Summer, sun, sunshine: the hottest time of the year has begun. For our body, however, the changed environmental conditions mean that it has to cool down. This also happens through the skin: you sweat more. What is often perceived as annoying is essential for survival. But what if you can't sweat?
The human body needs a constant core temperature of 37 degrees Celsius to function properly. To achieve this, it is in a constant process of heat generation, transport and exchange.
Heat regulation works by means of kinetic energy via the muscles on the one hand and via the blood vessels on the other. The body reacts to outside temperatures, which means that we need to cool down on hot summer days. A swim in cool water or drinking a lot helps. In order to cool down, our body itself sets two mechanisms in motion: on the one hand, vasodilation, in which increased heat loss can be achieved through improved blood flow to the extremities, and on the other hand, through increased sweat secretion. Sweat that evaporates on the surface of the skin and thus has a cooling effect. Normally.
What if you can’t sweat?
Anhidrosis is a disorder of sweat secretion. The result: although the rather unpleasant feeling of perspiration does not occur, the body loses an option for cooling down. A very important one, because sweat plays a major role in heat dissipation. Extended anhidrosis can lead to thermoregulation disorders, in the worst case to heat stroke. The symptoms: Feeling hot, dry skin, headaches and circulatory problems.
Anhidrosis usually only occurs locally. This allows the body to compensate for the lack of perspiration in one part of the body in other places. Anhidrosis occurs as a result of diseases or radiodermatitis, hereditary diseases, mental illnesses or as side effects of therapies.
When temperatures rise and a heatwave may even be imminent, people with anhidrosis need to take particular care: Exertion and heat should be avoided if possible. And moisturizing sprays, for example, can compensate for the lack of cooling of the skin.