ATLANTA, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- As bodily functions go, sweating is highly underrated. Sweat is blamed for wet handshakes in job interviews, ruined clothes on first dates and the terrible stench of athletic locker rooms. However, Russell Athletic's Sweatxpert, Dr. Larry Kenney, explains that physically active people cannot function without sweating. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060711/CLTU069) "Despite its bad rep, the right type of sweat (the body produces two types) efficiently managed, can be beneficial," said Kenney, professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State and Russell Athletic Sweatxpert. Being drenched in sweat is not appealing. However, sweat actually acts as your body's radiator by protecting you from overheating. By wearing performance material, such as Russell Athletic's Dri-Power(R) clothing, the benefits of sweat can be maintained while still keeping a person dry and comfortable. According to Kenney, during even moderate exercise, body temperature would increase at a rate of one degree Celsius every six to seven minutes without sweating. This would cause the body to overheat quickly and can create potentially dangerous health problems. Evaporation of heat puts the brakes on the body's temperature climb, but exercisers should be cautious of extreme temperatures that can still cause heat exhaustion. "Two to five million eccrine glands, producers of the good sweat that cools the body during exercise, secrete sweat directly onto the skin surface and are scattered over the body surface," said Sweatxpert Kenney. The distribution of eccrine sweat glands is non-uniform, varying from less than 50 to as many as 800 glands per square centimeter of skin. The highest densities of eccrine sweat glands are found on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. With millions of sweat glands, managing sweat becomes an important task. Products like Russell Athletic's Dri-Power(R) and the latest innovation, Dri- Power(R) Fleece, performance fabric can actually bring eccrine sweat to the surface of the material in order to evaporate more efficiently and effectively. Kenney explains that while performing heavy exercise in hot conditions, the body can lose more than two liters of sweat per hour. In fact, with adequate fluid replacement, maximal daily sweat rates under severe exercise conditions can be in the range of 10 to 15 liters! However, by using Russell Athletic's Dri-Power(R) clothing, those 10 to 15 liters will be wicked to the clothing's surface to evaporate more quickly. Eccrine sweat is odorless, colorless and relatively dilute. In fact, if humidity is fairly low the sweat produced from eccrine glands evaporates quickly, making the body cooler. It is the other sweat glands, called apocrine glands, which secrete sweat into hair follicles causing odor and clothing stains. Although embarrassing stories about sweat run rampant, sweat does not deserve its bad reputation. After all, wouldn't it be much more embarrassing to overheat and faint in public? ABOUT RUSSELL ATHLETIC SWEATXPERT, DR. LARRY KENNEY W. Larry Kenney is professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State University where he teaches and conducts research at Noll Laboratory. His research interests include the cardiovascular and thermoregulatory responses to heat stress and dehydration, control of human skin blood flow and the biophysics of heat exchange between human beings and the environment. NIH- funded work focuses on the effects of aging on the ability to tolerate and adapt to environmental challenges. Dr. Kenney is a fellow and past president of the American College of Sports Medicine. He also chairs the Gatorade Sports Science Institute's Science Advisory Board and has been recently named Russell Athletic's Sweatxpert. ABOUT RUSSELL CORPORATION Russell Corporation is a leading branded athletic and sporting goods company marketing athletic apparel, uniforms, footwear and equipment for a variety of sports, outdoor and fitness activities. The company's major brands include Russell Athletic(R), JERZEES(R), Spalding(R), Brooks(R), Huffy Sports(R), Bike(R), Moving Comfort(R), AAI(R) and Mossy Oak(R). Russell Corporation is dually headquartered in Alexander City, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, and employs 15,000 people worldwide. The company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RML and its Web site address is http://www.russellcorp.com/. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060711/CLTU069 http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Russell Athletic CONTACT: Holly Clifford of Hope-Beckham Inc., +1-404-636-8200, Ext. 231, or , for Russell Athletic Web site: http://www.russellcorp.com/

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