Certainly, you once awoke drenched in sweat. The nightgown or your pajamas were wet, the bedding damp. A relaxed night’s rest seems far away – nightly sweating inevitably leads to sleep disturbances. The consequences of sleepless nights show during the days, too. Besides tiredness and irritability, lack of sleep leads to listlessness and concentration disturbances.
Sweating is vital
As unpleasant as sweating sometimes is – it is vital. The sweat supports regulation of body temperature. The evaporation of sweat delivers cooling. This prevents overheating of our body. On an average, we are secreting about half a liter sweat per night. The disturbance of sweat production is called hyperhidrosis. This either can be triggered by a disease or by hyperactive sweat glands.
Causes for nightly sweating
Hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy or menopause can be responsible for unpleasant nightly sweating. But, often it has harmless reasons like a too warm bedroom or an improper cover. Sometimes, diseases like a flue also might lead to nightly sweating. In case excessive sweating persists for a longer period, seek medical advice. Especially, when other complaints like fever, loss of weight and pains arise.
- Poor conditions for sleep
- Alcohol, nicotine
- Fatty and hot food
- Drugs
- Sleep disturbances (like sleep apnea)
- Cancer
- Heart attack
- Stress
- Depression and anxiety
- Hypoglycemia with diabetes
- Medication
- Infections
- Rheumatism
- Hyperthyroidism
- Neurologic diseases (like epilepsy)
- Hormonal fluctuations (during pregnancy or menopause)
Are no reasons found, medicine is talking about idiopathic nightly sweating. Here, the sweat glands are hyperactive due to reasons which are not yet clear.
In the next article you will find some hints against nightly sweating.
Imagesource: @fotolia
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