Chapter 6
Find New Success and Social Comfort – Overcome Excessive Blushing and Sweating
We’ve all been there…
Perhaps at a work meeting, you look across the table and see a coworker excessively sweating and seeming very nervous. Or at a networking event – the air conditioning is working just fine, yet someone in the room seems quite uncomfortable and is literally dripping from sweat. The blushing, the sweating – you know something is wrong, but can’t quite tell what.
Exploring Excessive Sweating and Blushing
Excessive sweating has a variety of causes, some of which are medically induced and others which can be a result of anxiety or extreme nervousness. Medically speaking, excessive sweating may be a sign of diabetes, an infection, or a thyroid disorder. In medical cases, patients often find themselves sweating profusely with everyday tasks, such as taking a walk or cleaning – anything that might typically raise the heart rate slightly, but yet far from a target working zone for cardio exercise.
On the flip side, people who experience excessive sweating for non-medical reasons find that they sweat for any number of reasons. For example, they could be sitting perfectly still, but find themselves sweating when the spotlight is cast on them in a meeting or even by noticing someone’s eyes linger on them while walking down the street. This type of excessive sweating typically pairs with other symptom, such as an elevated heart rate, nervousness, nausea, and even anxious thoughts.
As for excessive blushing, blushing is a psychological reaction that typically triggers as a result of shyness, nervousness, or deception. While everyone blushes – just as everyone sweats, the difference lies in the frequency and cause of the blushing.
For example, standard blushing might occur when a student answers incorrectly in front of the class or when, while attending a conference, the speaker calls you out in front of all the attendees with a question, putting you on the spot. For excessive blushers, it might occur for more common occurrences, such as a co-worker saying hello in the break room or while greeting a friend. This type of blushing typically holds ties to social anxiety, though there are rare physical causes as well which typically relate to blood vessel and circulation issues.
Overcoming Excessive Sweating and Blushing
The first step to stopping your embarrassment caused by excessive sweating and blushing, you must first assess the pattern in which your problem appears. Are there specific causes or situations? Or does it seemingly happen randomly in any (and every) circumstance? Consider a medical evaluation to rule out underlying medical causes, such as circulatory or cardio-thoracic issues. If there is not a medical cause, odds are that your problem comes back to anxiety.
Your path to overcoming your excessive sweating and blushing may include verbal and behavioral therapy, medicinal approaches, or a combination of the two – but regardless of which method you use, you must first take a first step to facing your issues.