said Dr. Karen Kelly, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Kelly suspects that not all the deaths during the heat wave have been related to heat stroke. "Some are cardiovascular deaths precipitated by the stress of the heat," she said.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service Question: For a long time, I've suffered from terrible sweating. I'm not overweight, am extremely healthy and I'm not taking any medications. What can you recommend? Answer: The first thing, which I'm sure you've already done, is to look for a possible cause. You're healthy, but some sufferers have an underlying medical problem like an overactive thyroid, menopausal syndrome with hot flashes, persistent anxiety, frequent low blood sugar reactions or simply too much body fat that makes them sweat excessively.

Some people can stand the heat. And then there is me. As they say, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I hate the heat and immediately rush from the kitchen. The problem is: How do you get out of the kitchen when the kitchen is the great outdoors? So I do what is possible: I rush to an air-conditioned room or even the cool comfort of my car and go for an aimless ride to the shore. At least there I find some cool breezes that flow in from the majestic Atlantic Ocean.

Jimmy Fallon has nothing to sweat about. The latest host of NBC's "Late Night" may have begun his new gig last week looking not unlike the anchor wannabe Albert Brooks played in "Broadcast News," but we know - don't we? - that he's not going anywhere. NBC doesn't make late-night mistakes. And when it does, it rides them out until they stop being mistakes. Fallon, whose first reviews almost had to be better than his predecessor received in 1993, is being measured against a man many consider a comic genius.

First, a few good words about sweat: "Well, let's see . . . ". . . momentary hesitation here as Dr. Leslie Stewart, the dermatologist on call at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, pondered. She moved to Philadelphia from Chicago last summer and bought her first air conditioner one week later. "It does keep your body's surface temperature down somewhat," she said at last. "You could say that if you didn't sweat, you'd be in big trouble. " But she did not sound enthusiastic.

"Hello," the man said over the telephone. "My name is Roderick Tomo. I'm calling because I found your card in my wallet. Do I know you?" Well, of course not. The chances are minuscule that we would know each other. Roderick Tomo said he was a zoologist. My card had probably passed through a hundred wallets and pockets before it ended with Roderick Tomo. This the way of it with cards. I think it was in the '70's when everyone started carrying cards with crisp job titles printed underneath the name.

Bases loaded. Nobody out. Bullpen pumping. Jose Guzman gasping for oxygen. If ever there was a moment when the big, bad Oakland A's were going to blow open the American League playoffs, this was it. It was the fourth inning of the Toronto Blue Jays' 7-5 win over the A's yesterday. A sun-baked crowd at the Oakland Coliseum had actually stopped peeling off T-shirts and fanning itself to raise a few decibels. Five straight A's had reached base. A 2-0 Toronto lead had turned into a 2-2 tie. If this had been 1988 or '89, maybe Jose Canseco or Dave Parker or Dave Henderson would have stepped right up in this spot, pumped a grand slam that would come down somewhere around San Jose, and performed a quadruple-axel with a half twist rounding the bases.

The Philadelphia Phillies can be a thirsty bunch. In less than a month they can soak up Gatorade: 94 cases of cans and 100 gallons of mix. And water - thousands of liters - like a herd of tobacco- spitting camels just in from the desert. Working hard on hot days, athletes sweat off nearly two quarts - four pounds - of fluid per hour. If not replenished, dehydration saps energy and makes a slugger sluggish in as little as 30 minutes. At its worst, it leads to dangerously high body temperatures and sometimes even death.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service Question: For a long time, I've suffered from terrible sweating. I'm not overweight, am extremely healthy and I'm not taking any medications. What can you recommend? Answer: The first thing, which I'm sure you've already done, is to look for a possible cause. You're healthy, but some sufferers have an underlying medical problem like an overactive thyroid, menopausal syndrome with hot flashes, persistent anxiety, frequent low blood sugar reactions or simply too much body fat that makes them sweat excessively.

