How to Stop Sweating
I’m sweating a lot.
I sweat as I walk. I sweat while I sit. I sweat when I talk. At any job interview, I walk out of the room sweating, as if I had unwittingly entered a wet T-shirt competition. I’m sweating as I write this.
My sweating problem has plagued me for a long time. Is this a genetic lottery that I just lost?
After talking with dermatologist Michelle Green, it turned out that the answer may be yes, I should probably thank my genetics for this burden. Fortunately, not all hope is lost, and there are ways to try and stop sweating when life is like a sauna.
I spoke to Green about why we sweat, why Botox is more than just a wrinkle treatment, and how to temporarily fix your sweating problem with a couple of quick fixes:
What is sweat and why do we do it?
According to Green, we sweat because we need to cool down (which shouldn’t come as a surprise). Sweat itself is mostly water with added chlorides, proteins, sugars, ammonia, urea and trace elements that are released to the surface of our skin when triggered by the hypothalamic region in our brain.
You also have two different types of sweat glands on your body. Eccrine glands throughout the skin respond to exercise and heat. The apocrine glands, mainly in the armpits and groin, respond to excitement, nerves and emotion, Popular Mechanics writes, so you’ve got to thank the interview sweat spots.
However, sweating only effectively regulates body temperature if you allow it to remain on your skin and evaporate (in other words, wiping it off or letting the drops fall on the floor is a waste of the effort you put into sweating!)
How important is genetics?
Probably large, although research on this subject is very limited. A 2002 study in patients with hyperhidrosis (or excessive sweating) found that those with the condition had an inherited component. In other words, you can thank your parents for your sweating problem.
According to Cut , there is some evidence that the place you grew up (and its climate) can make a difference as well. We are all born with approximately the same number of sweat glands. However, during the first two years of infancy, some glands never become active, and this is based on necessity.
If you grew up in a hot place, you would activate more glands and therefore sweat more.
How can I stop sweating?
Well, if you want to stop sweating in the long run, it will be difficult, but there are some things you can do to curb this problem.
If you wear a sweater a lot, the FDA recently approved the very first prescription method to help you deal with sweating. This is a tissue-based healing napkin that is used daily to reduce the problem of underarm sweating by blocking neurotransmitters in the sweat glands.
And if you are looking for a cosmetic change, try Botox. Botox injections in the forehead or underarms can help reduce sweating significantly (though Self says that doesn’t always solve the odor problem, so you may still need deodorant if odor is also a problem, Green says).
And yes, drinking ice cold water will definitely help (Green recommends Gatorade if you really want to recharge), as will an ice shower.
If you want to quickly stop sweating, Green also recommends the ice trick – but use it on the back of your head, not your forehead or hands. “That’s where the heat sensors are,” she said. “It actually helps more than just keep it.”
And from experience, never wear wool under any circumstances. It’s like wearing clothes with a built-in radiator.