Sweating is the body’s natural way of cooling itself off when it is extremely hot or when your body overheats from exercising. This is a good and a natural phenomenon, and drinking water will replace the lost body fluids so that you do not get dehydrated.
Sweat is basically made up of salt and water, and the key cooling element is evaporation. When the sweat warms up, the top warm layer evaporates and leaves a thin layer of cool water is left on the skin, which in turn cools you down.
Believe it or not, most individuals have between 2-4 million sweat glands in their bodies, mostly situated in the face, armpits, the soles of the feet and palms of the hands. Men tend to sweat more than women, but only because women’s bodies are better at regulating water.
The body’s internal thermostat is called the hypothalamus, which activates the sweat glands when the body gets too hot. The hypothalamus will kick in whether the body’s temperature is high due to outside heat or internal problems such as menopause, viral or bacterial infections which raise the body’s temperature, certain medications, or serious infectious diseases.
Can One Sweat Too Much?
If you find that you are sweating for no known reason or wake up at night sweating, it is important that you find out the reason.
It is not normal to sweat for no reason, and it is a sign that there may be something wrong with your health, so it is important that you check everything out.
Sweating too much can lead to dehydration if you do not ensure that you replace the bodily fluids that you have lost, and that can lead to a whole other range of problems, including getting very ill and even possibly death. Drinking water will help you to hydrate again, but if you just continue sweating, you will land up with major health problems.
One of the most common causes of excessive sweating in women is hot flashes associated with menopause, which is caused by the sudden drop in oestrogen production, which confuses the hypothalamus and causes a woman’s temperature to rise by as much as 6 degrees.
Excessive sweating in a man could mean that they are testosterone deficient. Men who are taking testosterone-blocking drugs may also sweat a lot. Androgen deprivation drugs, which are often prescribed for prostate cancer, can also lead to excessive night sweats.
Drinking alcohol at night sometimes induces night-sweats, as can alcohol dependence and alcohol withdrawal symptoms
[Source: American Academy of Family Physicians].
Once again it is important to make sure that you drink water to combat the loss of fluid and keep the body balanced and in perfect working order. Spicy food and caffeine can also exacerbate excessive sweating [source: Emedicine].
How to Counteract Excessive Sweating
There are various ways that you can combat excessive sweating, including:
- Lowering the thermostat to a temperature at which you feel cooler; this will automatically help the body to sweat less
- Eliminate any causes of stress and anxiety
- Herbal remedies such as motherwort and sage tea help the circulatory and nervous system, which may be the cause of your sweating [source: Women’s Radio].
- Doctors may prescribe medication that contains aluminium, to be applied to the feet, armpits, hands and other parts of the body that sweat a lot [source: Drugstore.com].
Whatever the reason for your excessive sweating, make sure that you drink water as often as possible so that you can continue operating at maximum potential. One way to ensure that the water you drink is pure and always delightfully chilled is to invest in a home water cooler and also get your boss to invest in an office water cooler so that you can drink water whenever you want.
Water dispenser in London and watercoolers from Living-Water.
