Hot Flashes
Hot flashes are the most common symptom of menopause; 60–85% of menopausal women experience them. Hot flashes can disturb sleep and often result in frequent awakening. Hot flashes usually begin with a flushed sensation and a sudden feeling of heat from the waist that moves up to the chest, neck, and face. Accompanying symptoms include perspiration, palpitations, vertigo, nausea, dizziness, headaches, anxiety, weakness, and night sweats. Hot flashes last an average of 4 minutes, although they may last as long as 20 minutes. Hot flashes can be infrequent or as often as 15 times per day.
Current theory suggests that the flushing, hot, tingling, and sweating sensations may be due to a surge of the brain hormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which has direct effect on the part of the brain that regulates body temperature. This hormone is part of a group that controls ovarian hormone output. Normally, when ovaries are functioning at their reproductive levels, GnRH levels are low.
In menopausal women, the brain makes more of this hormone as a signal to the ovaries to return to their reproductive function. The increased GnRH resets the central heat regulatory center in the brain, which results in the blood vessels rapidly expanding in an attempt to reduce perceived overheating (vasodilation).
As menopause draws nearer, increasing amounts of hormones are released, causing increasingly severe symptoms, which can last up to five years if there is no estrogen replacement given, either by way of diet or medications.
Hot and humid weather, hot drinks, alcohol, stress, smoking, chocolate, spicy foods, and foods with a high-acid content (e.g., citrus, tomatoes, or strawberries) are all known triggers of hot flashes. Wearing layered, cotton clothing, drinking cold fluids at the start of a hot flash, and keeping a glass of cold water by the bedside may help alleviate hot flashes. There is some evidence that exercise, acupuncture, taking black cohosh, and engaging in various forms of relaxation therapy (e.g., meditation, yoga, or breathing exercises) may be helpful in alleviating symptoms. Keeping a journal helps track symptoms and helps identify personal, hot flash triggers.
