What causes heavy sweating?

Sweating is your body's way of cooling down and getting rid of some chemicals. Sometimes heavy sweating is normal. You may sweat a lot when you exercise, when you are too hot, or when you are frightened.

It's normal for teenagers to sweat more than they did when they were younger. A teen's sweat glands are growing along with the rest of his or her body.

And menopause often causes women to have heavy sweating now and then.

But some people have a condition that makes them sweat too much. They may drip sweat even when it's not hot and they're not exercising. Some people carry a towel around with them because their hands are always wet with sweat.

For these people, sweating is a problem that can be very hard to live with, even though they have no other health problems. In most cases, there's no known cause for this condition.

Other causes of heavy sweating

Certain problems such as diabetes, heart failure, anxiety, and overactive thyroid can cause heavy sweating. And some drugs may cause heavy sweating as a side effect.