Find yourself sweating in your sleep?
Try an Unexpected Technique a Sleep Doctor Swears By
What Is Sleep Hygiene, Exactly?
Our editors independently select these products.
(Its most common among adults in their 40s to mid-50s.)
We chatted with a few leading sleep experts to uncover the most common night sweat causes.
What are night sweats?
medical director at the Indiana Sleep Center and a medical review expert for SleepFoundation.org
Night sweats are exactly what they sound like: excessive sweating at night while youre asleep.
The primary symptom is sweating at night that isso severe that your sheets and/or pajamas get dampor even soaked.
In many cases, they often are an indicator to tailor your lifestyle and sleep hygiene choices.
And as we age, middle-of-the-night awakenings can be harder for returning to sleep, he says.
Repeated occurrences can make insomnia more common with daytime impact.
What causes night sweats?
Night sweats are due to an unregulated internal body temperatureaka getting too hot while asleep.
External factors that can cause night sweats
Your environment and/or lifestyle choices can trigger night sweats.
Be mindful of the below when looking to enjoy a dry nights sleep.
medical director at the Indiana Sleep Center and a medical review expert for SleepFoundation.org
If the room is too hot, its natural for your body to start sweating to cool down.
So when you are hot, no melatonin, and no sleep.
Enter: night sweats.
Bed-sharing
Dr. Vyas says that bed sharing can often make people overheat.
What Do Dreams About Snakes Mean?
13 Different Snake Dreams Decoded
Watching Stressful Dramas Like The Pitt Before Bed?
Heres What a Sleep Doctor Thinks
Does Your Sleeping Position Really Say Anything About Your Mental Health?
Alcohol can also trigger night sweats, Dr. Vyas says.
The mechanism is a little complicated.
But according to American Addiction Centers,alcohol acts as a vasodilator, meaning it widens your vessels.
Wider blood vessels let blood travel faster throughout your body, distributing heat and making you flushed.
Your liver also creates heat as it works to process the alcohol.
This might make you feel warm and trigger sweating.
There are various reasons why a medication could cause night sweats.
(In fact, an estimated20 percent of patients on antidepressantsdeal with excessive sweating.)
When these hormone levels decline, hot flashes and night sweats become much more common, Dr. Singh says.
Common colds and the flu are known to trigger fevers, chills, and cold sweats.
Your night sweats might coincide with other symptoms like fever, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes.
Hyperhidrosis
Dr. Breus says hyperhidrosis is another potential cause of night sweats.
In most instances, hyperhidrosis shows up on the hands, feet, face, and under the arms.
People with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also oftenexperience night sweats and other sleep disturbances.
In fact, researchers found that people with hyperhidrosishave anxiety and depression at higher ratescompared to the general population.
Thyroid problems
According to both Drs.
First, make a run at rule out any lifestyle factors that might be triggering night sweats.
Obvious low-hanging fruit includes making sure your room is cool enough for sleeping.
Consider ditching heavy bedding and sleepwear to get to stay cool, too.
Look for moisture-wicking material like bamboo, lyocell, and cotton in both yourbeddingand PJs.
(Or if youre feeling it, sleep nude!)
If youre open to a sober curious lifestyle, consider opting for amocktail before bedinstead.
Managing stress and anxiety might also help reduce your risk of night sweats.
Do not stop taking it without consulting your health-care provider.
What night sweat treatment entails depends on your unique health situation.
With thyroid issues, you might be referred to an endocrinologist for more testing and diagnosis.
Soon, you wont have to sweat itliterally.
…
Got it, you’ve been added to our email list.
