Night sweats are the term used to describe profuse sweating at night while sleeping. It is not a disease, but a symptom that accompanies various diseases. People who suffer from it wake up at night with sweaty clothes and damp sheets. This night sweat has nothing to do with waking up drenched in sweat because it is too warm in the room; Doctors recommend a temperature of 18 to 21 ° C at night.
Table of Contents
- Night sweats
- Normal sweating
- Excessive sweating
- therapy
- Excessive sweating and trouble sleeping
- Mental work
Normal sweating
Sweating is vital. The human body regulates the temperature in this way. The moisture cools the skin, the blood in the capillary network gives off heat and flows up to 2 degrees colder through the veins to the heart. A regulated body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius is optimal for the body to function. For example, the enzymes in the blood work best with this heat and the red blood cells can bind the oxygen well.
Night sweats can be associated with a fever, but can also indicate psychological problems. (Image: Peggy Blume / fotolia.com)
Whenever the organism is working, we sweat: We sweat in the heat, we sweat from fear, when we are excited, and we sweat when we toil. The body “doesn’t care” about the content of our feelings, but strong emotions such as fear get the blood flowing and sweat protects us from overheating.
Millions of sweat glands plaster our skin and produce around one liter of sweat every day. Most of the sweat glands per square centimeter are on the feet – which leads to the notorious “cheese feet” or sweaty feet – we have very few glands in the area of the lower leg.
Sweat not only cools our body, it also strengthens the skin’s acidic protection and repels harmful germs. For the most part it consists of water. But sex hormones and fatty acids convert the water into odorous substances.
- Sweat cools the skin because, when it evaporates, it loses heat along with the blood vessels.
- Sweat regulates the mineral balance because it excretes table salt, calcium and magnesium.
- Sweat strengthens the immune system because immunoglobulins neutralize harmful germs.
- Sweat creates a pH level of 5 on the skin, thereby blocking microbes.
- Sweat glands are coupled to the hair roots with scent glands, which secrete scent substances, especially in extreme emotions.
Excessive sweating
Excessive sweating at night can be a sign of illness, especially all types of fevers such as flu, flu, malaria or glandular fever. The sweating itself is not pathological in these cases, on the contrary: the body tries to regulate the excessive temperature in order to maintain the body’s functions.
Excessive sweating at night is often due to such acute infections, but also to chronic infections such as bronchitis, tuberculosis or AIDS.
Other causes of night sweats are:
- Hyperthyroidism
- climacteric
- Diabetes mellitus
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Allergies
- Cancer, especially leukemia
- multiple sclerosis
- epilepsy
- depressions
- Anxiety disorders
- Psychoses
- the so-called burnout syndrome
- stress
- exciting dreams
- Obesity
- Underweight
- alcohol
- other drugs, such as heroin
- pregnancy
- Hormonal disorders and hormonal changes
Nocturnal sweating is therefore a non-specific symptom, but almost always indicates a disturbed sleep, and this indicates an imbalance in the organism: Sleep is the most important time for the body, because we regenerate during sleep. In dreams we process the impressions of the day and our life questions, and the brain builds in new experiences. But the “hardware” of the body also needs sleep: the organs regenerate, so the immune system is strengthened; the muscles build up as do the bones. So sweating at night can be an alarm signal.
If we frequently sweat at night and also have difficulty breathing, we should see our family doctor. If necessary, he will refer us to a specialist doctor. Depending on the possible illness, this can be an internist, a psychologist, a sleep specialist, a neurologist, an allergist, an endoctrinologist or an oncologist.
The doctor examines since when, how much and on what occasions we sweat excessively. He asks about weight loss, mental moods, lack of appetite and heart rhythm. “Usual suspects” are previous illnesses such as infections, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, hereditary diseases or psychological problems.
The patient’s medical history and an examination of the body are followed by a blood sample to determine how the blood cells are composed, whether the liver and kidneys are functioning, what the levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline and sex hormones look like and, last but not least, how the thyroid gland is is working. The blood count often gives an insight into a basic disease.
Affected people often wake up bathed in sweat and find it difficult to get back to sleep. (Image: Innovated Captures / fotolia.com)
therapy
There is no specific therapy against excessive sweating, rather the therapies help against the respective diseases.
Excessive sweating and trouble sleeping
If sweating at night is “only” due to disturbed sleep, simple measures do not work miracles, but they do help.
This includes:
- breathable clothing
- air-permeable bed linen
- Fresh air
- Room temperature between 18 and 21 degrees
- Relaxation, for example through yoga exercises, positive thoughts of successes before sleep, conscious idleness before bed rest, put the to-do list aside and instead put a notebook next to the bed to write down spontaneous inspirations
- Recurring nightmares are a cause of waking up drenched in sweat, but soothing music and films help (if you suffer from insomnia, you shouldn’t necessarily watch horror DVDs before going to sleep)
- Avoid heavy, spicy and high-fat food in the two hours before going to sleep, as well as avoid alcohol, coffee and cigarettes in the evening.
Insert a twilight phase, i.e. dim the lights, light candles, etc. one hour before going to bed. - Stabilize the biorhythm, so if possible, fall asleep and get up at about the same time. Those who keep themselves artificially awake challenge their bodies and they react by sweating.
Mental work
Sweat is not a disease, but a means of the body to fight off disease. Dreams are the “guard dogs of the psyche”, and sweat is its healing potion. The body acts against mental overload as well as against physical.
If we break out in a sweat, especially at night, without an underlying disease being present, and without us sweating profusely during the day, this indicates that we are straining our unconscious by not taking psychological problems seriously.
When we talk about everyday life nicely and suppress what we suffer from, dreams show us the way. If we wake up drenched in sweat or feel exhausted despite sleep and our pajamas are wet, something is wrong: we ignore our problems, but the unconscious cannot be deceived; it works in your sleep.
The night sweats are annoying in this case, but our advisor. We should write down exactly what we dreamed, what decisions we are faced with, what situations trigger stress, and address them.
However, the excitement of our unconscious is not necessarily negative. Sexual dreams also stimulate the flow of sweat, as do exciting “stories” from our unconscious. Especially during puberty and in young adults, the hormones sometimes run at full speed and nocturnal arousal is then completely normal.
