Question
My daughter always sweats while sleeping, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s day or night; she’s always damp all over when she sleeps. Her head and body are drenched in sweat, and we’ve already dressed her in very light clothing, but she still sweats a lot.
Answer
Children have a faster metabolism and an underdeveloped temperature regulation center, so they only regulate their body temperature through sweating; children under two years old often sweat and this is generally related to rickets. For children over three years old, it’s associated with an imbalance in the regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Traditional Chinese medicine refers to this abnormal sweating as “night sweat” (sweating at night) and “day sweat” (sweating during the day), and its causes are often related to weakness of the physique. Children who sweat excessively at night during sleep are due to their vigorous growth and metabolism, which often results in more sweating than adults; or they may cover themselves with too thick a blanket while sleeping, causing excessive sweating, which is a normal physiological phenomenon.