Hands up who'd forfeit a night with Brad Pitt to never have to suffer sweat patches again. Love it or hate it, sweating is one of the most misunderstood of essential bodily functions. Believe it or not, to keep healthy and looking good it's vital you get hot and sticky.

Part of a finely tuned system, sweating is your body's way of regulating its temperature. Humidity, exercise, stress - anything that makes your core body temperature rise above 37 degrees C – triggers the process. On average we produce a litre of the stuff each a day, however the amount depends on how you're feeling and what you're doing. But it is natural, and everyone does it constantly to some degree.

If you've seen a car overheating you'll understand the importance of keeping cool. Most of the energy your muscles use during physical exertion is transferred through the blood and dissipated as heat via evaporation (aka sweating). Because sweat comes from the water in our blood it's vital to keep drinking, especially if you're running around.

"If you keep exercising without replacing the fluid lost you'll become more and more dehydrated," warns Dr Samantha Stear, science director of The Sugar Bureau. "Your body temperature will start to rise, you'll feel nauseous and light-headed, and ultimately you'll end up suffering fatigue or worse."

Preventing dehydration
So how best to prevent dehydration? Beware of going to the gym the morning after a night out, and make a habit of drinking before, during and after exercise. Aim to drink roughly 200ml or half a small bottle every 15 minutes of exertion, advises Dr Stear. Frequent sipping minimises the risk of bloating and stomach pain.

Covering your body are around 2.5 million sweat glands, each one acting as a teeny pump drawing off water from nearby capillaries and routing it to the skin, cooling it. There are two types of sweat gland. Most are the smaller ecrine glands which are scattered throughout the body and keep it from overheating. Pack them into a ball and apparently they'd weigh about a quarter of a pound.

Animal attraction
Apocrine glands, on the other hand, are mainly found on your hairy parts, and secrete pheromones – those smart sex chemicals that help us attract Mr Right (or at least Mr Right Now). Since the longer you don't wash the more pheromone produced, a man could be forgiven for trying to make himself more attractive by avoiding the shower. But as sweat also builds up the dirtier you get, it's a fine line between oooh yes! and oh dear!

But sweating doesn't just help us lead an exciting love life and enjoy a great workout. Oh no. Recent research by scientists in Germany reveals that sweating is an essential part of the body's defence against bacteria. Sweat, they say, contains a natural antibiotic – dermicidin - that helps destroy harmful bacteria (including the potentially lethal bug E.coli) on the skin.

So the next time your face is as red as a Chanel lipstick, your clothes seem more cling-film than kit, and your BO could knock over a double decker, be thankful. If you weren't sweating, you'd die.