Why am I so sweaty? Ways to stop excessive sweating.

By Anna Salleh

Sure, working a sweat up at the gym can give a sexy shimmer to a well-sculpted muscle.

But when normal daily activities see your palm too soaked to turn a door knob and wet patches on clothes running from your armpits to your waistline, your body’s sweat response can seem like too much of a good thing.

Sweating is one of nature’s vital ways of keeping us cool, but some people’s sweat glands take an overzealous approach to the task.

Our genetics, metabolic rate, and age, can all affect how much we sweat, says Dr Rodney Sinclair, honorary professor of dermatology at the University of Melbourne

As can how hot, humid or windy it is, as well as what we’re wearing, and how much we’re exercising.

You might lose as little as 100 millilitres a day or as much as 9 litres if you are an elite athlete training in heat, Dr Sinclair says.

When too much sweat is a problem

As well as regulating our body’s temperature, sweating helps control our fluid and salt balance. And it’s a factor in keeping our skin moist.

But when your sweat glands work more like a building’s sprinkler system in full force than one of those finely-tuned spray misters that keep vegies crisp on shop shelves, you may have a problem.

It is estimated that about 3 per cent of people suffer from a condition called hyperhidrosis, where they sweat much more than they need to — having implications for their quality of life.

It can make holding a pen or glass of water tricky, drench paper and computer keyboards, put people off dating and has even been known to prevent students from raising their hands to ask questions during class.

“Some people are precluded from certain types of work because they stain machinery with their sweat,” Dr Sinclair says.

Why do we sweat?

Sweating is caused by glands found all over the body, which have ducts that open out onto the skin. These eccrine glands are activated in response to heat and stress — which is why we get sweaty palms when we are anxious.

Interestingly, the highest density of eccrine sweat glands are found on the palms of our hands and the soles of our feet.

Body odour is actually due to special sweat glands found mainly in the armpits and groin. These apocrine glands secrete protein, which forms an odour when it is broken down by bacteria.

The cause of hyperhidrosis is poorly understood but it is believed to be caused by something going wrong with part of the body’s nervous system that is outside of our voluntary control.

What can you do about problem sweating?

While a select few are beyond help when it comes to sweating, 99.99 per cent of people can solve their problems using antiperspirants from the supermarket.

Products containing ingredients such as aluminium chloride and aluminium chlorohydrate are the first line of safe and effective treatment for sweating, Dr Sinclair says.

The aluminium helps form a plug that blocks the sweat duct which inhibits sweat secretion by the sweat gland.

If these antiperspirants do not work for you, then you should ask your pharmacist for some stronger ones, containing aluminium chloride hexahydrate.

The next step would be to see your GP, who can prescribe anticholinergic drugs that stop sweat production, Dr Sinclair says, and if all that fails, refer you to a dermatologist.

A dermatologist will first rule out any obvious underlying cause of your hyperhydrosis, including an over-active thyroid, hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels), menopause, diabetes, obesity or a tumour. Certain medications like antidepressants can also cause excessive sweating.

One treatment provided by dermatologists is iontophoresis, which involves using electrical currents to drive water or drugs into the skin to stop sweating.

Another is botox injections to paralyse sweat glands, although treating sweaty palms and feet in this way is tricky, Dr Sinclair says.

“You often have to have an anaesthetist to do a nerve block, otherwise it’s uncomfortable to give multiple injections into someone’s palm or sole.”

New lasers are also available to treat underarm sweating, but Dr Sinclair says the jury is still out as to whether they work as well as botox.

The last resort for problem sweating is surgery to cut nerves to the sweat glands (known medically as sympathectomy).

But this may lead to the unwelcome side effect of compensatory sweating elsewhere on the body. For example, you may stop sweating on your palms but get a sweat patch on your back instead.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.