FitSugar

Why You Sweat More Than Your Exercise Buddy

FitSugar — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:10:19 PST

You're trucking along on the treadmill and as you reach for a towel to wipe off the perspiration on your forehead, you can't help but notice the guy to the right who's sweating so much. It looks like he jumped in a river. Why is it that some people sweat like crazy and some are barely glistening?

First off, sweating is the body's way of cooling itself off and maintaining a healthy temperature. You're born with between two and four million sweat glands. Women have more sweat glands than men, but men's glands are more active. How much you sweat depends on your gender, the number of sweat glands you have (more glands equal more sweat), how hot it is, how intensely you're exercising, or how anxious you feel.

The amount a person sweats also depends on how many sweat glands are activated and how much sweat is excreted from each gland. It turns out that fit men sweat significantly more than fit women. The same amount of sweat glands might be activated, but women produce less sweat from each gland. Fit people sweat more efficiently by sweating sooner during workouts, when their body temperature is lower. However, a sedentary person working at the same intensity will heat up a lot faster and possibly sweat more. Also, overweight people sweat more profusely than normal-weight individuals because fat acts as an insulator that raises core temperature.

Unfortunately, some people suffer from excessive sweating, a common condition called Hyperhidrosis. Their bodies' faucets turn on and their palms, feet, back, and face become covered in sweat, even if it's cold out or they're not moving. If this sounds familiar, consult your doctor to see what treatment options are available.

DrSugar Explains Hyperhidrosis, aka Excessive Sweating

DrSugar — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:47:34 PDT

DrSugar is in the house! This week she's explaining the condition known as hyperhidrosis, aka excessive sweating.

Even though Summer is winding down, it's still quite warm in many parts of the US, which inspired an explanation on excessive sweating, known as hyperhidrosis in medical terms. Hyperhidrosis can be a difficult condition to have and for some can be quite embarrassing or cause social anxiety.

The Mayo Clinic defines hyperhidrosis as frequent or constant excessive sweating. Sweating is the body's mechanism for cooling itself down, which is a normal response to an increase in body temperature. However, people with hyperhidrosis sweat in quantities above the amount needed to regulate and cool the body's temperature. According to Medicine Net, an estimated two to three percent of Americans suffer from hyperhidrosis, which typically affects the underarms, the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet. Underarm hyperhidrosis typically starts in puberty, whereas the hands and feet hyperhidrosis can begin even earlier in life. While some people with excessive sweating can have neurologic, metabolic, or other systemic medical conditions, most people with hyperhidrosis are typically otherwise healthy. To learn more about hyperhidrosis, keep reading!

Don't Sweat It: Botox Injections for Excessive Sweating

FitSugar — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:30:00 PDT

Sweating is a totally natural process that allows our bodies to stay cool. The floodgates can also start under our pits when we are in certain social situations, due to anxiety and nerves. Some people even have to deal with excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis), and while liposuction is one way to deal with it, good old FDA approved botox is another.

If over the counter and prescription antiperspirants don't alleviate the excessive sweat, botox injections just might be an appropriate treatment. A botox injection contains a tiny amount of the botulinum toxin that can stop the release of the chemical transmitter that causes sweating.

Botox is one of the most poisonous substances in the world, but specialists have been successfully using it in very small amounts to smooth out wrinkles by paralyzing the muscles that cause them to form. Botox is also used to treat migraine headaches, eye blinking and twitching, crossed eyes, and certain pain disorders.

It's great that hyperhidrosis can be added to that list as well, since it affects nearly 3% of the U.S. population. Surgery is an option, but it doesn't always work well, and your body ends up sweating in other areas to compensate. With botox injections, it only treats the areas where it's injected, temporarily reducing or stopping sweat production.

The bad news? The effects only last a few months, and you have to have repeated injections to control perspiration. Also, the treatments can be up to a whopping $2,000, depending on the doctor. The good news? Many people have been loving the results, so if you suffer from excessive sweating, talk to your doctor or dermatologist about botox.

Source

Liposuction for Sweating

FitSugar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:30:00 PDT

Maybe you have heard of botox treatments being used to curtail excessive armpit sweating, now a new technique is on the block.

Well, not really a new technique, per se, but an old technique applied for a new purpose. Liposuction techniques have been used by German doctors on 51 patients as a treatment for extreme underarm sweating.

Using just local anesthetic, sweat glands are sucked out of the underarm using lipo techniques. Patients involved in the trial experiment experienced a 75% reduction in sweat, and this reduction created a "huge" improvement in the quality of life.

This new treatment would be offered to the 1.5 % of Western populations that suffer from excess sweating, or "hyperhidrosis" in medical speak. It would be a last resort after other options, like aluminum roll on and medication, have failed to alleviate the problem.

Sounds painful to me, but I hope it really helps people who suffer from this condition. Especially since some folks are so embarrassed they don't leave their homes.

Your Summer Heat Wave Must-Have Kit

Miriam Lacey — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 05:00:00 PDT

Summer warmth is giving way to the sweltering heat of the dog days, which is liable to wreck your hair, melt your makeup, and clog your pores. It may seem like a lost cause, but there are actually plenty of clever ways to beat the heat at its own game. To see what you'll need to make it through the heat wave looking totally cool, just keep reading.