What is night sweats

Speaking of night sweats, I believe everyone is quite familiar with it, especially those with children at home. In fact, the so-called night sweats are abnormal sweating after falling asleep, and the sweating stops after waking up. This phenomenon is relatively common among children. Of course, there is a saying that children with calcium deficiency will have this situation, so they need to be supplemented with calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, etc. Of course, this is only for this cause. So what other causes are there for night sweats? Let's learn about it together below.

1. Physiological night sweats

During childhood, the skin is very tender, contains more water, has abundant capillaries, has active metabolism, and the autonomic nervous system regulation function is not yet perfect, so it is easy to sweat during activities. If children are too active before going to bed, the metabolism of various organs in the body will be active, which can increase the body's heat production. During sleep, the blood vessels in the skin will dilate, the sweat glands will secrete more, and the child will sweat profusely to help dissipate heat. Secondly, eating before going to bed can enhance gastrointestinal motility, increase gastric juice secretion, and increase sweat gland secretion, which can cause children to sweat more after falling asleep, especially within the first 2 hours of falling asleep. In addition, if the indoor temperature is too high, or the quilt is too thick, or electric blanket is used, it can cause profuse sweating during sleep.

2. Pathological night sweats

Some children sweat mainly in the first half of the night after falling asleep, which is often caused by low blood calcium. Low calcium can easily increase the excitability of the sympathetic nerves, just like turning on the "faucet" of the sweat glands. This situation is particularly common in children with rickets. However, night sweats are not a unique symptom of rickets. A comprehensive analysis should be conducted based on the child's feeding conditions, outdoor activities, etc. Blood calcium, blood phosphorus and wrist bone X-rays should also be checked to determine whether the child has active rickets.

Night sweats in children with tuberculosis are characterized by sweating all night long. In addition, there are other symptoms such as flushed face, low fever, weight loss, loss of appetite, and mood changes. Abnormalities can often be found by checking erythrocyte sedimentation rate, anti-tuberculosis antibodies, chest X-ray, etc. One thing to note is that a detailed check of the neck for enlarged lymph nodes is extremely valuable for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in children.

To sum up, any causes and diseases that affect the body's temperature regulation center and increase the excitability of the sympathetic nerves can cause night sweats in children. As parents, we should observe our children carefully and make a judgment after comprehensive analysis. We should not give medicines blindly to avoid adverse consequences.