Everybody sweats. But it might seem that you sweat more than your friends or other people you know. While there are times when sweating is to be expected and not much of a good — such as when you’re working out at the gym or going for a run around town — there are also times when you just wish your body would cut it out. Sweating right before or during a work presentation can be embarrassing, for example.
Although sweating’s natural, here’s what you need to know if you think that your body is going into overdrive when it comes to sweat.
Why Do People Sweat?
Sweat is your body’s response to increasing internal temperatures. Whether that increase in temperature is due to physical movement or the temperature of the air around you doesn’t matter. If your body thinks it’s heating up, it’s going to make sweat.
While trying to keep you cool is one reason for sweating, it’s not the only reason. The glands located in the armpits and groin areas also produce sweat when people become emotionally stimulated. That’s why you’re liking to end up with wet armpits when you’re nervous or excited.
Sweat comes from different types of glands in the body. The sweating you experience in the armpits comes from the apocrine glands. Meanwhile, the sweating you experience all over or when you’re working out or overheated comes from the eccrine glands.
The sweat the apocrine glands produce tends to be more nutrient-rich than the sweat produce by the eccrine glands, which makes it more appealing to various types of bacteria found on the skin. It’s the bacteria that causes body odor, by the way, not the sweat itself.
What Causes Excessive Sweat?
Some people sweat more than others simply because they have more active sweat glands than other people. Everyone has the same number of glands. But not everyone has the same number of active glands. Usually, the number of active glands is determined by the environment you grew up in. If you live in a hot climate, you’re likely to have more active glands than a person who grew up in a colder area or who spent most of his or her early years in an air-conditioned setting.
Although your genes and environment can determine the amount of sweating your body does, so can a condition called hyperhidrosis. Usually, people with hyperhidrosis experience excessive sweating in one of two areas — under the arms or on the hands and feet. Hyperhidrosis might be caused by a nerve signaling problem. The nerves might tell the glands to produce sweat even if you’re not hot, nervous or otherwise emotionally stimulated.
What Can You Do About Too Much Sweat?
Sweating too much can be pretty embarrassing. It also ruins your clothes and can lead to high dry cleaning or laundry bills. Coping with excessive sweating can take a number of forms.
Some people do get relief from using antiperspirants, either the type available at any drugstore or a stronger option available with a prescription.
But for many people with hyperhidrosis, antiperspirants just don’t cut it. They only make the problem worse, because they end up staining people’s clothing.
Botox injections can also be effective treatments for excessive sweating, particularly in the underarm area. A surgeon injects small amounts of Botox into the over-active sweat glands. The active ingredient in Botox, botulinum toxin, blocks nerve signals to those glands, so you sweat less overall.
One concern people often have about getting Botox for sweating is that the sweat will build up in the body or that they’ll sweat more from other glands. That’s not the case. After the treatment, your body simply doesn’t produce the sweat in the glands that were overactive. Your other sweat glands will continue to function as they did previously.
Do you think you sweat too much? Botox might help you. To learn more about the injections, including how long results last and what you can expect, call 281-810-9083 to schedule a consultation at Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique in Houston, Texas today.