Everyone sweats profusely at night. Maybe it was just a really hot night, or maybe it was the heat during a particular pandemic.
But if none of these factors work and you wake up with your bedsheets drenched in sweat, especially if it’s been happening for several nights, you may be experiencing night sweats. Hyperhidrosis.
causes of night sweats
So what causes night sweats? It turned out to be a surprisingly difficult question to answer. menopause An obvious candidate, as the hormonal changes that women experience can cause the infamous hot flashes, but there are a surprising number of possible reasons.
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According to sleep disorder expert Professor Ron Grunstein, Woolcock Medical InstituteNight sweats can be caused by certain types of infections such as tuberculosis and HIV, cancers such as lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease, certain medications, sleep apneaand insulin resistance and diabetes.
“blood sugar [levels go] down, and [people] You can sweat in response to it,” Granstein, a professor of sleep medicine at the University of Sydney, tells Coach 9 Honey.
“True conditions like insulin-producing tumors and things like that that can lower blood sugar levels [but] As rare as chicken teeth. ”
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Neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke autonomic nervous systemSome people are genetically prone to night sweats, while others have night sweats for no apparent reason.
“My father had night sweats at some point in his life,” says Professor Granstein. “I sent him to a very good doctor and did all sorts of tests…and then one day it stopped. So sometimes there are no answers.”
Professor Granstein credits night sweats to “a little shopping list.”
“If I have sudden onset of night sweats and it’s not an obvious infection or related to other menopausal symptoms or anything like that, I wouldn’t hesitate to go to my GP and get a physical,” he says.
“First management is to try and fix it, but is there an obvious cause?”
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how to stay cool while sleeping
Perhaps the cause of your night sweats is as obvious as your bedroom being too hot in the summer.
“Move to an air-conditioned area” is hardly a practical (or sustainable) solution, so if you’re stuck in a freshly baked bedroom, add a fan or evaporative cooler. , open doors and windows to create crosswinds.
The internet suggests sleeping with a damp cloth or towel, but switching to lightweight cotton or bamboo fiber sheets is a smarter move.
Sleep foundation also recommends Keep your home cool during the day and prevent heat from building up at night. Close windows, blinds, and curtains during the day, turn off heat-producing incandescent light bulbs, and keep ovens and dryers off.
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