Why do some sweat more than others?

Humans are preconditioned to sweat. When it gets hot we sweat to cool ourselves down. Simple. Well, not quite — there are many reasons why you might sweat more or less than your friend, but there are things you can do to dry yourself out a little.

Firstly, gender plays a role. Women have more sweat glands, but sweat less than men. Secondly, this is probably not surprising, but fitness also determines how much you sweat. And it’s not the unfit people who are sweating more — multiple studies have shown that fitter people, on average, sweat more. However, an unfit person doing the same workload as a fit person might reach their maximum oxygen uptake earlier, and so begin to sweat sooner, but a fit person will sweat more efficiently overall.

Coffee and alcohol

Another factor that can affect our sweat levels is how we consume our favourite drinks: coffee and alcohol. Coffee actually causes to you sweat less due to its diuretic effect, but sweating less and being dehydrated isn’t ideal, so make sure to drink plenty of water if you’re going to be sweating it out at the gym or spending time outdoors.

Alcohol can also make you sweat more after you’ve had a few cocktails. That red face some of us get when drinking is caused by alcohol increasing your heart rate and dilating the blood vessels in your skin. This leads to an increase in body temperature and sweat.

From a medical point of view

Even if none of these apply, some people are just sweaty. If the sweat is excessive though, it could be a sign of an underlying illness. The collective term for excessive sweating is hyperhidrosis, and there are two types — primary focal hyperhidrosis and secondary generalised hyperhidrosis.

Secondary generalised hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating caused by a medical condition or a side effect from certain medications and is characterised by sweat on a generalised level, in large areas or all over the body.

Primary focal hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating not caused by external factors. Common sweaty areas for people affected by primary focal hyperhidrosis are the hands, feet, underarms and head, and patients will often have more than one excessively sweaty area — people with sweaty hands almost always having sweaty feet.