What your sweat says about you?

Posted on September 25, 2008
Filed Under Health

Sweating is the discharge of a salty liquid from the body’s sweat glands. This process is also called perspiration. Sweating is a vital function that helps the body stay cool.

How much you sweat depends on how many sweat glands you have. A person is born with about two to four million sweat glands. The glands start to become fully active during puberty. Women actually have more sweat glands then men — men’s glands are just more active.

Because sweating is the body’s natural way of regulating temperature, people sweat more when it’s hot outside. People also sweat more when they exercise, or in response to situations that make them nervous, angry, embarrassed, or afraid.

If sweating is accompanied by fever, weight loss, chest pain, shortness of breath, or a rapid, pounding heartbeat, talk to a doctor.
If the sweating occurs as a result of another medical condition, it is called secondary hyperhidrosis. The sweating may be all over the body, or it may be in one area.

Conditions that can cause an excessive sweating:

- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Cancer
- Certain medicines, including thyroid hormone, morphine, drugs to reduce fevers, and medicines to treat mental disorders
- Emotional or stressful situations (anxiety)
- Exercise
- Fever
- Infection
- Low blood sugar
- Menopause
- Overactive thyroid gland
- Spicy foods (known as “gustatory sweating”)
- Warm temperatures
- Withdrawal from alcohol or narcotic pain killers

Excessive sweating is a terrible vicious cycle. You sweat a little which makes you embarrassed, anxious and tense. Your tension and anxiety then makes you sweat a little more… And so the cycle continues until your clothes are saturated.

Now, think about a time when you didn’t sweat so much. Chances are you were in a relaxed state of mind. You were probably alone or with a loved one, away from the social anxiety that your sweating causes. At these times it didn’t matter whether you sweated or not. Who would care?

Documentary source: http://health.nytimes.com

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