Help with Excessive Sweating

The normal process of sweating happens when our sweat glands produce droplets of perspiration that are secreted to the surface of our skin as a response to rising temperatures.

Things that generally cause us to sweat are: hot air temperatures, exercise, having a fever, certain emotions (such as anger) and stress. If however you are excessively sweating under normal circumstances, you may be suffering from hyperhidrosis - which is when our sweat glands continue to perspire despite the fact they do not need to.

If you are sweating excessively there a few things you can do or attempt to control to reduce the amount you sweat:

1. Emotions
   Controlling our emotions can be tricky at the best of times, but in particular typical negative emotions such as fear, embarrassment and anger can trigger outbreaks of excessive sweating. Trying to control these emotions may help to reduce breakouts in sweat.
2. Stress
   Similar to emotions, stress can also be a cause for outbreaks of excessive sweating. Learning how to cope with and reduce stress will help with excess sweating, as well as reducing additional stress effects on skin.
3. Diet
   Known as gustatory sweating, this can be a response to eating certain foods. Foods that are often the culprits of causing excessive sweating are: spicy foods, alcohol and caffeinated beverages such as soft drinks, energy drinks and coffee.
4. Tight Clothing
   This may seem obvious by wearing tight clothing can amplify signs of excessive sweating as well as making it worse by preventing the skin from being able to breathe. Avoiding man made fabrics such as nylon is also a good idea, stick to more natural materials that have a looser fit so skin can breathe and signs of heavy sweating on your clothing are minimised.
5. Footwear
   Wearing enclosed shoes or boots that don't allow air to circulate around your feet will prevent them from being able to breathe and cause them to sweat more.

If you are tired of constant excessive sweating or find yourself sweating heavier than you think you should, your first step is to ensure you are using a proper antiperspirant and not just a deodorant. Antiperspirant and deodorant have two different jobs: antiperspirant helps to prevent sweating whereas deodorant hides unpleasant smells.

Using a strong antiperspirant that contains aluminum will help you to get better results as the aluminium salts are active ingredients that help to plug sweat pores. As well as this, aluminium compounds help to reduce unpleasant body odour by inhibiting the bacteria that causes it.

NIVEA Ultimate Protect Anti-Perspirant Deodorant Roll On contains aluminum chlorohydrate and a zinc complex to provide extra protection in fighting perspiration, in all situations. This antiperspirant is gentle on your skin with 0% ethyl alcohol, giving your 48h effective protection against sweat and body odour.

Causes of Primary Hyperhidrosis are not currently known. Symptoms of primary hyperhidrosis are caused by overactivity of certain sweat glands which can be triggered by things such as stress, but this does not preclude that stress is the cause of the disorder. Those with hyperhidrosis are no more prone to stress than those without it. Some studies suggest that genetics can be the cause of excessive sweating from primary hyperhidrosis, as a lot of people suffering from the disorder often have a close family member with the same condition.

Excessing sweating causes from secondary hyperhidrosis are usually because a person is suffering from an underlying health condition such as: anxiety, diabetes, obesity, alcohol abuse, heart disease, other substance abuse or medical conditions.

Our body has two types of sweat glands called apocrine and eccrine. Apocrine glands usually produce thicker sweat that the eccrine glands and are usually the root of bromhidrosis. These are located mainly in the groin, breast and underarm areas.

When we sweat from our apocrine glands it is clear and odourless, however when the bacteria on our body begins to break down this sweat foul smells of body odour can be released.

Sweat from our eccrine glands can occur all over our body and again is usually colourless and non-offensive smelling. Bad smells can occur though when this sweat is broken down by bacteria. Eccrine gland sweat can also smell like food we've eaten or alcohol we have drunk.