Dry and dry again:
It’s possible to reduce, control excessive sweating during the workday
When the walk to work requires a wardrobe change, you know your body is telling you something. “Some of us aren’t made for the heat,” says Richard Moore, who walks to his office in downtown Chicago each day from a train station four blocks away. “I show up to work some days and I’m drenched in sweat. And you can dry off in the air conditioning, but then you just feel gross all day.”
As the sun turns up the heat, many of today’s employees share Moore’s fate, showing up to work looking like they just ran a half-marathon. Sweating is healthy, of course, but there can be too much of a good thing, especially if you have a 9 a.m. presentation in front of your entire department. Luckily, there are some steps you can take to reduce your sweat output.
To gain control over his mornings, Moore says he wears shorts and a T-shirt to the office during the warmer months, opting to work out at a health club that’s two buildings down from his workplace. “I work out some mornings, but I just shower and head to work most of the time,” he says. “I try to keep up on the weather the night before, so I know if I have to stop or not, but once June rolls around, it’s an everyday thing.”
Moore, like many others, has tried various antiperspirants to control excessive sweating but finds that they work for a few hours at most. “I reapply during lunch some days, but when it’s 85 degrees and I’m walking outside, all the antiperspirants in the world won’t make a difference anyway,” he says. “Plus, my wife says I need to stop using it anyway because I guess it’s not good for the body.”
In some cases, prolific sweaters turn to botox to help control their perspiration, especially if they sweat even when they’re inactive or in cold or comfortable climates. That condition, known as hyperhidrosis, is often covered by health insurance. Those who are looking to block sweat during the summer months can find that getting the process covered isn’t quite a slam dunk.
In either case, Botox blocks sweat by blocking the nerve endings under the arms, making them unable to make the transmission to the sweat glands. “My doctor told me to think of it as a garden house and a plant. During the summer, your plant needs water to live, so someone turns on the outdoor spigot, but the end of the hose is
caked in mud, so the water doesn’t come out,” says Donna MacKenzie, a 44-year-old resident of Ocala, Florida, who began getting botox treatments in 2013.
MacKenzie, a home appraiser, says 20 units of Botox are injected into her armpits, which she claims is nowhere as painful as it might sound. “And it’s very temporary,” she says. “It’s like a bunch of mosquito bites—OK, big mosquito bites—but it’s over really quickly.”
MacKenzie says her insurance company used to cover some of the costs—about $750 of each $1,000 treatment— but dropped that portion of its coverage last year. “Out of pocket now, it’s about $1,400, which includes the cost of the visit,” MacKenzie says. “It’s something I consider necessary for now, but it’s always going to depend on money.”
With her decreased sweating, MacKenzie says she’s more comfortable doing her job. “I was showing up to someone’s home with huge sweat stains, which is gross but I also think it’s unprofessional,” she says. “Sometimes, I’d be 20 minutes late for an appointment because I’d sit in my car cranking the AC, trying to dry out my shirt.”
If you worry about excessive sweating, you can do a few things to combat that soaked-through shirt and dripping forehead, but it’s important to remember that sweating, in most cases, is a necessary evil. You shouldn’t try to stop it, but you can take a few steps to make sure you’re keeping
your body cool when things heat up:
● Choose loose, light-colored clothing for your work wardrobe. Wear cotton or other natural fabrics that breath
● Drink water—and lots of it. The water in your system is your sweat’s best friend. A hydrated body will self-control its temperature, but if you don’t put fluids in, your internal cooling system won’t be able to handle the job.
● Wear sunscreen. Skin that’s damaged by the sun is much less effective at dissipating body heat than its moisturized counterpart.
● If possible, try to stay indoors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the sun’s rays are less powerful and the heat isn’t at its full potential. Even a quick walk to lunch at noon may result in some serious perspiration.
● Choose your shoes wisely. It’s important to keep your feet fresh. If your footwear isn’t ventilated or made of a breathable material, your feet may be enduring temperatures up to 120 degrees inside your shoes.
● You can use foot powder to help keep your feet dry, but don’t expect to avoid all foot sweat.
● Use fragrance-free detergent for your clothes. Not only can the chemicals in some detergents and fabric softeners irritate your skin, they can also create stains on your clothing when mixed with your sweat.