What gives you sweaty palms?

Our central nervous system is just trying to be helpful. When we start feeling scared, nervous, anxious, embarrassed or angry, our brain gets the central nervous system on high alert. Our bodies are getting ready to execute one of two instinctual choices: fight or flight? It's the fight or flight response that gets those sweat glands in over drive. It also gets our hearts beating faster and our lungs breathing deeper. Now all of this came in handy when we lived in caves and big creatures could chase us. Now it's just a sure way -- sometimes an embarrassing one -- of knowing you are stressed out.

Our bodies contain five million sweat glands. The people who count things like that say the majority of them are in the palms of our hand. Our armpits and the soles of our feet have most of the remaining sweat glands.

There are other reasons palms will sweat. Some illnesses and conditions cause people to deal with sweaty palms every day, and it's a condition that can make them uncomfortable in social situations where not shaking someone's hand is considered rude. People who are obese, or women going through menopause may notice their hands feeling clammy and wet. Also people who suffer from hyperthyroidism or someone who has a severe psychiatric disorder may have this as a symptom of their health problem.

But for the majority of us, sweaty palms are just an instinctual response. And if your central nervous system kicks in, you have no choice but to sweat it out.

If you have a medical mystery for the sleuths at Sound Medicine, email it to us at: soundmed@iu.edu. Or call us at 317-274-IU4U or 317-274-4848.