NHS advice on overlooked cancer symptom to look out for on bedsheets and pillows

Night sweating is a common and sometimes overlooked symptom of cancer - with experts advising people to go to a doctor if it occurs regularly and disrupts sleeping habits.

Night sweats are more severe than breaking a sweat as you become too hot in bed because you are covered in too many blankets. They cause you, your sheets and pillows to become so drenched you can no longer sleep in them.

Night sweats can may be an early symptom of some cancers, particularly carcinoid tumours, leukaemia and lymphoma. Other cancers can cause night sweats too, including bone and liver cancer, although it is a less common symptom of those.

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Experts are unsure why some types of cancer cause night sweats. They could occur because as the body tries to fight the disease or they could be caused by level changes in hormones.

According to Cancer Research UK, infection is one of the most common causes of sweating in people with cancer.

"Infection can give you a high temperature, and your body sweats to try and reduce it," the charity says. "Treating the infection can control or stop sweating."

According to Cancer Research UK, some cancers can cause you to sweat more than usual include:

• non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• Hodgkin lymphoma
• carcinoid tumours
• leukaemia
• mesothelioma
• bone cancer
• prostate cancer
• kidney cancer
• germ cell tumours
• advanced medullary thyroid cancer

However, although night sweating is are a common symptom of some cancers, it is unlikely to signify cancer, especially when taken on its own. The NHS advice is to go to a doctor if:

• you have night sweats regularly that wake you up or worry you
• you also have a very high temperature (or feel hot and shivery), a cough or diarrhoea
• you have night sweats and you're losing weight for no reason