Excessive Sweating & Exercise

If you suffer from excessive sweating, or Hyperhidrosis, you probably try to avoid situations that will make you sweat even more, like exercise, which is notorious for making people sweat. But if you avoid exercise altogether, you could be missing out on benefits that could in fact help you stop sweating excessively.

One instance where exercise can help reduce excessive sweating is when your condition is related to toxins in your body. Sweating is one way the body tries to eliminate these toxins and this is a natural process. However, this is probably little comfort if your body sweats out the toxins as you try to go about your day to day life. So it can be better to give your body a little help in getting rid of its toxins during regular exercise sessions. This way, you take the pressure of your body to sweat them out during those times when excessive sweating would be less appropriate.

Another occasion when exercise can improve your excessive sweating problem is when the condition is linked to your weight. There is a connection between being overweight and sweating excessively. It follows then, that as you get closer to your ideal weight, you will automatically reduce issues associated with being overweight (one of which is excessive sweating). If you’re not sure if your symptoms are linked to you weight – and you are overweight – losing weight will be a healthy experiment which just might deliver the answer to your problem. Plus you will get to enjoy all the other benefits that come with losing excess weight, such as more confidence, energy, fitness etc.

Hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, occurs because of a malfunction somewhere in the body, believed to be the sympathetic nervous system. Part of the problem can be knowing what triggers this malfunction. Whatever the cause, though, if you strive for a healthy and well-functioning body, there’s a good chance that this will effect whatever is causing your excessive sweating. So, by ensuring you get regular exercise, by keeping your body fit and active, you are helping it to work more efficiently. And the better you look after our body, the better it will be at looking after you – and the less likely it is to let you down.

Another benefit of a fit and healthy body is an efficient metabolism. This can be doubly effective for sufferers of excessive sweating. Firstly, your body will burn more calories, even when resting, thus helping you to lose excess weight. Secondly, excessive sweating can be a symptom of food intolerances or nutrition issues. So, if you strengthen your digestive system, your body is better able to cope with these intolerances and thus less likely to ‘malfunction’.

Although sweating is a normal human function, excessive sweating occurs when the body is over-compensating for a certain problem. For this reason, it can be helpful to find ways of rebalancing your body’s systems. Yoga is an ancient discipline which combines breathing and movement with the aim of harmonising your body and correcting any imbalances. Like all exercise, yoga is also an effective stress-buster, and great if you’re not a fan of more strenuous exercise.

Regular yoga practice is great at promoting inner calm and emotional stability and, like most forms of exercise, it’s great for reducing stress. So, if your excessive sweating is related to stress or anxiety, yoga could help reduce those occasions when you feel stressed. This will be very beneficial for your health but also, when you deal with your stress in a positive way, you’re better placed to cope with stressful situations if and when they do happen in the future. This should reduce any tendencies to over-react and the subsequent symptoms that occur (i.e. excessive sweating).

There’s another reason why exercise could help you stop sweating – it makes you feel good. Exercise causes the brain to release endorphins into your body, which make you feel happy. This is why some people get addicted to exercise – they love the endorphin rush. But also, endorphins, and being happy, are good for your health. So you get an overall boost to your well-being that has positive effects long after you finish exercising.

Finally, it is socially acceptable to get hot and sweaty during a workout. Exercise makes everyone sweat. In any gym you will see people sweating profusely – without worrying what others will think. There is even a theory that fit people sweat more than unfit people. So during exercise is one time you can stop worrying about how much you sweat. Then you can relax and know that you are improving your health and feeling better, plus there’s a good chance you’ll be reducing your excessive sweating problem too.