What Is Excessive Sweating?

Why do I sweat so bad when I exercise?
-- Denise, 56, Mokena, IL

We've gotten some variation of this question from several readers: why do some people sweat more than others? Why do some people sweat from their faces, while others mostly sweat from their hands? When is sweating considered excessive and why am I sweating anyway?
So we spoke with Dr. Lyall Gorenstein, surgical director at the Columbia University Hyperhidrosis Center in New York and Dr. Noel Perin, director of minimally invasive spinal surgery, Department of Neurosurgery at NYU Langone Medical Center and an expert in treating complex hyperhidrosis.
Let's start with the basics: the primary purpose of sweating is to cool your body down. "Sweating is the body’s natural, neurological response to cool the body by stimulating the sweat glands to produce moisture that cools the body by drawing heat from the body during evaporation," Perin tells HuffPost Healthy Living. "Because everyone’s body is different, the response differs from one individual to another, producing varying levels of perspiration."

When your body temperature rises, whether because of sweltering external temperatures, exercise or hormonal changes (often associated with menopause), it stimulates the two to five million sweat glands that are distributed under your skin. These glands exist throughout the body, though they have higher concentrations in certain areas like the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.
Perspiration works because it carries the heat generated by your body to the skin's surface, where it evaporates into the atmosphere, lowering overall internal temperature. Think of a bead of sweat as a vehicle for heat conducted by your body: it transports body heat to the surface, where it can diffuse into the external world. And that protects the integrity of your cells and organs from the dangers of overheating.
A secondary, less pronounced purpose to sweating is to help shed the body of waste that occurs as a natural byproduct of cell metabolism, according to Gorenstein.
But why do some people sweat more than others? Among the range of sweating that is considered normal -- that is, functional, predictable and not associated with a medical condition -- there is no known reason for the variation in sweating. "If we're talking about otherwise healthy individuals, which is to say not people who are obese or have another condition that could contribute, it's simply a physiological variation," Gorenstein tells HuffPost Healthy Living. "Just like how the average resting body temperature is 98.6, but many people exist on a bell curve around that."
Since sweating is a normal, physiological response to exercise, chances are that sweating during exercise -- even if you are sweating more profusely than your neighbors on the treadmill -- is not an indication of a problem. When in doubt, it's always better to have that confirmed by a doctor.
However, if the sweating occurs not just during exercise, but at random -- as a stress response or when you are at rest or in a controlled temperature environment -- it could indicate a condition known as hyperhidrosis. One telltale sign of hyperhidrosis is that you'll often sweat profusely from one specific area of the body, most often the palms of your hands or soles of your feet, but also sometimes the armpits.
"It can reach a point of socially uncomfortable results," says Perin. "Everything from minor annoyances such as smudged writing paper to much greater issues like difficulty holding a pen or the social discomfort caused by soaked clothing and wet handshakes."
Sometimes excessive sweating can be caused by another condition in what is called secondary hyperhidrosis. Infectious disease, hyperthyroidism, menopause and some cancers can cause hyperhidrosis, according to the Mayo Clinic, though Gorenstein has found that obesity is the most common cause of secondary hyperhidrosis.
But people with primary hyperhidrosis very often begin to experience it in early childhood or even infancy, according to Gorenstein. "Patients will tell me stories about leaving tracks on the floor as toddlers," he says. Primary hyperhidrosis is to some extent hereditary. In fact, WebMD reported that about 50 percent of hyperhidrosis cases can be traced to family history.
No one is sure what the mechanism for primary hyperhidrosis is, beyond the understanding that it is a neurological response. Gorenstein has conducted a series of clinical studies comparing hyperhidrosis patients to a control group of normal sweaters: monitoring the brains of study participants using an fMRI machine, he and his colleagues showed the group visually disturbing images to cause anxiety and stress response. They demonstrated that when patients with primary hyperhidrosis looked at the pictures, their hands began to sweat. The control group did not sweat, though they did have other measures of sympathetic response, such as quickened pulse.
For hyperhidrosis patients, treatment options vary: while some mild forms respond to prescription-strength topical antiperspirants, other options include water iontoforesis, botox injections in the armpits (an FDA-approved use) or, in extreme cases, surgical intervention.
While hyperhidrosis can be debilitating, especially socially, it is not dangerous on its own. It can, in some rare instances, be associated with a dangerous condition and should be diagnosed properly for that reason. Likewise, exercise-induced sweat, even at above average volume, isn't anything to worry about.

