What Ways Are There For Treating Hot Flushes Naturally And Effectively?
November 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
As many women who suffer the menopause problem will mention there are two words that come to mind which describe it as “hot flushes”. Between 60-90% of women will experience a form of hot flushes when the menopause begins and throughout it. Because so many women have experienced them, there is now a wealth of information around to help those who are looking for relief from them. However, the overwhelming feeling is that the best way to cure hot flushes is through natural remedy.
Although hot flushes can vary in intensity and duration, some women find that just fanning themselves will be sufficient to relieve it whilst another may find the use of a towel to wipe away the excess perspiration is the best solution or relief for them. Unfortunately for some women they can suffer with hot flushes up to 15 times a day, whilst others may be fortunate enough to only have them once a month or so.
However one of the best natural remedies for dealing with hot flushes is to simply alter your diet. Some women have found that a low fat diet proved to be the best solution for them. But be careful if you find yourself losing lots of weight as it could actually make the menopause symptoms worse. You may also find that certain kinds of food or spices increase the symptoms you are feeling and by monitoring what you eat you should soon find the ones that are causing the problems.
If you can relax and lower your levels of stress, it will certainly improve the situation. Not only can it help as a natural way of curing hot flushes but it can also help to improve your healthy lifestyle at the same time as well. If you can take up yoga or relaxation classes or have a massage, all these are great natural ways of helping in the treatment of hot flushes during the menopause.
However, if you would prefer to try something different then you can look at Traditional Chinese Medicine. A Chinese doctor will first of all determine what kind of flushes you are experiencing and categorise them to “hot” or “cold” (does not actually refer to your bodily temperature but the type of menopause you are suffering from). Such natural remedies used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating hot flushes are acupuncture and herbology.
So if you find yourself wondering why you are suddenly suffering from a flushed face and warm upper body, it may be time to look for a more natural remedy for treating hot flushes. As you have seen from this article there are a large amount of available resources and you should easily find one which will help to alleviate the discomfort you feel when a hot flush happens the next time.
How to Stop Hot Flashes From Causing Insomnia
October 24th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
As well as being a frustrating symptom of menopause, hot flashes can have some unpleasant side effects of their own - insomnia being one of the more physically debilitating ones. Experiencing a hot flash during the night not only affects how you feel, it interrupts your sleep patterns and has a longer term impact on your health.
“Having eyes like saucers” is what my grandmother used call it. Insomnia plagues more than 56 percent of postmenopausal women, and it’s not a new problem.
It seems that hot flashes, and insomnia in particular have plagued us for a very long time - as even the great Shakespeare wrote about it in Macbeth when he employs a physician to deal with his wife’s insomnia: ” Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Race out the written troubles of the brain; And with-some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuft bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart.” Well, at least that’s what it sounds like to me.
How HRT Has Impacted Insomnia
So even though we have suffered from insomnia for hundreds of years, it seems to have been getting worse more recently. The reason behind this could be related to women having stopped using hormone replacement therapy after the tests told us that the risks far outweighed any potential benefits. The sudden withdrawals lead to recurrences of menopause symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats and problems sleeping.
Many women are now being plagued again with menopause symptoms and problems they thought they had left behind. But there are still a lot of options that can provide effective solutions to these issues.
Even though insomnia is a fairly common experience for post menopausal women, there isn’t a “one size fits all” solution. As with every other symptom of menopause, you need to determine how it’s affecting you, and what the best cause of action will be. Don’t simply start popping sleeping pills to get through - they only offer short term solutions at best.
The first approach should be to consult with your health care practitioner or doctor and review your medical history. This can help narrow down your options and make your decision easier. For some women, some form of hormone replacement therapy may still be the best short term answer.
How Aging and Insomnia Interact
As we enter our early fifties, we all start to experience disruptions to our normal sleep patterns. Depending on which of the 5stages of sleep is impacted determines how serious it is. The first two stages, transitional sleep and light sleep are known as Non Rapid Eye Movement stages or NREM.
Stages three and four are known as deep or Delta sleep, and these are the most restful - these are the stages we need to get to quickly and remain in longest. Stage five is known as REM or Rapid Eye Movement. This is when we dream and take up about 20 percent of our sleep time.
As we get older, typically into our fifties, we tend to spend more of our sleep time in stages one and two, with the obvious consequences - sleeping lighter and more prone to be woken up. So we get tired earlier in the day, and tend to wake earlier in the morning. But there are always options open to us to enhance our sleep time, not matter how bad it has got.
First task on the list to figure out where we are having problems and what is causing the disruption to our sleep process. Do you have difficulty falling asleep, or do you drift off easily only to wake up soon afterwards. Are you continually wakening during the night, or just wake to early in the morning? Are the hot flashes causing you to wake suddenly, or do you experience one almost immediately you awaken?
The Role of Natural Herbal Remedies
While you have probably noticed that there are numerous herbal remedies for menopause and insomnia, you’re probably wilting under a mountain of information. Some work, some don’t - so buyer beware. Don’t rely on sleeping medication too long - they should be seen as a short term solutions (at best) to help you get back into your routine.
How To Stop Hot Flashes From Disrupting Your Sleep
If hot flashes are waking you up, you should look for the triggers that bring them on. That might be a specific smell for one woman; a dream in the middle of the night for another. Manage the hot flash trigger, rather than take a sleeping pill. Sleeping pills don’t manage hot flashes, they just deal with the symptoms.
You have to find out what your body needs and work with it to get back into your normal routine.
My suggestion would be start with simple things like changing your diet and your routine. Take 15 - 30 minutes at night before you go to bed and simply sit down somewhere quite (away from the TV) and relax. Relaxing in a darkened room helps your body to increase production of sleep hormones like melatonin. Don’t do anything stimulating late at night, like exercise or taking a hot shower.
From a diet perspective - are you eating enough? Carbohydrate can increase sleep hormones, so if your on a low carb diet, you may want to include some carbs in your evening meal. Try a glass of warm milk )without the cookies) - it really does help. Though my personal recommendation would be to opt for a non dairy alternative drink like soya milk - purely because it’s healthier. I’m not big on dairy products, but that’s another story.
About the Author:
Stop suffering from hot flashes and insomnia. Wendy Jones shares her experiences of hot flashes and insomnia on her blog talking about symptoms of menopause Click here to get your own unique version of this article.
