Everyone sweats when it’s hot outside, but people who have hyperhidrosis experience excessive sweating to the point that moisture may literally drip from their hands. Hyperhidrosis causes them to sweat profusely even without cause.
Normally, your sweat glands produce perspiration that’s carried to the skin’s surface when the air temperature rises, you develop a fever, you’re exercising, or you’re feeling anxious, nervous, or under stress. When those factors are no longer an issue, the nerves that signal sweating are put on hold.
For the 1% to 2% of the population who have hyperhidrosis, however, the sweat glands don’t shut off. They sweat even when the circumstances don’t call for it: when they’re in air conditioning, or while they’re sitting and watching television. Some people even tell their doctors that they sweat in a swimming pool.
The causes of hyperhidrosis depend on the type of sweating occurring. Most times, excessive sweating is harmless. In some cases, doctors don’t know why people sweat too much. In other cases, the causes of hyperhidrosis may be a medical condition that you don’t want to miss.