Why You’re Sweating When It’s Not Hot, and What to Do About It

The body produces sweat to cool us down. When everything is working properly, sweat is your natural way to manage your internal temperature. This is why you feel sweaty when you have a fever — your body is basically trying to cool you down.

But sometimes external (and internal) factors will contribute to you sweating when it doesn’t make any sense at all — like when you’re sitting at work in an air-conditioned office.

If you feel like you’re sweating more than you should be (and at times when it doesn’t make sense), then keep reading to see potential reasons and solutions for your sweating problem.

The Two Main Reasons Why You’re Sweating When You’re Not Hot

If you’re sweating when you feel like you shouldn’t be — or sweating more than normal, you may be suffering from hyperhidrosis.

Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for excessive sweating. It means you’re sweating profusely and uncontrollably, even if it’s not hot outside, and/or you’re not engaging in any strenuous physical activity. It just happens.

There are two different types of hyperhidrosis: primary “focal” and secondary.

1. Primary Focal Hyperhidrosis

Primary focal hyperhidrosis — sometimes called essential hyperhidrosis — simply means there is no apparent reason for your excessive sweating. It’s just a fact of life, without any other underlying condition. Sweating is the condition.

Generally, you can experience this type of hyperhidrosis in the underarms, hands, feet, or lower back (usually you’ll only have focal hyperhidrosis in one key area). Further, people suffering from primary focal hyperhidrosis normally don’t sweat at night when they’re sleeping (also known as night sweats).

2. Secondary Hyperhidrosis

Secondary hyperhidrosis is called “secondary” because it’s directly caused by another factor — which is typically a health condition, or as a side effect of medication you’re taking.

For example, your secondary hyperhidrosis can be related to diabetes, obesity, low blood pressure, cancer, heart disease, and more. Women can also experience secondary hyperhidrosis during menopause.

With secondary hyperhidrosis, you will usually excessively sweat all over your body and you are more likely to experience too much sweating as you try to get a good night’s sleep.

But if you’re diagnosed with hyperhidrosis, there’s good news too. Whether you have primary or secondary hyperhidrosis, there is an affordable and effective treatment: Duradry’s 3-step system.

Duradry is a topical solution that has helped 97% of our customers achieve full dryness within a week. We tell you how in more detail below.

Other Possible Reasons You’re Over-Sweating

There are several other reasons why you may be excessively sweating — or sweating at odd times. Some of them could be as simple as a change in diet and others can, yes, be indicative of an underlying medical condition that needs to be treated ASAP.

If you’re experiencing inexplicable or excessive sweating for the first time in your life, we recommend you reach out to a healthcare professional to rule out any serious underlying causes, like hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid) or an undiagnosed lymphoma.

But to help ease your worries, here are some questions you can ask yourself when trying to discern reasons why you may be sweating more than usual.

Have you changed your diet? Generally, you’d have to experience a significant change in diet to see a consistent change in how often you sweat. But if you’ve developed a food allergy or have increased the amount of spicy food you eat, it’s not impossible for those types of changes to lead to increased sweating.

Have you changed your clothes? Sometimes new clothes can be thicker or made with cheaper fabric blends that reduce airflow and heat up your body (e.g. polyester blend vs. 100% cotton). Similarly, if you notice that you sweat more when you’re in bed, check to see if you’ve bought any new sheets or comforters recently that may be raising your body temperature or causing discomfort.

Have you been more anxious than usual? There is a complicated and cyclical link between anxiety and hyperhidrosis — we can associate sweating with anxiety so that when we sweat for no reason, we also increase our anxiety.

In a 2016 study, researchers concluded that those in the study suffering from hyperhidrosis were more likely to be depressed or anxious. A lot of this could likely be pinned on a misunderstanding of their condition, and of the available hyperhidrosis treatments available.

Are you going through any hormonal changes? While menopause is a commonly known life event for women, both men and women can experience hormonal changes that can lead to inexplicable sweating. As men age, their testosterone levels drop, which can lead to hot flashes and night sweats.

Have you felt under the weather? Sweating can be a sign that your body is fighting an infection. Do you have a temperature or have you felt fatigued?

But as we said above, there’s a viable treatment for your excessive sweating problem, no matter what the cause. That’s Duradry.

Is There a Solution to Excessive Sweating When It’s Not Hot?

It can be uncomfortable and inconvenient to keep hiding your sweat stains. We’ve spoken to thousands of hyperhidrosis sufferers who struggle to manage this on a daily basis.

Responding to our recent survey, one of these sufferers says, “I’d sometimes choose to keep my jacket on if I’d sweated through my shirt, so I would overheat,” and another says, “I can’t feel comfortable because I always have a jacket on hiding my hyperhidrosis.” And we also heard from one person who says, “I have to change shirts at least once or twice a day.”

Clearly, this isn’t a sustainable way to manage hyperhidrosis. And nor is it a solution.

