If you seem to sweat more than everyone around you, you may wonder if something is wrong. Your shirt may become damp during a short walk. Your hands may feel wet during a meeting. You may start sweating while other people look completely comfortable.
Sweating more than other people does not always mean you have a health problem. People vary in how easily they sweat. Heat, exercise, stress, hormones, medicines, and some health conditions can all affect how much sweat your body makes.
Your Body May Simply Sweat More Easily
Sweat is your body’s cooling system. When your temperature rises, your nerves tell sweat glands in your skin to release fluid. As that fluid dries, it helps cool you.
Some people begin sweating sooner or produce more sweat than others. Family history may play a role. If your parents or siblings sweat heavily, you may be more likely to have the same pattern.
Stress can also make sweating worse, especially on the palms, soles, face, and underarms. You may notice this before a presentation, during an argument, or when you feel nervous.
Exercise, warm weather, heavy clothing, spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine can also increase sweating in some people.
You May Have Excessive Sweating
If you sweat heavily even when you are not hot or active, you may have a condition called hyperhidrosis, which simply means excessive sweating.
This often affects the underarms, hands, feet, or face. The sweating may happen on both sides of the body and may begin during childhood or the teenage years. It can run in families.
The American Academy of Dermatology says this type of excessive sweating is linked to nerve signals that tell the sweat glands to work more than they need to.1
For some people, the sweating is strong enough to soak clothes, make hands slippery, or require several clothing changes during the day.
Sudden Sweating Can Have Another Cause
Heavy sweating that begins later in life, affects much of the body, or happens during sleep deserves medical attention.
Sometimes another health condition causes the sweating. Possible causes include an overactive thyroid, diabetes, menopause, infections, certain nerve disorders, and some cancers. Heart failure and stroke can also cause increased sweating.
Medicines can be responsible too. Some antidepressants, pain medicines, diabetes medicines, and hormone treatments may increase sweating.2
Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own. Ask your doctor whether sweating could be a side effect.
What Can You Do About Heavy Sweating?
Start with a true antiperspirant rather than deodorant alone. Antiperspirants reduce sweat, while deodorants mainly control odor.
For heavier sweating, a doctor may recommend a stronger prescription antiperspirant. Other treatments include medicines applied to the skin, botulinum toxin injections, a treatment that uses a mild electrical current for sweaty hands or feet, and certain oral medicines.3
Surgery is usually saved for severe cases that do not improve with other treatments.
It can also help to wear breathable clothing, change damp socks, rotate shoes, and keep areas that sweat heavily as dry as possible.
When Should You See a Doctor?
Talk with a doctor if sweating suddenly becomes much heavier, happens at night without a clear reason, affects your daily life, or comes with other symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, fever, shaking, or a racing heartbeat.
Get urgent medical care if heavy sweating occurs with chest pain, dizziness, cold or pale skin, or pain that spreads to the jaw, shoulder, throat, or arm.
Sweating more than other people can be normal for your body, but persistent or unexplained sweating should not be ignored. Once the cause is clear, treatment can often reduce the sweating and make daily life much easier.