Muscle Soreness, Explained

I've been working out fairly consistently for about 1.5 years. I do strength training about twice per week and cardio 5 times per week. I've noticed that my thighs, particularly my quads, burn all the time with a small amount of exertion, such as ascending a flight stairs.
Why do my thighs burn so much with minimal exertion?
-- Kim, 29 Texas

Let's talk about muscle soreness. Delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS as it is often called, is the common -- one could even say requisite -- result of a workout. If you do an activity you're not used to, such as taking a new type of fitness class, attacking a hill on your bike when you're used to riding on flat ground, or running a far longer distance than you are accustomed to -- the difference in muscle use can cause micro-tears in muscle fibers and connective tissue. As your body works to repair itself, you may feel some low-grade pain in the area.
But this is where the phrase "no pain, no gain" comes in: those tears and the subsequent repair help make the muscle stronger -- and that improves overall fitness. But it comes with some ache along the way.

In particular, movements that include "eccentric muscle contractions," which occur when the muscle must contract even as it is being elongated (running downhill or walking downstairs, for example) might cause some delayed onset pain. But why?
"Think of it like the weakest link," says Allan Goldfarb, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. "Muscle proteins hold that weaker bit together and if there is too much force or tension [from exercise] on those muscle fibers or proteins, they are vulnerable to getting slightly damaged."
In an effort to repair the damage, the body can actually over repair explains Goldfarb, and that can activate pain receptors. What's more, the muscles can suffer from some low-level inflammation that can add to the pain.
DOMS can be mitigated by slow, steady stretching exercises, says Goldfarb. And recent studies have suggested that ice baths can also help improve soreness.
But that doesn't necessarily sound like what's going on in the case of this question. For starters, it seems as if you're experiencing muscle pain concurrent with the activity, rather than hours after. We asked Dr. Lynn Snyder-Macker, PT, ATC, SCS, ScD, a professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and the Center for Biomedical Engineering Research's Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomechanics and Movement Sciences at the University of Delaware for her opinion.
"It doesn't sound muscular to me (one flight of stairs!)," she wrote in an email to HuffPost Healthy Living, pointing to the burning sensation, which is different than a sore muscle's ache. "It sounds more like nerve or patellofemoral pain or referred pain from the hips." That combined with your young age make her believe that this isn't exercise-related after all.
Many illnesses could cause this type of pain: fibromyalgia is one diagnosis that fits in with unexplained muscle soreness, according to Goldfarb. That's not to say that unexplained muscle burning or soreness is a sign of serious illness, but it may be worth further evaluation by a medical specialist, like a sports medicine doctor.

Why Does My Face Flush When I Exercise?

Ask Healthy Living: Why Does My Face Flush When I Exercise? 

Why does my face get so flushed after I workout and why does this seem to happen to some people (me!) more than others? Is there anything I can do about it?
-- Sarah, 29, Brooklyn, NY
The first thing you can do about it is relax! There’s nothing wrong with getting red -- or even fuschia -- in the face.
When you exercise, capillaries in your face and throughout your body dilate and blood flows through them in an effort to move the heat your body is generating to the skin's surface, where it can be radiated off. This effort helps to keep you cool while you work out, but it can also make your skin look flushed -- especially in the face.
“Patients who get pink in the face following exercise usually have more superficial blood vessels in the skin of the cheeks and chin,” Dr. James Marotta, a dual board certified facial plastic surgeon in practice in Long Island, NY tells HuffPost Healthy Living. “The result is that temporarily more blood is flowing through these superficial vessels resulting in a pink or ruddy complexion.”

