Shaking hands have long been associated with a number of conditions, including Parkinson’s Disease. Shaking hands has also been associated with substance abuse, and this has been the face of stigma, creating a veil of shame for many. However, shaking hands is a sign of an extremely common “disorder” that is not life-threatening, or linked to any substance abuse or disease. Namely, Essential Tremors.
What Are Essential Tremors?
Essential Tremor, which is the most common trembling disorder, is a nervous system (neurological) disorder that causes involuntary, rhythmic shaking. It can affect almost any part of your body, but the trembling occurs most often in your hands.
While everyone has a small degree of tremors, the movements aren’t usually noticeable because the tremor is so small. With the ability to affect anyone at any age, this common disorder affects well over 7 million people in the United States. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, about 50% of cases of essential tremors are thought to be genetic.
These tremors fall into two main categories, namely:
- Resting Tremors: These occur when the muscles are relaxed, including when hands are resting on one’s lap
- Action Tremors: As the most common form of tremors, these occur when the muscles are contracted due to voluntary movement
Ranging from being minor to severe enough to interfere with your normal activities, tremors can also impact parts of your face, (such as your eyelids, which may begin to twitch), and the voice box (making your voice sound shaky when you’re speaking).
Tremors Aren’t Always Linked To Disorders
Typically mistaken for Parkinson’s Disease, which is the progressive loss of brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical messenger that enables normal bodily movements, tremors aren’t always linked to disorders and conditions. They can have causes that are not linked to, or due to underlying diseases, such as:
1. Too Much Caffeine
Impacting the Central Nervous System, your morning coffee ritual may just be causing your tremors. Since caffeine is a stimulant, having coffee or a highly caffeinated drink can lead to body jitters and shaking hands. Symptoms of caffeine tremors that accompany shaking hands include:
- Rapid Heartbeat
- Restlessness
- Irritability
Coffee is a diuretic, which can make you urinate more frequently, potentially leading to dehydration, another cause of tremors.
2. Dehydration
Water is very important in helping the body produce neurotransmitters. When you experience dehydration, your body doesn’t have enough water to function properly.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
By affecting muscle function, this can cause your muscles to cramp up, leading to your hands shaking. So if you don’t drink enough water, sweat profusely, or are losing fluids at a rapid rate through vomiting and diarrhea, you are disrupting your body’s fluid balance, thus causing tremors. Symptoms of dehydration tremors that accompany shaking hands include:
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Chills
3. Low Blood Sugar
Known as hypoglycemia, this occurs when your body doesn’t have enough energy or glucose to fuel you. This can arise from not eating on a regular basis, burning too much glucose during vigorous exercise, or taking higher doses of medication than required. When hypoglycemia occurs, your body is unable to function properly, as it can cause a variety of problems within your central nervous system. Symptoms of hypoglycemia tremors that accompany hand shaking include:
- Sweating
- Sudden nervousness
- Flushed face
- Hunger pangs
4. Lack of Sleep
The average adult needs at least 7 hours of sleep per night. If you don’t get enough sleep, this may trigger neurological reflexes that cause shaking hands.
According to Pinky Agorwal, M.D., a clinical professor of neurology at the University of Washington, “sleep deprivation can heighten your body’s usual tremors.” Other symptoms of tremors associated with a lack of sleep also include:
- Slowed thinking
- Reduced attention span
- Mood changes
5. Medication
Known as drug-induced tremors, medication can both cause and worsen hand tremors. Medications that can do this include:
- Lithium: This mood stabilizer used to treat bipolar disorder causes tremors in up to 65% of people who take it.
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs): Drugs including Prozac, Celexa, and Effexor, which are used to treat depression and anxiety, can cause hand tremors and twitch in 20% of people taking them, as they affect naturally occurring chemicals in the brain, and numb the central nervous system.
- Antibiotics: Antibiotics including penicillin, folate synthesis inhibitors, glycopeptides, and aminoglycosides can cause tremors.
- Thyroid Medicine: Taking too much levothyroxine, a drug used to treat hypothyroidism (interactive thyroid gland) can cause tremors, a symptom of hyperthyroidism.
6. Stress and Anxiety
When your body is under stress, it goes into fight-or-flight mode, causing the release of adrenaline, a hormone that helps control your body’s energy. This sudden release of adrenaline can lead to a faster heartbeat and an increase in blood flow to your brain. This can cause your muscles to tense, leading to them twitching, shaking, or trembling.
However, it’s not just dangerous situations that trigger anxiety. For example, many people suffer from social anxiety disorder, which makes them nervous in normal social situations. Symptoms of this also include:
- Sense of doom
- Fatigue
- Sweating
- Grumpiness
How To Manage Tremors
While there is no certain cause or cure for these tremors, there are available treatment options and lifestyle changes you can implement to manage them, including:
- Avoiding Caffeine: As we have established, caffeine aggravates symptoms due to its dehydrating, anxiety-causing qualities, so try to limit or avoid caffeine consumption.
- Medication: There are two medications that health experts advise you take for tremors, namely:
- Propranolol (Inderal): As a beta-blocker, this is also used to treat high blood pressure and performance anxiety. Its side effects are mild to moderate and include a slow heartbeat, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
- Pyrimidine (Mysoline): As an anti-seizure medication, it also carries mild to moderate side effects including drowsiness, nausea, and dizziness.
Reports show that these two medications can reduce tremors by as much as 50%.
Tremors Aren’t A Life Sentence to Discomfort
For years, we have inaccurately associated hand tremors with substance abuse and underlying conditions and disorders. However, everyone deals with them, whether they’re unnoticeable or very apparent. The smallest everyday lifestyle choices or specific medications can cause them. In the same way, small changes can help to treat them. Whether it be cutting down on caffeine and alcohol, or taking medication, there’s a solution. However, you should consult your doctor before trying the listed medication in order to find the perfect match for you and your lifestyle.
MAIN IMAGE CREDIT:Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
References
- Haubenberger, D. and Hallett, M., 2018. Essential tremor. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(19), pp.1802-1810.
- Ferreira, J.J., Mestre, T.A., Lyons, K.E., Benito‐León, J., Tan, E.K., Abbruzzese, G., Hallett, M., Haubenberger, D., Elble, R., Deuschl, G. and MDS Task Force on Tremor and the MDS Evidence Based Medicine Committee, 2019. MDS evidence‐based review of treatments for essential tremor. Movement Disorders, 34(7), pp.950-958.
