7 Best Natural Remedies for Hyperhidrosis

Today’s society is all the time more focused on natural approaches to issues with our bodies.  And sweating is no exception.  People have been looking for holistic and natural remedies for hyperhidrosis and lots has been written about it. But is it effective and are there natural remedies?  Continue to read and you will find out.

Hyperhidrosis is a condition that affects close to 5% of the population in which people sweat for no obvious reason. If there is no medical condition diagnosed, but you still sweat excessively in your armpits, feet, palms, and groin, you could be suffering from primary hyperhidrosis.

You’re not alone in dealing with sweat-related problems. I have been managing and dealing with hyperhidrosis for over 2 decades now so I do know how hard it is. Read my story here.

Only people that suffer from primary hyperhidrosis know exactly what it is to have wet clothes, especially in the underarms almost all the time. Others that have never experienced it, have no idea how it feels and they consider it a small thing.

However, the people that suffer from excessive sweating are constantly embarrassed by sweat dripping from their nose, sweaty hands, huge armpit stains, and others.

If you think that you sweat because of a medical reason, you could be suffering from secondary hyperhidrosis.

Dealing with hyperhidrosis severely affects the confidence of those people suffering from it. You wish to not have to socialize because you are ashamed of your sweat problem. Nor do you exactly know what to dress: Skin tight clothes immediately have stains, baggy clothes are uncomfortable, dark clothes are too hot, and the list goes on.

And what do you wear? Dark clothes because that is the only way to hide the problem a little better.  Therefore, you choose baggy dark clothes.

It is very difficult to find a solution to the problem.  I have tried for many years.  The only solution that I knew of were natural remedies.  However, they were not as effective as I had thought they would be.

Nevertheless, they do have an effect and they do reduce heavy sweating a little.

In this article, I am going to share with you 7 natural remedies that you can use to reduce your excessive sweating problem.

7 Remedies for Hyperhidrosis

Over the history of mankind, people have searched for solutions to excessive sweating and they have tried many things to solve that problem.

There are many remedies that are well-known to help reduce hyperhidrosis, but non of the natural remedies stop sweating completely.

Here are the 7 best natural remedies that can reduce your sweating.

1) Food

In my list of natural solutions for hyperhidrosis, the first one is definitely food.  Primary hyperhidrosis can be reduced by eating whole, raw, fresh, unprocessed foods. The saying “You are what you eat” is so true when it comes to sweating.

Your diet has an effect on your health, your skin, your body complexion, your mood and many more, even how much you sweat.

Nowadays, with the multitude of highly processed foods and fats in our diet, it is no wonder why we sweat more. Fast foods, fats, junk food, chocolate, flour, sugar, and all the unhealthy things are extremely low in fiber and they have too few useful enzymes to help you digest the food. Your body has to work twice as much as normal to get digest the foods, which in turn triggers sweating.

Sweating is caused when our body needs to cool down, and with your gut working twice as much on processed, fatty foods as on whole, raw, fresh foods, makes that you need a cool down.

In my case, eating whole, fresh and raw produce has not helped much in reducing my sweating problem. What I have noticed is that I sweat a little less when I do not overeat. When I count my calories and fresh, raw, and healthy foods, I can see a little decrease in sweating.

However, as stated before, this is not a complete solution to the sweating problem; it only helps to reduce it a little.

Individuals that are overweight or obese, as much as people that do not do exercise regularly will notice a difference when changing their eating habits.

One thing I have experienced over the years (I have switched my eating habits completely over the past 3 years) is that my sweat smells very different when eating fresh food.  And I have also found that sweating is less when I eat very healthy.

What foods specifically trigger sweating?

a) Spicy foods. I live in Mexico and we eat lots of jalapeños and other spicy foods. Your sweat glands react to spicy foods just like you do when eating a jalapeño. You feel the need to drink or to cool off.

You sometimes even start to sweat when eating spicy foods, because your body perceives a temperature increase. The brain signals that your body needs to cool down as if you had worked hard. If you want to reduce sweating, you could try by avoiding spicy foods.

b) Caffeinated drinks. It is nothing new that caffeine is a stimulant. Why else would you drink coffee beside of the good taste? In most cases, people drink coffee to avoid getting tired or sleepy. Caffeine triggers your heart rate, your brain activity, and your digestive system to boost them and help them stay “awake”.

At the same time, caffeine triggers your sweat glands, since it is a stimulant for the nervous system. Some people sweat more due to drinking too many caffeinated drinks.

I recommend drinking water instead of coffee if you suffer from hyperhidrosis.

c) Alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. Caffeinated drinks, alcohol, and cigarettes do the same to your body: They increase the heart rate. Your blood vessels are dilated which causes your brain to signal a needed cool down, which in turn triggers the sweat glands to start doing their job.

d) Ice cream. In my research, I found that ice cream actually makes you sweat more than it helps you cool down on a hot summer day.

When it comes down on what foods to avoid to decrease sweating, it mostly has to do with processed, fatty foods that lack enzymes and fiber to help digest. And since digestion takes much more effort, your body temperature tends to rise, which triggers the sweat glands.

There is a long list of foods that you should avoid if you want to sweat less. The most important thing is to eat lots of vegetables and fruits, because they help all give your body enzymes, contain fiber and aid digestion without increasing body temperature because of hard work.

2) Exercise

If you suffer from hyperhidrosis, one thing you can do to reduce sweat levels is to exercise. It is debated whether exercise is effective or not to reduce hyperhidrosis.

Personally, I have tried to exercise and see what effects it would have. I can say that it only has an effect for a maximum of 2 hours after finishing your fitness routine; sometimes even not that long. Whenever the nervous sweat glands are active, you start sweating again, whether you have exercised or not.

However, if you have moderate hyperhidrosis, you should consider doing exercise and see what effects you have.

3) Homemade Deodorants

I remember very well a few years ago that I was fed up with excessive sweating and I decided to learn techniques to stop it for good. I came across different natural solutions for hyperhidrosis, including recipes of natural homemade deodorants that were supposed to do the trick.

It is very easy, mix a little of baking soda with lemon juice well and apply on your armpits before bedtime. Let it stay on for at least 30 minutes and wash off.

This natural remedy is time-consuming and not for everybody. However, you get a result. You cannot stop hyperhidrosis with natural remedies completely. I tried this for some time and I got a result except if nervousness triggered by sweating. Whenever I was working in my office or did not have a meeting or something where I would be exposed too much, I did sweat a little less than I would sweat normally. However, I was not happy with this recipe because of time consumption and compared to the little effect it had, it was not worth investing that much time.

There are other recipes that claim to work. Instead of mixing baking soda with lemon juice, you can powder baking soda into your armpits and leave it one for the day. Baking soda is known to soak up wetness; therefore, it can soak up the sweat. Nevertheless, be careful because it can cause skin irritation. This seemed to work with me, but after 2 days my armpits were so irritated, that I had to apply a balm to be able to hold my arms down. I know that my skin is more sensitive in that area than other people’s skin, so giving it a try is worth it.

Cornstarch mixed with baking soda is another great way to help reduce hyperhidrosis.

4) Exfoliation

When your pores are clogged because of deodorants, soaps, and other products that you put on daily into your armpits, exfoliation can help reduce sweating if unclogged. Essentially, it means that by unclogging all pores in your armpits, your sweat can come out of all the pores and not so much in just one place.

I’ve tried exfoliation multiple times and I would say that the result was not as significant as I thought it would be. Yes, my armpits felt somewhat cleaner and “unclogged”.

I mentioned it before, natural solutions for hyperhidrosis are effective up to some degree only. In my case, whenever I went to church, meeting, presentation, or where I would be socially active, the nervous sweat glands were activated and I started sweating excessively.

However, I would regularly sweat very much during the day and with these natural remedies, I would not sweat so much during the days in my daily activities that do not involve social life. It might sound bizarre, but my sweating was and still is that bad that I could not help myself wishing over and over again that this would somehow magically stop.

5) Teas

There are teas, like sage, chamomile, and black tea that research claims to be among effective natural solutions for hyperhidrosis. However, I never paid attention to any of this to see how effective they really are.  I drink lots of different teas and I have not found much success in it.

Nevertheless, the science behind these claims is that you relax with these teas and when you are not stressed or nervous, your sweat glands should shut off. I can see how it will help to some degree. Say, you have a romantic dinner with your wife and you drink a tea before you go out, it will certainly relax you and it could have a positive effect on your sweating.

However, when going out for a date with your fiancee, or leading the church choir, a tea will not do the trick. You need something else to really stop sweating excessively. It all depends on how much you sweat.  Mild to moderate hyperhidrosis could be positively affected.

For people that only sweat heavier sometimes, this could be a great trick.Not only can you drink teas to reduce excessive sweating, but you can also apply the soaked tea bag directly to your armpits and let air dry. You just have to be careful what teas you apply to avoid skin irritation.

6) Drink Water

Drinking water is not only healthy to replenish the much-needed liquids that you lose through urination, breathing, sweating and evaporation, it is also effective in flushing away toxins in your body. Hormonal imbalances can be caused by toxins in your body, of which you can get rid off by drinking water regularly.

In my case, drinking water does not reduce sweating significantly. However, I cannot say that for sure, because I drink plenty of water regularly for years already, not to reduce sweating but for health. On days when I forget to drink as much water as I normally would, my sweating goes up a little, but it never reduces to the point where it is gone for a few hours.

The benefit of drinking water regularly is to better the smell of your sweat. People suffering from hyperhidrosis typically hide their secret behind sweaters and jackets. However, jackets and sweaters stink terribly after only a few uses because heavy sweating smells bad.

I have been able to reduce the bad smell of sweating ever since I started to drink water regularly, which has been for many years already. Drinking water is well worth for your health but also to stop smelling so bad in your armpits.

7) Tomato Juice

Tomatoes are high in antioxidants and astringent properties which reduces or shrinks the pores on your skin. I have never tried this natural remedy for excessive sweating, but it could be as effective as the other mentioned remedies.

You apply tomato juice directly to your (preferably shaved or trimmed) armpits for 20 minutes before bedtime. Wash off after application and repeat for 2 weeks daily. You should see a positive effect on your sweating by then.

Also, add tomatoes to your diet to get the health benefits as well as reduction of sweating levels.

Tips To Reduce Hyperhidrosis

Not only can you use natural solutions for hyperhidrosis to reduce excessive sweating, but you can also make some changes to your lifestyle to reduce stress levels and therefore reducing sweating.

1. Avoid stressful situations. Use meditation to calm down and reduce stress and anxiety levels.
2. Try to be in time for meetings, presentations, and other social engagement activities and prepare mentally for them. You can reduce your stress by planning ahead and avoiding running in last minute.
3. Avoid synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon. Cotton and natural fabrics are much better because they are breathable.
4. Shower daily and wash with anti-bacterial soap to eliminate bacteria.
5. Know the root of your hyperhidrosis. Consult a doctor if necessary.
6. Avoid drinking too many hot drinks since they trigger your sweat glands by making them think they need to cool the body.
7. Keep your underarms and groins trimmed or shaved to avoid hair from producing more unnecessary heat.
8. Eat whole, fresh and raw food. Eat many vegetables and fruits, especially those that are high in antioxidants.
9. Rub salt in the areas where you sweat most because salt retains moisture.
10. Lose weight, especially belly fat, so your body is not constantly overactive and in need of cooldowns.

If you think these natural solutions for hyperhidrosis are not effective, you might want to check out my recommendations below.

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