Sweating is a vital part of a healthy functioning body. Sweating regulate our body’s temperature, purges it of toxins and impurities, provides an indication of our hydration levels (since your inability to sweat is a first indication of dehydration and sends your brain a subliminal message to stop and take a sip of water), and helps lock moisture in the body. In fact, on its own, sweat does not even have an odor — the stink that we associate with sweat is actually the activation of bacteria on the surface of our skin, or a reminder of a strong odor that we ingested (we’ll cover how to avoid this later in our discussion).


Although your body’s ability to sweat keeps you alive and healthy, you probably wouldn’t choose to live with an excessive sweating problem — or “hyperhidrosis,” as scientists like to call it for short. If you live with pools of sweat shooting out of your body, particularly from your hands, feet, and underarms, you might find it both a huge source of embarrassment and incredibly uncomfortable.

We know the pain of living with excessive sweating, and this is why we all thank God almighty for the development of hyperhidrosis products. Hyperhidrosis products work in a variety of ways. Some hyperhidrosis products work as clinical strength antiperspirants, a topical solution that suppresses your sweat gland activity. Other hyperhidrosis products involve medication, or even Botox injections to prevent excessive sweating. Before visiting your doctor to address your hyperhidrosis issue, we recommend trying the following noninvasive options:

• Invest in good-quality sweat shields. Of all of the ways to control excessive sweating that we’ll mention here, sweat shields are the least invasive. As the name indicates, a sweat shield is simply a thin pad worn under your garments to absorb your sweat, so they do not soak through and become visible.
• Watch what you eat. One of the most embarrassing aspects of hyperhidrosis is the odor that is accompanied with it. When you eat smelly foods like garlic, onion, and curry, their pungent odor is excreted through your sweat. By eating less odorous foods, you’re less likely to smell when you sweat.
• Go natural. No, we’re not saying you should go without deodorant or antiperspirant! The point of this point is that many of the vices most enjoyed by humans are also hyperhidrosis-stimulators. When you smoke tobacco, when you drink excessive coffee or alcohol, or if you’re carrying a little extra weight, you have a higher sweat output than when you don’t do these things. Opting for a more natural lifestyle is a good way to stop excessive body sweating.

When Simple Solutions Just Won’t Cut It

If your sweat issue goes beyond a little extra sweat when you’re working out, you may suffer from hyperhidrosis. hyperhidrosis is nothing to be ashamed of; according to the Dermatology Journal, about 8 million people in the United States suffer from this condition. If your sweat glands pour like the Niagara Falls for no obvious reason, it’s a good idea to talk to a doctor about your hyperhidrosis. A few clinical solutions that they can offer include:

• Products with aluminum chloride. Pharmaceutical strength antiperspirants work through their high amounts of aluminum chloride. This mineral clogs the sweat glands which prevents them from leaking.
• Botox. As mentioned above, Botox is a common treatment for hyperhidrosis. You already probably know that Botox is typically used as a cosmetic procedure to minimize wrinkles. When used for hyperhidrosis, Botox freezes the muscles that activate the sweat glands, so they cannot produce sweat. This procedure takes about 10 minutes, and involves about 10 to 20 Botox shots into your biggest sweat producers (anesthesia can be used if you need it). Botox does not suppress the glands altogether, so that your body can still function as it should.




• Surgery. Hyperhidrosis surgery is performed by excision, curettage, liposuction or laser. Each of these techniques serves the same purpose, to remove or disable the sweat glands that cause hyperhidrosis. Although these treatments are more invasive than the previously mentioned options, they are still mild. They are outpatient procedures that only require local anesthesia.

Do you know of treatments for hyperhidrosis that we didn’t mention? Please share them in the comment section below.