Cold sweats why

Here's what you need to know about cold sweats, plus what they can mean—and how to get rid of them. Normally, "sweating is your body's response to various internal and external stressors," Arindam Sarkar, MD, a primary care physician and assistant professor of family and community medicine at Baylor University, tells Health.

But cold sweats are slightly different. Cold sweats can be used to describe chills, night sweats i. Sarkar says. Basically, there's a wide range here. In general, though, experts agree that cold sweats are when you start sweating but you feel chilly, making this slightly different from regular sweating, where you perspire and just feel normal.

There's a wide variety of things that can cause cold sweats, but generally, the symptom can be narrowed down to an infection, fever, or underlying health issue, like a heart attack or low blood sugar, Kathryn Boling, MD, a primary care physician at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, tells Health.

Cold sweats can even be a sign of hormonal changes, like going through a hot flash during menopause or having your hormone levels readjust after a pregnancy, Dr.

Boling says. The average person has 2 to 4 million sweat glands. There are two different kinds of sweat glands: the eccrine, which are found all over the body and help control body temperature, and the apocrine, which are located primarily in the groin and underarm areas.

The sweat produced by the eccrine sweat glands is mostly water, which helps to cool the body down. While heat can sometimes trigger the apocrine sweat glands, these glands are usually activated by stress and hormonal changes, which is why they play a significant role in cold sweats. Anxiety and stress are the most common prompts for the fight or flight response and the resulting cold sweats. The fight or flight response, which helped ancient humans survive in a more physically dangerous world, prepared the body to battle with an enemy or run away.

The fight or flight response still operates in people today, but it is more likely triggered by a traffic jam than a saber-toothed tiger. This means that people experiencing a cold sweat may have skin that is clammy and cool, and they may report feeling cold.

Sometimes the skin may appear quite pale. Cold sweats on their own do not usually lead to complications. However, if cold sweats are due to underlying health conditions, such as heart disease , life-threatening complications can develop. Am J Hum Genet. Erratum in: Am J Hum Genet.

Autosomal recessive disorder with muscle contractions resembling neonatal tetanus, characteristic face, camptodactyly, hyperthermia, and sudden death: a new syndrome? Am J Med Genet. Crisponi syndrome is caused by mutations in the CRLF1 gene and is allelic to cold-induced sweating syndrome type 1. Epub Mar Mutations in cytokine receptor-like factor 1 CRLF1 account for both Crisponi and cold-induced sweating syndromes.

Cold-induced sweating syndrome: a report of two cases and demonstration of genetic heterogeneity. J Neurol Sci. Epub Sep 6. Four new cases. Epub Apr Cold-induced sweating syndrome is caused by mutations in the CRLF1 gene.

Sweat is made up of water, salt, and thousands of other components that contribute…. Diaphoresis, or excessive sweating, can be a symptom of various conditions. Learn more about possible causes. Hyperhidrosis can be uncomfortable. Learn what causes it, and explore treatment options that can provide relief. Also called perspiration, sweating is the release of a….

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Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Medically reviewed by Elaine K. Luo, M. Causes Is it a heart attack? Treatment See your doctor Are cold sweats the same as night sweats?

What causes cold sweats?