Sweating

Body odor and sweating occurs when you are anxious, nervous, under stress or in hot environment. Sweating and odor can also occur when you work out or exert yourself more. This kind of body odor and sweating is healthy and natural. While sweating is a normal phenomenon that serves to cool down the body, sweat can also be troublesome to manage for some people.

What is Sweat?

Sweating is referred to as a normal bodily mechanism which serves to cool down the body when the water on skin surface tends to evaporate. Sweat normally comes composed of salt and water solution which is excreted by the microscopic sweat glands within the skin.

Drops of water come to the skin surface through the small tubules that are known as sweat gland ducts. The total number of the sweat glands per square centimeter of the skin usually varies widely. Generally, the palms, soles, armpits or underarms and the face are major areas where highest number of sweat glands is found. Therefore, these are certain areas where the maximum production of sweat is obvious.

Excessive Sweating

About 1 percent population in the world suffers from excessive sweating. There are various names of this disorder, including idiopathic hyperhidrosis which means that you have it without knowing why you have it. The other names include gustatory hyperhidrosis, diabetic gustatory hyperhidrosis and essential hyperhidrosis.

Causes

According to scientists, hyperhidrosis can be triggered by stress and eating (gustatory). Stress factors like meeting new people or public speaking can aggravate the situation. Excessive sweating is just an inflated response to a stimulus or situation which triggers the normal amount of perspiration in many people.

At times, excessive sweating can even be the sign of any underlying disease. In such instances, the excessive sweating generally occurs at the night or at any time. Those who experience excessive sweating or even night sweats must visit the doctor in order to diagnose any underlying illnesses.

Treatment

There are a lot of treatment options available for curing excessive sweating. Usually, treatment for severe perspiration fall into 3 broad categories including non prescription and topical products like Alcohol-based antiperspirant gels, alcohol-based antiperspirant solutions, extra strength antiperspirants, specific surgical treatments and prescription drugs.

Other treatment options for excessive perspiration

It’s a fact that treatment for the excessive sweating problems depends on the actual cause of the problem. This may include:

  1. Reducing weight
  2. Powders, Sprays and roll ons
  3. Botox injections- Such injections are used to paralyze the sweat glands present in the body. The effect of the injection can be felt from the single injection and it lasts for 6 to 9 months.
  4. Surgery- Surgery is the last resort to control the sweat glands and can be considered in the most severe cases wherein all the other above mentioned treatment options prove unsuccessful to show results.

There are some more strategies for managing hyperhidrosis including:

  1. Wearing baggy clothes or dresses.
  2. Use of the antiperspirants that contain the aluminum chloride and are basically designed for the treatment of excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis.