stopsweatingarmpits's posterous http://stopsweatingarmpits.posterous.com Most recent posts at stopsweatingarmpits's posterous posterous.com Wed, 25 May 2011 01:16:00 -0700 Sweating Armpits - 3 Tips to Dealing with the Sweat and Eliminating Odor http://stopsweatingarmpits.posterous.com/sweating-armpits-3-tips-to-dealing-with-the-s http://stopsweatingarmpits.posterous.com/sweating-armpits-3-tips-to-dealing-with-the-s

 

Excessive sweating armpits are a form of Hyperhidrosis (the scientific term for uncontrollable and extreme sweating).  It is a condition that affects millions and millions of people the world over.  Whilst most forms of hyperhidrosis (e.g. Sweating to the back, face, and hands) cause sufferers significant social anxiety, those suffering from underarm hyperhidrosis also have the added downfall of having the bad odor that comeswith it.  In my own situation I felt extremely uncomfortable just to be around other people, let alone to have to converse with them.  Needless to say this really affected my self-esteem and self-image through my formative teenage years. If this is a condition that affects you I'm sure you are only too aware of what I’m talking about. 

Further to that if you’re anything like me, you may have also held the thought that there isn't anything you can do about this problem.  It’s just part of who you are and you need to accept it.  But guess what, it CAN be dealt with, and in this article we’ll explore some of the ways how.

But before we get to that I’d like to take alook at why sweating armpitsare different to other forms of hyperhidrosis and why they lead to bad BO. With a better understanding, we can actually deal with the root of the problem at its core, rather than dealing with the symptom in the way of anti-perspirants and the like.  Our body will produce sweat for many different reasons, but one of the primarily reasons is because it helps to control our temperature.  That's why when you enter a hot room you are more prone to sweating rather than being in a cool place. Another key factor is that the process of sweating allows us to release unwanted waste material out of the body. Sweat is produced by two glands in the body, the apocrine and the eccrine glands. The eccrine glands are located almost all over the body and are responsible for the sweat that we see on the exposed parts of our body such as our face and arms. The apocrine glandsare the ones situated in select places such as our armpits and between our legs.

Now what causes body odor are the secretions made by the apocrine glands who release pheromones.  We often link the releasing of pheromones to being an aphrodisiac that will attract members of the opposite sex.  Unfortunately for us these particular pheromones also attract bacteria, which results in the production of a waste material.  It’s this waste material that creates the foul smell which is more commonly recognized as body odor.

I find that by having even a basic understanding of why our body sweats, people are much better positioned to determine the best ways to stop the sweat and the accompanying body odor.

Here now are 3 absolute beginner tips you can implement today that will help you just like they helped me.

 

 1.       Allow your body to breathe

This is done by allowing your body to have as much air circulating through it as is possible. This can be done by wearing clothes that are made of light fabric that allows air to flow in making you feel cooler.  I’d highly recommend doing your best to avoid wearing clothes that are made of a thicker material or materials that can trap heat in your body. You can actually tell if your body can "breathe"so to speak, if what you're wearing makes youfeel loose and relaxed and not choked and stuffy.  You don’t have to sacrifice style either.  This is not about wearing a robe, but just by being mindful of the material your clothes are made from, the particular color of the material, and where they hug on your body, you can make a huge differences to how ‘hot’ your body gets.

 

2.       What you eat is what you'll smell like.

Have you ever noticed your body odor is affected by the types of food you are eating?  Unfortunately the food and drinks that we ingest play a huge role in the sweat and resulting BO we produce. Foods such as Onion and Garlic are renowned for adding to the pungent smell.  Further to this certain foods such as spicy foods or curries can actually contribute to your hyperhidrosis.  Any clues as to why?  Yep, you guessed it; they tend to heat the body up raising its core temperature.  Alcohol is another vice that has been heavily linked to excessive sweating.  Limiting these things will often help, but to go a step further if we can add more water and fruits to our diet then not only will the amount we sweat be significantly reduced, but the smell of our odor will be severely lessened.

 

3.       Check your fat and weight.

One of the key factors that causeexcessive sweating is if you are overweight and have excess fat on your body.  If we look at fat cells on a scientific level we realize that fat is essentially unused energy stored by the body.  In order for our body to access the energy stored in our fat cells it utilizes a catalyst to start a chemical reaction.  This reaction allows the body to utilize the energy stored in the cell, but in the process the fat is also converted into heat, water, and carbon dioxide.  The water is generally released in the form of sweat.  This is further impacted when we consider rise in core body temperature that also exists as a result of the chemical reaction.  In my own case I wasn’t significantly overweight.  Probably 5-10 kg’s at most.  It was really important for me to beat this sweating demon once and for all so when I put some energy into dropping my weight I was amazed at how big a difference it made when I just lost 2 kg’s.  I still wasn’t my ideal weight but the change in my armpit sweat was actually noticeable.  As an added bonus, the weight loss also assisted me with my self-image and generally being comfortable within my own skin, something I hadn’t been for a long time.

 

Hopefully these basic tips have provided you with a good starting point.  I have made it my personal plight to better educate Hyperhidrosis sufferers on effective and inexpensive methods that they can stop sweat, in particular stop sweating armpits.  If you’d like to get more of my tips and information take a quick look at my blog at www.stopsweatingarmpits.org.


 

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