But Dr. Naila Malik, a dermatologist in practice in Southlake, Texas and the creator of the Naila MD Skincare line disagrees. "It is less likely that the 'red blushers' have more capillaries under the skin of their faces than their 'pinkish glower' counterparts in the physiologic range of blushing."
Instead, she offers this explanation to:
"Some people blush more than others and this is more likely due to the fact that these people have a more significant dilatation of the capillaries than the ones who merely get a pinkish glow; Plus the dilatation is more prolonged in these 'blushers' hence they stay redder for longer periods of time."
Dr. Bobby Buka, a dermatologist based in New York City says that both Malik and Marotta are right; while some people -- often those of Anglo-Saxon heritage -- have more capillaries in their faces to begin with, others may have one of several conditions that can cause more blood to flow through the same number of capillaries.
If you have more capillaries in your face to begin with (i.e. those of Anglo-Saxon heritage), then exercising will cause them to fill (how we shunt heat from our bodies by redistributing blood closer to the skin’s surface) and give you a flush-face. On the other hand, several conditions can cause more blood to flow through the same number of capillaries.

"If you suffer from rosacea or other 'vasomotor' dysfunction (i.e. the way your skin’s nerve fibers are wired to your blood vessels), then even though you may have the same number of capillaries as your neighbor, those caps will inappropriately dilate to give you a flushed face," Buka wrote in an email to HuffPost Healthy Living. "Which is more common? Probably the former."
Of course, if you’re exercising in extreme heat, a red face could indicate the onset of heatstroke. Other symptoms of heatstroke include excessive sweating, nausea and lightheadedness, according to the Mayo Clinic. Heatstroke requires immediate medical attention, as it causes your body's temperature to exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit and can lead to brain, heart, kidney and muscle damage.
But if the cause is simply exertion, there is little you can do without surgical intervention. “Intense pulsed light or laser treatments can diminish the overall number of blood vessels, rid patients of unwanted spider veins, and diminish overly ruddy or reactive facial skin,” says Marotta.
Or you can just enjoy a temporary rosy glow -- and a face that announces to the world that you've been living healthfully.

 

Foods For Longevity

Broccoli For Cancer Protection

Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are full of sulforaphane and other antioxidants that help to protect healthy cells from damage caused by free radicals.
But when it comes to the veggies, raw may be better: recent research has found that boiling in water has a "leaching effect."

Whole Grains For Cardiovascular Health

Whole grains offer a variety of antioxidants and vitamins, and are packed with fiber, known to help protect against high cholesterol and regulate blood sugar levels, which can safeguard against diabetes.

And one type of whole grain in particular -- oats -- has a unique antioxidant called avenanthramides that can offer additional protection against cholesterol.

Berries For Brain, Bone And Brawn

Not only are berries good for extending life -- they improve the quality of later years. Berries are chock full of antioxidants that help protect against free radical damage, but as Whole Living reported, one antioxidant in particular -- anthocyanins -- is particularly useful for brain function, balance and muscle retention.

Dark Chocolate For Anti-Inflammation

Dark chocolate is full of inflammation-reducing flavonoids, a compound that also has antioxidant properties and helps prevent blood clots.
But reducing inflammation is its real longevity trick, as research shows that molecular inflammation may be responsible for much aging and cell death.

Tomatoes For Cancer Prevention

Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, the fat-soluble nutrient that helps to protect against some types of cancer, like prostate, lung and stomach cancers.

Beets For Betaine Power

Beets are rich in betaine, a compound associated with lower markers of inflammation, according to the latest research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Walnuts For Lower Cholesterol

Walnuts are a great source of alpha linolenic acid (ALA), which is a type of omega-3 fatty acid associated with reduced inflammation

Cherries Could Lower Risk Of Gout Attack

A new study found that patients with gout who consumed cherries over a two-day period showed a 35% lower risk of gout attacks compared to those who did not eat the fruit. Findings from this case-crossover study published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), also suggest that risk of gout flares was 75% lower when cherry intake was combined with the uric-acid reducing drug, allopurinol, than in periods without exposure to cherries or treatment.

