Has your body ever sweat for seemingly no reason? You've neither exercised nor do you feel hot. Yet, there's still sweat pouring out your skin? This phenomenon is referred to as a 'cold sweat,'; they’re quite common. A cold sweat itself isn't dangerous, but it's often a symptom of an underlying medical problem that could be dangerous. Cold sweats can be caused by many factors, from anxiety to low blood pressure and shock. So, if you experience cold sweats without fever, you should seek medical consultation.
What are Cold Sweats?
A cold sweat is when you experience sweating regardless of your environment's temperature. Normally, people experience cold sweats in their arms, palms, and soles. Unlike normal sweating, cold sweats are not caused by exercise or temperature – they're also different from night sweats [1]. A night sweat is when your body sweats during your sleep. Night sweats only happen when you're awake, but cold sweats aren't limited to when you sleep. Also, unlike night sweats, cold sweats don't occur across your entire body.
Symptoms of Cold Sweats
The difference between cold sweats and normal sweating is the cause of the sweating. It's normal to sweat after vigorously exercising or feeling hot. In contrast, a cold sweat will happen without any apparent cause like exercise or hot temperatures.
When you have cold sweats, your body will often feel cold while sweating. Often, people also experience pale skin, a faster heartbeat, a dry mouth, and shallow breath when they have cold sweats. [1]
Causes of Cold Sweats
Cold sweats are most often caused by stress and anxiety. When your body experiences stress, it places your mind in a fight or flight response. Being in this state leads your body to sweat.
Your body enters a state of shock when blood supply is reduced to your brain and other vital organs. When your body goes into shock, it starts experiencing increased stress, which triggers cold sweats.
Traumatic injuries, like those resulting from a car accident, are most commonly responsible for shock. Some injuries result in visible blood loss, but others do not [2]. For example, if you experience internal bleeding, you probably won’t see it.
If left in shock for too long, you could suffer potentially fatal organ damage [3].
2. Infection
Infections that cause fevers can also cause cold sweats, as sometimes you may experience cold sweats when your fever goes down. Your body responds to serious bacterial and viral infections with sepsis [4], which can result in inflammation across your body, causing blood clots or leaks from blood vessels. The blood clots and leaks make it difficult for your organs to receive fresh blood and oxygen, resulting in cold sweats. Sepsis can be caused by different medical conditions, including [5]:
- Pneumonia
- Air Sac infection
- Urinary tract infection
- Bacterial infection
- Gastrointestinal tract infection
- A cut or wound
Seek immediate medical attention if you experience sepsis because it is life-threatening.
3. Syncope
Syncopes, or fainting, can also cause cold sweats [6]. Usually, syncopes are caused by a decrease in blood pressure and irregular heartbeats, which often result in loss of consciousness. Syncope-induced cold sweats are similar to those caused by shock. Health care providers normally treat syncopes by lying patients on their back to increase blood flow to vital organs.
4. Pain From injuries
Severe injuries like bone fractures can potentially cause cold sweats [7]. For example, it's common for people who've broken their ankles or have kidney stones to also experience cold sweats [7]. Typically, medical providers will administer painkillers. Once the pain subsides, your body relaxes, and the cold sweats decrease.
In rare circumstances, severe pain, and therefore cold sweats, can happen weeks or months after an injury. Although this condition is currently not fully understood by the medical community, cold sweats have been noted frequently when patients experience delayed pain[7].
Cold sweats are often a symptom of heart attacks. You are likely to suffer from a heart attack if your cold sweats are accompanied by these other symptoms[8]:
- Chest pain
- Vomiting
- Dizziness
- Cyanosis
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea
If you experience any of these symptoms, with or without cold sweats, immediately call emergency services.
Shortness of breath can decrease oxygen in your bloodstream. The brain initiates a stress response when it's oxygen-deprived. The stress state causes cold sweats, among other symptoms [9]. Additional symptoms of shortness of breath include:
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Mental confusion
- Rapid breathing rate
- Leaned forward breathing
- Coughing
Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, is one of the most common causes of cold sweats. For that reason, both diabetes and prediabetes patients experience frequent cold sweats.
Your brain treats low blood sugar the same way it treats low oxygen in the blood, making your body enter a stressed state that causes cold sweats [10]. If a diabetes patient suddenly experiences cold sweats, you should call emergency services and provide them with any available sources of sugar, like fruit juice.
Fear and anxiety cause stress. That stress places your mind in a fight or flight response, which often causes cold sweats [11]. Fear-induced cold sweating can be induced by specific events like visiting a dentist when you have a phobia about dental check-ins. A panic attack could also cause cold sweats. Most people don't need urgent medical attention for panic attacks or anxiety. But, if you notice a pattern of anxiety and panic attacks, consider visiting a doctor.
9. Hyperhidrosis
Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for excessive sweating. It can occur because of sweating from exercise and heat, but hyperhidrosis often occurs with cold sweats. Thankfully hyperhidrosis is not dangerous if it doesn't cause other symptoms [12]. Hyperhidrosis may even be genetic. So, don't worry too much about it unless it disrupts your life.
Treatments for Cold Sweats
Since cold sweats are a symptom of other problems, there is no specific treatment for cold sweats alone. Treatment is only available for the underlying cause that triggered the cold sweats. For instance, a patient may experience cold sweats because of shortness of breath. The treatment would be to assist their breathing and increase the oxygen in their blood. Once their breathing is treated, the patient's skin will dry, and the cold sweats should stop.
That being said, there are ways to minimize cold sweats. Keeping your skin hydrated, clean and dry and regularly bathing with antibacterial soap will reduce bad odors from cold sweats. Drinking plenty of water and replacing your electrolytes also helps reduce cold sweats, with hydration packets such as our Immunity line being an optimal way to maintain healthy electrolyte levels and get your daily supply of vitamins.
In conclusion, if you start sweating despite not exercising or being in a hot environment, you're likely experiencing cold sweats. Cold sweating itself is not a problem. Instead, cold sweats are a symptom of many possible health problems, including reduced oxygen in your bloodstream, low blood sugar, or even a heart attack. As such, there is no specific treatment for cold sweats, but you'll have to treat the underlying condition causing them. Make sure to properly hydrate and take good care of yourself!
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