Facts About Sweating Hand & How to Deal With It

Last Updated on 2020-12-02 , 7:23 pm

Do you have sweating hands? Or what is more commonly known as sweaty palms?

While non-fatal, this condition can be a real social killer.

Imagine you having to shake someone’s hand and you can tell from their faces they’re trying hard not to grimace at the wet shake they’re experiencing.

It makes it worse when they discreetly wipe their hands on their pants after shaking your hand.

Excessive Sweating

For normal people, we only sweat when there’s a spike in body temperature, when you’re feeling anxious, stressed, or when you’re having a fever. The rest of the time, our nerves sending signals to the sweat glands are shut down.

But for about 2-3% of people who has excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis, these nerves don’t shut down. They can sweat in an air-conditioned room, sitting down or even in the swimming pool.

Primary Hyperhidrosis

People who seemed to always have their sweat glands “switched on” generally belonged to this group who tend to perspire from eccrine sweat glands.

These glands are a huge bulk of the sweat glands in your body and they are mostly on your palms, feet, face and armpits.

Tips to cope with Primary Hyperhidrosis

While there are medical procedures to solve the problem, you might want to consider non-surgery options first before going further.

Here are some ways you can use to counter sweating hands:

1. Apply antiperspirants on your palms and feet before going to bed

Look for those with aluminium chloride for better effectiveness. It can also help to mask odours, though sweating hands are usually generally odourless.

2. Avoid spicy food and caffeine to prevent stimulating your nervous system.

Pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it?

3. Shower daily but avoid hot showers or saunas to avoid spiking your body temperature.

Hot showers will spike up your body temperature for a few hours which leads to, you guessed it, even more sweating.

4. Dry your hands and feet after showering

Moisture allows for rapid bacteria growth and these bacteria are responsible for odours from your body.

5. Learn to handle stress

Sometimes, we sweat not in response to external conditions but internal ones. Take deep breaths to calm yourself down before you sweat from too much stress.

Check with your doctor

If you’re worried about your excessive sweating, go to the doctor for a check-up. Medical conditions might be the cause of excessive sweating, and it’s better to know if you think that something is amiss.

Featured Image: leungchopan / Shutterstock.com