Previous research reports that 8.3 million adults in the U.S. suffer with gout, an inflammatory arthritis triggered by a crystallization of uric acid within the joints that causes excruciating pain and swelling. While there are many treatment options available, gout patients continue to be burdened by recurrent gout attacks, prompting patients and investigators to seek other preventive options such as cherries. Prior studies suggest that cherry products have urate-lowering effects and anti-inflammatory properties, and thus may have the potential to reduce gout pain. However, no study has yet to assess whether cherry consumption could lower risk of gout attacks.

For the present study, lead author Dr. Yuqing Zhang, Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Boston University and colleagues recruited 633 gout patients who were followed online for one year. Participants were asked about the date of gout onset, symptoms, medications and risk factors, including cherry and cherry extract intake in the two days prior to the gout attack. A cherry serving was one half cup or 10 to 12 cherries.

Participants had a mean age of 54 years, with 88% being white and 78% of subjects were male. Of those subjects with some form of cherry intake, 35% ate fresh cherries, 2% ingested cherry extract, and 5% consumed both fresh cherry fruit and cherry extract. Researchers documented 1,247 gout attacks during the one-year follow-up period, with 92% occurring in the joint at the base of the big toe.

“Our findings indicate that consuming cherries or cherry extract lowers the risk of gout attack,” said Dr. Zhang. “The gout flare risk continued to decrease with increasing cherry consumption, up to three servings over two days.” The authors found that further cherry intake did not provide any additional benefit. However, the protective effect of cherry intake persisted after taking into account patients’ sex, body mass (obesity), purine intake, along with use of alcohol, diuretics and anti-gout medications.

In their editorial, also published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, Dr. Allan Gelber from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md. and Dr. Daniel Solomon from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University Medical School in Boston, Mass. highlight the importance of the study by Zhang et al. as it focuses on dietary intake and risk of recurrent gout attacks. While the current findings are promising, Gelber and Solomon “would not advise that patients who suffer from gout attacks abandon standard therapies.” Both the editorial and study authors concur that randomized clinical trials are necessary to confirm that consumption of cherry products could prevent gout attacks.

Source: scienceblog.com

How To Stretch Safely For Flexibility After 50

 I am looking to get back into martial arts at 58. How do I get my agile flexibility back without tearing my muscles while stretching? -- David 

  It's true that as we age, flexibility becomes an even bigger concern. All of the experts we interviewed agreed that older bodies come with an ultimatum: Use it or lose it. If you aren't maintaining an active lifestyle, you can expect accelerated muscle loss, decreased stamina, strength, range of motion, balance and flexibility.

 So getting into a new fitness routine or revisiting or ramping up an old one, like Martial Arts, is a really great idea. But David is right to be concerned about flexibility in middle age. "There are normal things that happen with aging -- naturally occuring phenomena," says Patrice Winter, a clinical physical therapist and spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association. "One of those is flexibility -- if you don’t stretch and move, your joints start to get less flexible. It's really important to keep joints moving."

 And some parts of our bodies suffer more than others. "The older we get, sitting more, our hamstrings tend to get tight. The muscles in the back of the calf, around our Achilles' tendons," says A. Lynn Millar, Ph.D., a physical therapist and professor of physical therapy at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. "The other area that people might not notice as much is the chest muscles. If we’re working at a desk, we bring our head forward and round our shoulders, so the muslces in the front of our chest -- our pectoral muscles -- get shortened and tight while our back muscles loosen."

There are so many kinds of stretching that it can be a bit confusing. The key is to warm up the muscle and then push its limits in terms of pliability and range of motion. John McCarthy, a physical therapist and an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, recommends doing either static or dynamic stretching exercises. Static stretching, or taking a position that elongates the muscle and holding it, is beneficial because it's extremely low risk for injury, he says, while still improving range of motion and flexibility. Because static stretching doesn't involve warming up the muscles first, it's best to do the stretches during or following a cardio or strength-training workout.

 Dynamic stretching, by contrast, involves taking a position at the end range of motion, applying slow, steady pressure to push that boundary and then returning. Because it is a series of exercises, it does double duty -- warming up the muscle and then working to enhance flexibility and range of motion.