Jimmy Fallon has nothing to sweat about. The latest host of NBC's "Late Night" may have begun his new gig last week looking not unlike the anchor wannabe Albert Brooks played in "Broadcast News," but we know - don't we? - that he's not going anywhere. NBC doesn't make late-night mistakes. And when it does, it rides them out until they stop being mistakes. Fallon, whose first reviews almost had to be better than his predecessor received in 1993, is being measured against a man many consider a comic genius.

Don't let that sweat pouring down your face, your back or other places put a damper on your day. Moist and messy is not pleasant. But think of it this way: Your drippy body is saving your life. If your sweat glands were not pumping out water (plus a little bit of salt) in weather like this, you'd be in big trouble, says Dr. George Petri, adjunct professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. You'd get heat stroke. You'd become incoherent, disoriented, maybe even pass out - or pass away.

Some people can stand the heat. And then there is me. As they say, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I hate the heat and immediately rush from the kitchen. The problem is: How do you get out of the kitchen when the kitchen is the great outdoors? So I do what is possible: I rush to an air-conditioned room or even the cool comfort of my car and go for an aimless ride to the shore. At least there I find some cool breezes that flow in from the majestic Atlantic Ocean.

The Philadelphia Phillies can be a thirsty bunch. In less than a month they can soak up Gatorade: 94 cases of cans and 100 gallons of mix. And water - thousands of liters - like a herd of tobacco- spitting camels just in from the desert. Working hard on hot days, athletes sweat off nearly two quarts - four pounds - of fluid per hour. If not replenished, dehydration saps energy and makes a slugger sluggish in as little as 30 minutes. At its worst, it leads to dangerously high body temperatures and sometimes even death.

The elderly are susceptible to heat-related death because their bodies can't cool down as effectively as those of younger people. And if the elderly have a cardiovascular condition, the stress of the heat may be too much, said Dr. Karen Kelly, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Kelly suspects that not all the deaths during the heat wave have been related to heat stroke. "Some are cardiovascular deaths precipitated by the stress of the heat," she said.

Bases loaded. Nobody out. Bullpen pumping. Jose Guzman gasping for oxygen. If ever there was a moment when the big, bad Oakland A's were going to blow open the American League playoffs, this was it. It was the fourth inning of the Toronto Blue Jays' 7-5 win over the A's yesterday. A sun-baked crowd at the Oakland Coliseum had actually stopped peeling off T-shirts and fanning itself to raise a few decibels. Five straight A's had reached base. A 2-0 Toronto lead had turned into a 2-2 tie. If this had been 1988 or '89, maybe Jose Canseco or Dave Parker or Dave Henderson would have stepped right up in this spot, pumped a grand slam that would come down somewhere around San Jose, and performed a quadruple-axel with a half twist rounding the bases.

"Hello," the man said over the telephone. "My name is Roderick Tomo. I'm calling because I found your card in my wallet. Do I know you?" Well, of course not. The chances are minuscule that we would know each other. Roderick Tomo said he was a zoologist. My card had probably passed through a hundred wallets and pockets before it ended with Roderick Tomo. This the way of it with cards. I think it was in the '70's when everyone started carrying cards with crisp job titles printed underneath the name.

First, a few good words about sweat: "Well, let's see . . . ". . . momentary hesitation here as Dr. Leslie Stewart, the dermatologist on call at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, pondered. She moved to Philadelphia from Chicago last summer and bought her first air conditioner one week later. "It does keep your body's surface temperature down somewhat," she said at last. "You could say that if you didn't sweat, you'd be in big trouble. " But she did not sound enthusiastic.

The temperature hit 94 degrees at 2 p.m. yesterday. It should top 90 again today. And tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, too. There is little good news here. The sticky humidity that mugged Philadelphians yesterday should lighten up a bit today and tomorrow. But another humid wave is predicted to envelop the city Thursday and Friday. And then on Saturday, just in time for a weekend at the shore, a thunderstorm may roll in. The harbinger of these bleak tidings is Walter Goldsworthy, an Accu-Weather meteorologist in State College, Pa. But don't blame the messenger.