Sweating Even When It’s Not Hot? Introducing the Solution: Duradry

I developed Duradry because I personally suffer from primary focal hyperhidrosis. I realized something wasn’t right early on in my life when I was sweating more than anyone else I knew — and it didn’t matter what the weather was like or what I was doing.

Quickly, I became fed up with the lack of affordable, pain-free, and easy-to-use solutions to help me stay dry. I had tried nearly every over-the-counter brand, prescription-only brand — and even the most invasive treatment options like getting botox injections in my underarms.

I wanted to solve my sweating problem, and also solve it for others, too. After researching the science behind excessive sweating — and why most topical solutions don’t work — I’m proud to have built a 3-step system catered specifically to treating hyperhidrosis. 97% of our customers achieve full dryness within one week after using our 3-step system.

Below we look at each step in more detail.

Step One: Apply Duradry PM Before Going to Bed 2-3 Times per Week

Duradry PM is a powerful OTC antiperspirant, which comes as an unscented gel.

We made Duradry PM a gel so it’s super easy to apply over your skin (compared to liquids or sprays that don’t sufficiently cover your affected areas) — and we made it naturally unscented so there’s no overpowering aroma to keep you awake.

By applying Duradry PM in the area where you sweat before you go to sleep, its active ingredients can seep deeply into your pores and block your sweat ducts.

Duradry PM is so effective because of its unique combination of ingredients.

Firstly, we use a 15% concentration of Aluminum Chloride.

Aluminum Chloride is one of the most effective Aluminum-based compounds for treating excessive sweating because it can go deeper into your pores than other Aluminum-based compounds. Once inside your sweat ducts, Aluminum Chloride will react to any perspiring, forming a precipitate salt that plugs your sweat ducts and prevents wetness.

Traditional prescription-only antiperspirants often use a 20% concentration of Aluminum Chloride (which is why they require a prescription in the first place). But research shows that 15% is just as effective as 20%, with two added benefits:

A 15% concentration doesn’t require any prescription, which is why you can buy Duradry directly from our online store and get it discreetly mailed to you.
By using a 15% concentration, we reduce the risk of any unpleasant side effects, such as rashes or skin irritation.

The other main ingredient in Duradry PM is Salicylic Acid, which is unique to us. We use this to reduce inflammation and redness in your skin, and it works perfectly with Aluminum-based compounds to boost their effectiveness in treating excessive sweating.

Step Two: Use Duradry Wash to Thoroughly Clean Your Pores

You may not realize it, but residue bacteria and oils can be stored in your skin, especially in sweat-prone areas like your armpits. So when you apply your antiperspirant, its active ingredients are blocked from doing their job by everything that’s in the way.

So, to help make sure our antiperspirant is getting to the source — your sweat glands — our simple 3-step system includes Duradry Wash.

Duradry Wash helps remove any residual bacteria and oils from your skin. Plus, it’s packed full of vitamins and moisturizers that help keep your skin healthy.

Note: You’ll notice both Duradry PM and Duradry Wash use ingredients to help keep your skin healthy. Sometimes, strong antiperspirants like Drysol will rely on high concentrations of Aluminum Chloride. While this is likely to keep you dry, it also means there’s a significantly increased risk of skin irritation, because you’re drying out your skin without moisturizing it.

Step Three: Use Duradry AM at the Start of Your Day

Duradry AM is our daily use, extra strength, antiperspirant-deodorant that comes in a gender-neutral, pleasant scent.

Its main ingredient is Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex (20%), which is another Aluminum-based compound that plugs your sweat ducts and blocks your sweat.

In fact, Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex is often found in other antiperspirant solutions, but with Duradry’s 3-step system there are two major game-changers that make Duradry AM more effective than the competition:

As with all of our treatments, we source materials only from the finest and purest suppliers. Why is this important? When ingredients get sourced cheaply, then particles can actually separate from the solution. This decreases the effectiveness of an otherwise effective active ingredient because it’s not working correctly to plug your sweat ducts. We care more about your experience than our profit margins.

Duradry AM is the third and final step of a proven system. Instead of only relying on Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex to solve your sweating problem, we boost its effectiveness by also using Aluminum Chloride (in Duradry PM) and making sure your skin is primed for application (Duradry Wash).

It can be confusing and troubling when you’re sweating for no apparent reason. We recently did a survey of nearly 1,300 people who are suffering from hyperhidrosis. From the results, we learned that more than half of all participants think about their sweating problem constantly throughout the day. That’s a big burden to carry.

But once you understand the condition of excessive sweating, you can treat it with a proven solution like Duradry to experience full dryness.

Try Duradry’s 3-step solution that actually works to stop excessive sweating. Use Duradry PM at bedtime, Duradry AM in the morning, and Duradry Wash to deep clean and prepare your skin for total protection against hyperhidrosis. Get started for just $20.