Why do we sweat more when we are anxious?

The reality is that nervous sweating is not only common – it's normal. When you're nervous, your body's fight or flight system activates, sending a rush of hormone into your body that triggers an increase in heart rate and blood flow, among other things. Sweating is then also activated to help cool the body down from all of that energy, otherwise we would overheat and possibly damage our bodies. General nervousness and anxiousness may also cause sweating, even without an anxiety disorder. For example, many people find that before an important meeting or a final in high school or college that their hands start to sweat. That's because they're stressed, and their body is responding to the extra energy by cooling them down. The key to reducing anxious sweating is not stopping the sweating itself. You can't (and don't want to) stop your body's ability to cool down, otherwise your body would overheat and potentially damage your brain and organs. Instead, you need to find a way to control your heartbeat and calm your nerves, so that your body isn't heating up and sweating to compensate. You also need to reduce excess heat on the areas that are sweating, in order to prevent excess sweating. Some examples of how to reduce this sweating include:

Its a physiological response to nerves! Perfectly normal. When you're nervous, your body's fight or flight system goes into action, sending a rush of hormones into your body.

When you're nervous, your body goes into fight-or-flight mode, triggering an increase in heart rate, breathing rate, and also sweating.

We sweat more, because our body is set on fear of the fight-flight-system and therefore the whole system goes up. We're sweating now to protect our body from overheating.

We usually sweat more because when you are anxious, your heart beat quickens and you tend to move around more - whether this is fidgeting or pacing around - because of the exercise and faster heart rate, you begin to sweat more. I have experienced this before and I tend to get Goosebumps and shivers too.

Because our hearts are beating faster, our bodies are preparing to fight or run, also known as the 'flight or fight'.

Because it's a reflex, when your scared you scream, shake, or sweat it's common and normal so it's alright.

Because we get over worked and worry about what could go wrong causing our body's to sweat more then normal

Your heart rate and adrenaline are increased when you're anxious, which results on your body overheating. You sweat in order to bring down your temperature.

Nervous sweating is related to a condition called Hyperhidrosis. Primary Hyperhidrosis is a condition of excessive sweating without known cause or triggers, while Secondary Hyperhidrosis is triggered by certain cues, including anxiety. In general, if the excessive sweating you fear only occurs in situations where others can see you, never when you're alone, that's a strong indication it's a type of Social Phobia. For more details see http://www.anxietycoach.com/nervoussweating.html

We sweat because our body is responding to "fight or flight." A rush of adrenaline, caused by fear and panic, send our body's sympathetic nervous system into overdrive.

When you are anxious, you body kicks your flight or fight response on. This is where you brain tries to rationalize if you should stay and fight or get out of there as quickly as possible. When this response kicks in, adrenaline is released to prepare for the extra energy needed for the fight or flight situation. Your body sweats to cool down and release the extra adrenaline.

Your heart rate increases and normally when it increases it due to physical work that makes you sweat

Think of anxiety like this; You get nervous. Very, very nervous. That's more or less what it is. You get somewhat scared at times and nervous. When people get nervous they tend to sweat more. It's as simple as that really. Anxiety is nervousity on a very high level.

Our bodies react to fear and anxieties in a Similar was to life threatening events. If we were face to face with a tiger we may sweat or feel our hearts race. Anxiety inducing situations send similar messages to our brains and bodies that activates biological responses, such as sweating. Coping ahead when we are aware that a anxiety ridden activity is upcoming allows us to put a place to keep us grounded. This may be something as simple as a breathing technique or a visualization activity. The good news is that our thoughts (and practice) can help us to reduce what our bodies do in response to stress.