 [ Symptoms ] 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 [ Disease ] 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 is sweat regardless of the type of exercise or what they had eaten first there is no proof that an ammonia smell in sweat means you are not 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 is sweat may have a stronger ammonia odor than someone else is 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