About Night Sweats

Night sweats are a common complaint of older people. However, true night sweats are not due to environmental conditions, such as an overheated room, but are symptoms of health conditions and bodily processes. It is a normal symptom of menopause in women. Most instances of night sweats do not indicate serious disease as was once believed, but they could indicate the presence of a sleep disorder.

Symptoms

Night sweats are typically noticed when a person awakens from sleep and notices that sweating has occurred. Sweating may range from mild to excessive, which may dampen or even soak bedclothes and sheets. Most sweating occurs from the back of the head and chest. Typically, it may be difficult to get back to sleep after a night sweat, as many sufferers also have symptoms of other sleep troubles. Night sweats are not always uncomfortable. Some women in menopause experience night sweats sensually, according to OurBodiesOurselves.org.

Prevalence

Night sweats are much more common than was previously believed. In a 2004 study published in the Annals of Family Medicine, more than 40 percent of patients over the age of 64 reported having night sweats at least once in the preveious month. In another study, published in 2006 in the same journal, a cross-section of adult patients of 10 primary care physicians found that 33 percent of patients complained of night sweats in the previous month. Clearly, night sweats become more common with aging.

Sleep Disorders

Night sweats also are highly correlated with sleep symptoms such as restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea and disturbing nightmares. Other sleep-related syndromes related to night sweating include include daytime fatigue, awaking with a bitter taste in the mouth and waking up with pain.

Disease

Until recently, most physicians assumed disease was the most common cause of night sweats. Fevers and serious diseases, such as tuberculosis and the autoimmune diseases, cause body overheating and profuse sweating. Some cancer patients also suffer through night sweats, as well as patients with Hodgkin' s disease and infectious diseases such as Epstein-Barr virus and pneumonia, according to a 2003 publication in the journal American Family Physician.

Menopause

Night sweats are a part of life for women going through menopause. Along with hot flashes and flushes, night sweats can occur occasionally or rarely, for periods of decades after menopause has begun. While the cause is still not clear, hot flashes and night sweats are related to changes in the body's temperature regulation due to hormones and neurotransmitters, according to the OurBodiesOurselves.org.