sweat contains ammonia and with strenuous exercise more ammonia is produced and sweated out. in some people enough ammonia is present to give its characteristic odor to their sweat. the more strenuous or lengthy the exercise session the greater the amount of ammonia that gets into sweat. in clinical studies ammonia went up in people’s sweat regardless of the type of exercise or what they had eaten first. there’s no proof that an ammonia smell in sweat means you aren’t eating enough protein or working out too strenuously or anything in particular. not everyone produces and excretes ammonia at the same rate so one person’s sweat may have a stronger ammonia odor than someone else’s even if they are exercising about the same amount. the odor of normal urine can reflect what has been consumed or specific diseases. urine is high in nitrates compounds high in nitrogen and oxygen. ammonia (nh3) is made up of nitrogen and hydrogen what you are smelling is the high concentration of bonded nitrogen. ammonia is smaller more volatile and more mobile than urea. if allowed to accumulate ammonia would raise the ph in cells to toxic levels. therefore many organisms convert ammonia to urea there is no odor to my sweat it occurs at night it is not excessive night sweats. it has taken the color out of my pillowcase & sheet.
why does my sweat smell like ammonia? . sweat contains ammonia and with strenuous exercise more ammonia is produced and sweated out. in some people enough ammonia is present to give its characteristic odor to their sweat.