15 Tips and Strategies to Control Excessive Sweating in Your Daily Routine

Dealing with excessive sweating during your normal daily routine can be a nightmare especially when interacting with other people at your workplace, at business meetings, during presentations or in social situations.

These 15 tips will help you (a) to avoid the sweat triggers and (b) show you how to deal with them before and after they happen.

1. ANTIPERSPIRANT
If you haven’t done so already, start by using extra strength antiperspirants. The nice smelling ‘perfumed’ deodorants that can be bought at most stores are not meant for tackling severe sweaty armpits.

Deodorants are very weak and cannot be compared to clinical or prescription strength antiperspirants, which are much more effective as sweat blockers and contain up to 25% aluminum content (the active ingredient which plugs the sweat glands and prevents the sweat from escaping).

For most people, moderate to heavy underarm sweating can usually be treated with clinical strength antiperspirants.

2. WATER and ALCOHOL
Always stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water throughout the day. Cold water is essential to help your body effectively regulate your body temperature. If you find plain water somewhat boring then add a slice of lime or lemon as flavoring.

Avoid drinking too much alcohol and especially during lunch hours, alcohol dilates the vessels in the skin which increases the body temperature, and in response your body releases sweat to cool you down.

3. HOT DRINKS
Choose cold drinks over hot drinks, especially in warmer weather and in warm environments. Iced drinks are ideal for regulating your body temperature and keeping you cool. If you do enjoy a hot tea or coffee but find yourself overheating and beginning to sweat, after finishing your cup follow up by sipping a glass of cold water to cool you down again.

4. CAFFEINE
Avoid all drinks which contain caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant which increases your heart rate and raises your blood pressure. It will have you perspiring and feeling hot, sticky and sweaty in no time at all especially if it’s a hot cup of strong coffee.

If you do have to have your daily dose of coffee then drink the decaf variety, and preferably a brand of coffee that has been naturally decaffeinated which is the healthier option to decafs that have been processed with chemicals.

5. SAGE TEA
Sage is not just a flavoring for foods it is also used to treat a variety of illnesses and conditions including excessive sweating. In a German study it was demonstrated that drinking sage tea reduced sweating in almost 50% of people suffering from hyperhidrosis, and approximately 67% of menopausal woman had complete relief from night sweats.

Sweat gland activity can be reduced by drinking 1 – 2 cups of sage tea daily. You can purchase sage tea bags from health food stores or prepare it yourself by adding one teaspoon of dried sage leaves to a cup of boiling water and leaving it covered for 4- 5 minutes (not any longer).

Strain out the tea, add a slice of lemon and honey for taste if required and allow to cool. Sip the tea throughout the day

(nb. not to be taken by pregnant or nursing woman, or if undergoing treatment for a medical condition without seeing your doctor first)

6. FOOD
Anything you consume that is hot and spicy will make you sweat more, foods such as curries, hot pepper and chilli dishes will bring you to a sweat quite rapidly and more frequently.

Avoid eating any kind of hot soup, like hot drinks they will make you sweat more, and foods that contain large amounts of onions or garlic can trigger perspiration and also cause body odor problems.

7. MILK & CALCIUM
Replace full fat milk with low fat milk and eat plenty of calcium rich foods. Low fat and skimmed milk (ideally calcium fortified milk) helps to reduce the amount you sweat.

Foods rich in calcium such as plain low-fat yoghurt, cottage and cheddar cheese and baked beans are not only good for you as part of a healthy balanced diet, their high calcium content also helps in regulating the body temperature and reducing the amount you sweat.

8. OLIVE OIL
Olive oil is recognised as a primary health food and should always be part of your diet. It helps in easing the digestion of food, the harder your digestive system has to work the more prone you will be to increased sweating.

9. B VITAMINS
Are you eating enough foods rich in B Vitamins – fish, poultry, eggs, meat, nuts, dairy products and vegetables etc? Not only are they an essential part of our daily diet they also help in maintaining and regulating the nervous system, and in particular the sympathetic nervous system which triggers the sweat glands.

10. EXERCISING
Exercising before any important event, presentation you have to make or meeting you have to attend is a definite ‘NO’. Any intense activity will naturally raise your body temperature and will remain at a higher level for quite some time afterwards. Even after a long cool shower you will still be sweating after changing back into your office clothes.

11. SPARE SHIRT
Keep a spare shirt with you always (just in case). You never know what may happen and circumstances may be against you. What could be worse than arriving late all sweaty, smelly and waterlogged under the arms, then getting all stressed out knowing that you have a presentation to make.

Having a spare shirt amongst your kit will not only save you embarrassment and tackle the problem if and when it arises, but the knowledge that you have a change of clothing (in case of an emergency) will prevent you from unnecessarily over-stressing yourself psychologically.

If the worst should happen, all you need do is pop into the rest-room for a few minutes, change your shirt, splash on some nice smelling deodorant and you’re good to go.

12. LAYER UP
If you are overly concerned with sweaty armpits showing through your shirt or if you experience back sweats from time to time, then consider wearing an undershirt to mop up any excessive sweating before it reaches your outer shirt.

You may experience some dampness against your body but your outer shirt will remain dry throughout the day. And carry a spare undershirt just in-case you do need a quick change. Being prepared also helps to minimize and keep in check any psychological stress and anxiety related to your excessive sweating.

13. CLOTHING and COLORS
Avoid wearing synthetic fabrics and silks, cotton is ideal as it easily absorbs and releases perspiration and allows the skin to breathe. Also avoid tight fitting clothes which can trap the sweat against the skin resulting in increased body odor and perspiration stains.

Try using an armpit stain remover to remove all yellow armpit stains in clothing including antiperspirant deposits.

Choose loose fitting clothes in colors which don’t show up the sweat stains as much such as black or white solid colors, for any other colors avoid solids and go with a pattern design.

14. IMPORTANT MEETINGS
If you have to attend important meetings or events then make a point of arriving early. There could be nothing worse than rushing to get to an appointment simply because you didn’t allow yourself enough time.

You are practically guaranteeing your sweat glands will be at ‘full steam ahead’ due to raised activity levels (rushing to get to your appointment) and raised anxiety stress levels (worrying you might miss your appointment). And once you get caught up into this stress cycle your sweating just runs out of control.

The simple solution is to plan to get to your appointment not on time, but in plenty of time so that you can be prepared and relaxed. By controlling your activity and stress levels you’ll also be able to control your perspiration levels.

15. STRESS RELIEVERS
It’s well know that anxiety and stress in hyperhidrosis sufferers can quickly increase body perspiration and localized sweating that can run riot.

Any Increase in psychological stress levels will trigger the over-active sympathetic nervous system which stimulates the sweat glands, and you are now on a roller-coaster ride of ‘increased anxiety’ and ‘more sweating’, it’s a vicious cycle with each feeding of each other.

Knowing how to chill-out and relax could greatly help in preventing your anxiety levels from spiralling out of control. Yoga, for example, is not only a superb form of exercise for staying fit and healthy, it also helps in reducing your stress levels and keeping them in check.