Sleep Disorder - Night Sweats
Night sweats - Sweating at night isn't really a sleep disorder, but there's no doubt that waking up with night clothes and bedding soaked with perspiration does disturb your nighttime slumber. This is one of my most popular topics. I receive mail and forum submissions often about it. Let's take a look at the basics.
Damp and clammy bedding. You wake up to find your bedding soaked. You either feel too hot or clammily cold. Menopause or Andropause. Menopause in women is the most common cause of night sweats. However, some men also suffer from night sweats during the male menopause, or andropause. HIV, tuberculosis. In fact, any infectious disease or condition that brings on a fever can cause night sweats. Diabetes insipidus can also cause night sweats. Sleep apnea. This is the one that most concerns us. Night sweats can also be a sign of sleep apnea. If you also suffer from severe snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness, it might be time for a study.
Alcohol, some drugs, spicy foods. Consumption of any of these can cause night sweats.
You wake up in the middle of the night, cold, clammy and uncomfortable. Your night clothes are soaked. The damp bed sheets cling to you. Worst of all, by the time you get up, change your night clothes, change the bed and snuggle under the blankets again, you're wide awake. A lot of the time it's almost impossible to get back to sleep. Disturbed sleep - that's why, even though night sweats isn't actually a sleep disorder.
Night sweats, or nocturnal hyperhydrosis, can be caused by many things. Sweating is a natural body function, but if it becomes bad enough to wake you up night after night, wet and shivering, it has gone beyond "natural." Stanford Medical Center lists the following as possible causes:
- Diabetes Insipidus
- Hyperthyroidism
- Secretion from certain cells in the brain
- Anemia
- Hypothalamic lesions
- Epilepsy
- Strokes
- Cerebral palsy
- Migraine
- Spinal cord infarction
- Head injury
- Familial dysautomia
- Anti-nausea medication used in pregnancy
- Obstructive sleep apnea
Continue reading here: Sleep Disorder - Delayed Sleep Phase SyndromeDSPS
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