Regardless of your chosen type of stretching, McCarthy recommends consulting a physical therapist or well-regarded book for specific moves. Millar suggests this routine: choose stretches based on where you feel tightness. For static stretches, the typical recommendation is 30 seconds per stretch, performed in three reps. "You'll see an improvement in the range of motion even if you do each exercise once for 15 seconds," she says, but the benefit is greater with increased duration and repetition. Although most official guidelines recommend stretching three times a week, Millar says that daily stretching is more effective and not dangerous.

 For dynamic stretching, think about your activity and how you will use your body. For example, if you'll take on a martial arts class, you might know you'll be throwing punches and high kicks. Before you get started, do some slow motions to simulate the positions you'll take during the course of the class.

 But how do you know if you've taken a stretch too far? You should still be able to breathe and talk, says Winter. If you have to hold your breath, you're going too far. Millar says that you shouldn't feel your muscles trembling -- a sign that you're stretching too deeply. Dial it back until you're feeling a gentle pull, but no burning or pain, she says.

 One caveat: many older patients experience tightness around the hips and other joints. While this is often muscular, it can occasionally be a sign of arthritis-associated tightness in the joint. To differentiate, Millar, who is also a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, recommends checking your hamstrings: if you can lie flat on the ground and lift your leg to a 90-degree angle, the problem is unlikely to be inflexibility and is instead arthritic stiffness in the knee or hip, she says. If you suspect the latter, see a physician for a medical evaluation.

HIV 'made' new deadly Salmonella

An epidemic of a deadly strain of Salmonella has swept across the whole of Africa by "taking advantage" of the spread of HIV, according to an international team of researchers. 

 Their study, published in Nature Genetics, is the first to identify the separate cases as a single epidemic

. One in four people in Africa infected with the strain died. It is thought to be the first time a single strain of an infection has spread so widely in the wake of HIV.

Cases of this form of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella have been recognised in Africa for more than a decade. It causes fever, headaches, respiratory problems and sometimes death.
 
The research team analysed the genetic code of 179 batches of Salmonella from different parts of Africa and the rest of the globe. Using techniques similar to a large-scale DNA paternity test, they were able to construct the strain's "family tree" and then how it spread.

 It happened in two waves. The first started in south-eastern Africa about 52 years ago and the second wave started 35 years ago from the Congo Basin.

 Prof Gordon Dougan, from the Sanger Institute in Cambridge in the UK, told the BBC: "It quite clearly parallels the emergence of HIV in Africa."

HIV attacks the immune system and leaves people more vulnerable to other infections. It is thought the strain of Salmonella Typhimurium took advantage of this weakness and spread. The research team said the bacterium was given the chance to "enter, adapt, circulate and thrive". T

here is poor monitoring data for the disease across the whole of the continent, but Prof Dougan said it was affecting "thousands and thousands" of people and that 98% of adult cases were in people with HIV.

 Continue reading the main story “  It's actually quite a huge problem and it seems to be getting worse because there are many susceptible people, it's got a grip in Africa”

 Prof Brendan Wren London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine He said this spread of Salmonella Typhimurium had been different to that of other infections commonly associated with HIV, as it had been a single epidemic "people were completely unaware" of and there "were not really any other examples" of that happening.

 Dr Melita Gordon, a gastro-enterologist at the University of Liverpool, said: "It's the first time this has been described right across a continent in such an obvious way." She added: "The highest mortality associated with the disease is 80%. What's happened over the years is mortality has fallen down and down and down to between 20% and 25% as doctors inside Africa recognise it."

The genetic analysis also showed the strain was resistant to the first choice antibiotic, chloramphenicol, which means more expensive drugs would be needed to treat the infection. It is thought that improving HIV treatment across Africa could reduce the prevalence of the Salmonella infection, as it would reduce the number of people with vulnerable immune systems.

However, the researchers urged "vigilance" in case the Salmonella strain mutated again to become able to infect people with healthy immune systems.

Commenting on the study, Prof Brendan Wren, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the BBC: "It's actually quite a huge problem and it seems to be getting worse because there are many susceptible people, it's got a grip in Africa.

 "HIV, I think it's fair to say, provided a springboard for it to take off." However, he thought the disease was "near its peak" as HIV was more controlled in other continents giving it little room to spread.