Some interesting facts about night sweating

In summers, most of us sweat but there are some people who even sweat a lot during their bedtimes, which is referred to as night sweat. Night sweating refers to the excess level of sweat at night. In other words, it means sweating abnormally at night.

There are two reasons for this occurrence. One reason can be the multiple blankets/sheets used to warm the body while sleeping, which is very common. And the other reason is because of a particular type of illness the body has. But, night sweating is also one of those early symptoms of certain diseases and measures must be taken to eradicate it.

Night sweating is not necessarily a disease in itself, but it occurs because of the following diseases. In short, people sweat profusely at night because of these diseases:

Menopause: Menopause is a common phenomenon in women. Those women, who have attained the age of 40 or perhaps 50 and above, are likely to udergo this syndrome. It is the natural decline in the reproductive hormones of a woman. Therefore, it is a clear sign for a woman that when night sweating happens, Menopause is occurring in the body.

Cancer: There are different types of cancers and night sweating is the first symptom for some cancers. Perhaps one of the most common categories of a disease whose early sign is night sweating is lymphoma. Lymphoma is a cancer of the blood.

Infection: Bacterial infection mostly causes night sweats. The most common infection is Tuberculosis and is also associated with night sweats. There are also other infections that cause night sweats such as inflammation of the heart valves and swelling in the bone.

Neurologic condition: It is not a common thing to suffer from night sweating when a person has neurologic conditions. But, sweating can increase when a patient suffers from neurologic conditions. Neurological disorder refers to the infection in the brain and the diseases which cause night sweating are stroke, posttraumatic syringomyelia, dyslexia etc.

Idiopathic hyperhidrosis: A condition in which the body chronically sweats profusely without any reasons of the medical cause that can be identifiable is called Idiopathic hyperhidrosis. Hyperhidrosis is also caused by neurologic disease, and infectious, endocrine etc. are also diseases that cause hyperhidrosis.

Hormone disorder: Hormone disorder in the body occurs when there is less or more level of hormone in the bloodstream. Hormones play a vital role in the growth of the body, and so, imbalances of any kind in the body can cause significant side effects to follow throughout the body.

Hypoglycemia: When the level of blood sugar in the body decreases, a person contracts hypoglycemia. It is a condition where a person has to take insulin or medications for oral diabetes. When the level of blood sugar decreases, it is accompanied by sweating which is one of its symptoms.

Medication: Night sweats also occur when taking certain medications. There are some medicines which, when taken, causes the body to sweat profusely, especially at night. Psychiatric drugs and drugs like aspirin that are used to lower fever, leads the body to sweat.

Night sweating indicates that a person is suffering from certain types of diseases such as HIV, Tuberculosis, diabetes, etc. It is estimated that approximately 3% of the world's population is affected by night sweating. It can be an indication that they might be suffering from serious diseases which can have a fatal outcome.

Also, the most common/early symptoms of such deadly diseases include night sweating. Early symptoms of lymphoma (which is a cancer of the blood) include night sweating. Therefore, such symptoms must not be treated as a common occurrence in the body. Night sweating is common in both men and women.

Some of the ways to manage and prevent excessive sweating or night sweating:

It is essential to maintain a proper diet; this means avoiding certain types of food that are spicy, avoiding drinking alcohol and caffeine to prevent night sweating.

Since night sweating is a symptom of certain diseases; proper treatment must be taken in order to be healthy and to live a longer life.

Using a fan or air conditioner much helps in preventing excessive sweating/night sweating of the body.

Drinking excessive water during the day helps the body to stop sweating profusely at night.

Exercising daily can reduce the chances of sweating at night on a large scale.

Maintaining a proper weight also keeps the body from sweating profusely and minimizes the chance of night sweating.