How to Stop Sweating So Much This Summer

Sweat is your body’s natural way of keeping you cool in hot temps—but how much perspiration is too much?  

“If you’re sweating so much that it makes you uncomfortable and affects your social life, schooling, or job, that’s when we would consider it a problem,” says Jason Miller, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist with CentraState Healthcare System in Freehold, New Jersey and a clinical instructor of dermatology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. 

Summer is worthless if you spend it cooped up inside. So here are seven ways to stay cooler, drier, and sweat-free this season. 

(And for more ways to live a healthier life, check out The Better Man Project, the new book from the Editor in Chief of Men’s Health. It comes packed with more than 2,000 tips on how to have better sex, shrink your belly, and take control of your health for good!)

1.  Cut Back on Caffeine 

While you may love starting your day with a hot cup of coffee, your sweat glands can’t say the same. There are two ways your daily cup of Joe can make you drip. 

Caffeine stimulates your central nervous system, which activates your sweat glands—so the more caffeine you drink, the more you end up perspiring, says Bonnie Taub-Dix, M.A., R.D., C.D.N., a registered dietitian and author of Read It Before You Eat It. “The heat from the drink itself can also make your body feel hot enough to sweat." 

You don’t have to break up with coffee—just swap your hot brew for a cold one, Taub-Dix recommends. But if you’re looking for a chemical-free high, here are 7 Ways to Boost Your Energy without Caffeine.

2. Subtract Spicy Foods

Easy on the Buffalo wings. Just like caffeine, spices can activate your brain’s neurotransmitters, causing you to sweat more. Capsaicin, a chemical found in spicy peppers—like the ones in your hot sauce—can make you sweat for two reasons. 

First, consuming the chemical can trick your body into thinking it’s feeling some sort of trauma, which sparks an increase in stress-related sweating, says Jessica Krant, M.D, M.P.H, a board-certified dermatologist at the Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York and an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. 

“Capsaicin also triggers a separate type of nerve ending that only responds to mild warmth—like a hot bath, not like fire—leading your body to think it’s too hot and to start up the sweating response to cool down,” she says. 

3. Don’t Rely on Deodorant  

If you’re only using deodorant to tame pesky pits, you’re doing it wrong. While a deodorant will mask any unpleasant smells, antiperspirant is what actually stops you from sweating. 

That’s because antiperspirants contain aluminum salts, which plug your sweat glands and reduce the amount of sweat that travels to your skin. 

Fortunately, you can easily find clinical-grade and prescription-strength antiperspirants, which contain more aluminum salts than standard antiperspirants, at must drug stores or online.  

Dr. Miller recommends using them twice a day, including once at night. Apply your antiperspirant to dry skin and then massage it in—that’ll help reduce irritation and help it work better.