Cold Night Sweats
by Joan
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The cold sweats clinically known as hyperhidrosis refers to a sudden sweating or clamminess of the skin characterized by simultaneous perspiration due to fear, pain, nervousness or shock. These sweats can appear anytime during the day but they are common in the late evening or night, when they are known as cold night sweats. It’s important to recognize the symptoms of cold sweats as in some cases they can represent larger problem. Reoccurring cold sweats while sleeping or cold night sweats should be diagnosed and treated by a physician.
Cold Night Sweats
For more details on potential causes, I suggest reading night sweats in men and night sweats in women.
The Biology Of Cold Sweats
The reason they’re considered cold sweats is that the human body’s hypothalamus — our internal thermostat — is using perspiration along with other biological mechanisms to cool the body. Because your body temperature is dropping while you’re sweating, you feel chills at the same time that you sweat. Unfortunately, several external and internal variables may confuse our hypothalamus and cause it to trigger these biological mechanisms even when unnecessary. If you feel cold sweats on a child suffering from night sweats in children, keep in mind that if you had felt his or her forehead just minutes ago, it probably would have felt quite warm.
Cold Sweats and Cold Night Sweats
Cold night sweats are typically cold sweats that occur during the night and often wake the person from their sleep. There are other practical reasons for sweating during the night such as hot weather or a overly warm bedroom, too many blankets, over-heating while sleeping, hot drinks or spicy foods before bed or exercising too soon before going to sleep.
Nightmares, emotional problems, sleep apnea, sleep-walking, fever and perimenopause are also common causes of night sweats. There are likely to be other causes so it’s best to talk to your physician about your symptoms to rule out any potential health care issues or diseases.
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Symptoms of Cold Sweats
Setting cold sweats and cold sweats while sleeping apart from regular perspiration can be difficult at times. One of the most obvious indicators of cold sweats is that they come on suddenly and at any temperature. When waking up with a cold night sweat symptom, first check the temperature in the room and the amount of insulation covering your body before assuming cold sweats at night represents sleep hyperhidrosis. During a cold sweat or cold night sweat, the skin will feel cold, moist, and clammy. The individual may feel nausea, dizziness and he or she may become pale.
Cold Night Sweats Causes
There are various causes of cold sweats including menopause night sweats, hormones, medical conditions (such as diabetes or infections like tuberculosis) and medications (especially antipyretics). Stress in itself can cause cold sweats and cold night sweats, as well as shock, intense pain from injuries or medical problems, severe shortness of breath, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), and anxiety and fear that lead to excessive stress. Cold sweats are commonly a chronic problem for individuals experiencing a hormonal imbalance such as low estrogen symptoms (that’s why it is a common symptom of adolescence, pregnancy or menopause) or chronic illness such as HIV or cancer.
But before you panic, please note that a huge percentage of healthy people may suffer from cold night sweats at some point and it is rarely a result of a serious condition.
Cold Sweats Treatment
While there is no specific clinical treatment for cold sweats and cold night sweats, if it is secondary hyperhidrosis a physician may be able to find an underlying cause and treat that underlying condition. Unless you are suffering from primary hyperhidrosis, or idiopathic hyperhidrosis, the cold sweats are not an illness in itself but a symptom of another condition.
Your physician may recommend changes in the environment such as a decrease in average room temperature. It’s also recommended to avoid alcohol and spicy foods, and to participate in relaxation techniques such as meditation. There are a few medications, such as anticholinergic drugs, available to individuals suffering from cold sweats but they can have various side effects such as vision problems, dry mouth and shaking.
As I discuss in my new article, night sweats sleepwear, wicking pajamas can help wick away that moisture from your skin, greatly reducing the discomfort from that cold, clammy perspiration.
For a more comprehensive discussion of treatments for cold sweats while sleeping, read night sweats treatment.
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