Menopause Hot Flashes

You Don’t Have to Live With Hot Flashes

You’ve probably been told that hot flashes are simply a fact of life – a consequence of menopause that all women must endure. You may have resigned yourself to the quickening hear beat, blotchy skin, and sudden interruptions hot flashes can bring to your daily routine.

Amberen is a breakthrough menopause remedy that alleviates hot flashes by working with the body instead of acting upon it. As a natural menopause solution, Amberen can effectively alleviate hot flashes by enhancing the body’s ability to maintain hormonal balance.

Common Hot Flash Triggers and How to Avoid Them

Hot flashes during menopause are very uncomfortable for women, but there are ways to reduce their severity and frequency. Simple lifestyle changes taken during the day can prevent hot flashes or reduce symptoms if they are not completely avoidable. Learning what triggers hot flashes and avoiding these triggers is an important step in preventing hot flashes. Read this article for helpful tips about common triggers and how to avoid them and reduce the number hot flashes a woman experiences.

Tips to Avoid Hot Flashes

Simple lifestyle changes can help women manage hot flash symptoms and severity.

Clothing

Dress in layers to quickly cool off when overheating to avoid a hot flash.
Wear clothes made of cotton, rayon, linen and other cooler fabrics. Avoid heavy fabrics such as wool, silk and synthetics.
Opt for less constricting clothing such as open collars and loose clothing.

Keep Cool

Keep the temperature in the room cool to avoid hot flashes. Turn down the furnace if possible, and use fans, air conditioning and even portable fans to help stay cool.
Arrive to appointments and meetings early to avoid being rushed and to find a seat near the air conditioner.
If a hot flash does strike, some women will stand in front of the freezer to cool off during the hot flash.

Cooling Off With Water

Take a cool but comfortable shower before bedtime to help prevent nighttime hot flashes.
Keep ice water or other cool drink available at all times, even at bed time.

Avoiding Night Sweats

If sharing a bed with a partner, consider a larger bed to prevent overheating due to the partner’s body heat.
Avoid synthetic or silk sheets. Choose cotton sheets to help keep cool during the night.
Keep an ice pack under the pillow to cool off the pillow during the night. Flip the pillow as needed during the night to keep it cool to the touch.

Other Hot Flash Triggers

Making these simple changes in daily life can reduce hot flashes, but some women are more prone to hot flashes from common triggers. Learning about common triggers and avoiding them can help reduce the frequency of hot flashes.

Common Hot Flash Triggers

• Being in a warm environment such as a warm room, sauna, hot shower or outside heat
• Appliances that make heat such as a space heater, hair dryer or fireplace
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Cigarettes
• Eating spicy foods
• Excess sugar, alcohol or caffeine consumption
• Diet pills

To determine what triggers a hot flash, keep track of what happened before the episode. Sometimes writing it down helps the common trigger become apparent. Reading the questions on the right side of this page can help women identify common hot flash triggers.

Avoiding hot flash triggers can help eliminate or reduce the frequency of hot flashes for many women. It’s important to note that hot flashes are caused by hormone fluctuations, so these changes are treating the symptoms, not the original problem. However, making small lifestyle changes can help control the symptoms of menopause and help women feel more comfortable.

Hormonal and Non-Hormonal Causes of Hot Flashes

What exactly causes hot flashes is not completely understood, but researchers believe hormone fluctuations, particularly decreased estrogen levels, cause the attacks. Most women will experience hot flashes before or during menopause, but certain medical conditions can also cause symptoms. Learning what causes these attacks can help prevent them and lessen their severity or duration.

How Hormone Fluctuations Cause Hot Flashes

Most women experience hot flashes due to fluctuating estrogen levels during menopause. About one to two years before the woman starts menopause, estrogen levels begin to drop, increasing her risk of experiencing an episode. Decreased estrogen levels directly affect the hypothalamus, the portion of the brain that regulates body temperature, sleep, sex hormones and appetite.

It’s not known why decreased estrogen levels affect the hypothalamus, but they cause it to mistakenly react as though the body were overheating. The hypothalamus sends signals to the body to cool off, which leads to sweating, flushing and other symptoms.

Estrogen Withdrawal

Other researchers believe that decreased estrogen plays a different role in hot flashes. The theory is that lower estrogen levels cause the hypothalamus to manufacture more serotonin and norepinephrine. These two substances are responsible for determining the point at which the body begins taking measures to prevent heat loss. Normally the body starts to preserve body heat due to a drop in body temperature, but hormones can cause the body to think it has experienced a body temperature change.

Fluctuating hormones are not the only thing that causes hot flashes. Certain medical conditions can cause early menopause or cause a woman to experience hot flashes.

Non-Menopausal Causes Of Hot Flashes

Decreased estrogen production during menopause is responsible for most hot flashes, but some women can experience the attacks due to an unrelated condition. Women experiencing hot flashes that are not likely to be nearing menopause should speak with a doctor to rule out an underlying condition or disease.

Diseases and conditions that can cause hot flashes:

• Cancer
• Infection
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Thyroid disease
• Panic disorder
• Hyperhidrosis (a condition in which a person sweats excessively)