Do you suffer from dreaded sweaty palms? Are you afraid to extend your arm and shake another persons hand? Are you sick of wiping your hands every few hours or even minutes to dry your palms? Are you embarrassed giving high fives or holding hands with your partner?
If you have ever asked any of the above questions but scratched your head and came up with no good answers to solve any of these problems, then hopefully this article can help you find your way out of sweaty palm hell!
First, lets find out what causes sweaty palms in the first place. Palmar hyperhidrosis is the proper name for sweaty palms. This condition is estimated to affect roughly 1% of the entire population in the United States.
The causes of sweaty palms has been a much talked about topic amongst sufferers and experts are still unclear as to the exact cause of palmer hyperhidrosis. Some common causes of this problem are: sympathetic nervous system overactivity, genetical dispositions and anxiety or other psychological factors.
Sweating does serve many important purposes for the body. The main one being the act of cooling the body down to regulate its temperature so that all your systems stay in optimum condition. If your sweaty palms are caused by overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system, anxiety or psychological factors then excessive sweat occurs because your fight or flight response has been triggered. When this happens your body will be flooded with adrenaline and cortisol which will constrict blood vessels, change your state of mind, speed up your heart rate and cause you to sweat excessively.
The main problem with sweaty hands are that it often occurs at inappropriate times. But some people find that they suffer all day long, from morning to night. So what can be done to treat sweaty palms? Below you will find a simple, yet powerful tip that focuses on the psychological reasons and also overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system.
Most people who suffer from these problems tend to be highly stressed individuals. Even if they do not think that they are, they are usually just so use to being that way, they think it is normal. Stress can trigger the fight or flight response in the body and also trigger excess sweat production in the palms.
The more stressed people are, the more their hands sweat and then the more their hands sweat, the more they get stressed and cause the body to produce even more sweat. So you need to break this vicious and sweaty cycle.
One best way to de-stress and reduce sweaty palms are to learn to breath deeply when you’re in stressful situations or your palms are sweating. Andrew Weil, an acclaimed M.D. recommends a breathing pattern that is highly effective in his studies to relax people: breath in to the count of four, hold for the count of seven and exhale to the count of eight. Repeat this cycle another five times. This is a simple method but it is powerful!
Practice this breathing technique in a quiet location at first and then start to use it in everyday situations. If you find that your hands are particularly sweaty all the time then practice using this technique as much as possible all through the day. Eventually it will become a habit and you will find that this calms the sympathetic nervous system, reduces anxiety and greatly reduces sweaty palms.But you must get into the habit of practicing this and stick with it for a couple of weeks to see if this works for you.