Sweating While Sleeping: Why and What You Can Do About It

by Dennis Madden

Young couple sleeping in embrace

Sweating while sleeping can directly affect your sleep, leave you feeling uncomfortable, and can make things a little awkward if you're sharing your bed. The last thing you want to get stressed over is embarrassing yourself or making your significant other uncomfortable when it's time to hit the hay.

What Causes You To Sweat At Night?

Before you can take measures to ensure a good night in the sack, you have to understand what's causing you to sweat. Do you sweat so much that you completely soak through your clothes and your sheets, or do you just get a little damp on your brow? If the former describes you and it started up recently, you may want to consider seeing a doctor as true night sweats could be a symptom of an underlying medical condition, says the Mayo Clinic.

If you have been sweating while sleeping for as long as you can remember, you may have some degree of hyperhidrosis, according to the National Institutes of Health. Hyperhidrosis means you have overactive sweat glands. In this case, you still may want to see your doctor because there are medications you can use to control your sweating.

If you have ruled out these two conditions, you could just be sleeping in too hot of an environment. Activities you did during the day, like eating spicy food or drinking alcohol too close to bedtime, may be contributing factors, too.

How To Have a Good Night's Rest

If you have a clean bill of health, there are still a few things you can do to help get a peaceful night's sleep and ensure that anyone you're with is as comfortable as you are. Start with the easy-to-control and obvious: are you sleeping under too many blankets? Do you wear too much under the covers? Is your partner the type to tangle up with you? Having two bodies under the sheets means double the heat production, so you can probably lighten up covers a little more than you would if you were sleeping alone.

Anything you can do to cool the room may help too. Open windows, turn on the AC and get the fan going. Consider taking a cold shower right before bed. Once you towel off, follow with a generous swipe of antiperspirant.

Maybe you tend to be a hot sleeper and that's okay. It's just who you are. If that's the case, anyone worth sharing your bed with will understand. An open and honest conversation will help relieve some of your personal stress, which may help you sweat less in the long run. Trying to completely hide your sweating might be difficult. Cool your environment, try wearing antiperspirant and try out some light breathable bedding to keep things cool and dry. Sweet dreams!

This article was brought to you by Colgate-Palmolive Company, the makers of Speed Stick products. The views and opinions expressed by the author do not reflect the position of the Colgate-Palmolive Company.