HOW TO COOL YOUR HOT FLUSHES THROUGH AND POST MENOPAUSE
Hot flushes... they’re, well... hot, sweaty, stressful, and annoying. If you get the night sweats where you can literally wake up on sodden sheets, that can be really gross and upsetting.
WHY DO WE GET THEM?
What devil of nature decided to throw them at us NOW when we have so much else to deal with at this time of life?!?
60-80% of women will experience hot flushes through the menopause. They tend to start in perimenopause (the time before our periods stop completely), and peak in late perimenopause and just post menopause. But they can carry on well into post menopause, with women in their late 60’s still having them.
WHY, WHY, WHY DO WE HAVE THEM?
Unbelievably, with all we understand medically now, there isn’t actually a definitive answer to this...
One reason is oestrogen! Such a beautiful hormone that helps us reproduce, and keeps everything running smoothly, unfortunately, packs up and leaves. She fluctuates through perimenopause and eventually almost disappears completely post menopause.
This is part of the reason we get hot flushes. It’s thought that the drop in reproductive hormones can affect the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that acts as the body’s thermostat, confusing it into identifying an increase in temperature. It will take action to cool the body down by dilating the blood vessels, which causes the flushing, and then activating the sweat glands.
But oestrogen is not the only reason...
Mindset triggers:
Interestingly, women who have a negative belief about hot flushes, i.e. that it makes them look foolish or weak, actually report more intense flushes than women who have a more relaxed, positive view towards them.
Other hormones:
Insulin, our blood sugar balancing hormone, and cortisol, our stress hormone, also play a big part. If these guys are unbalanced due to poor diet and high stress levels, they can bring on hot flushes even if your oestrogen levels are normal. Therefore, lifestyle changes can be really instrumental in lowering your flushes.
Sluggish liver:
It’s absolutely crucial to look after our livers all through our lives, but especially through the menopause. It is a very powerful ally to us through this time. It helps us to regulate our blood sugar levels, so a sluggish liver can lead to chronically high levels of glucose. This will disrupt all our hormones, and can lead to worse menopause symptoms, weight gain, and inflammation all over the body.
It’s also in charge of breaking down toxins and removing hormones we’ve used up from the body. Oestrogen needs to be expelled from the body once it’s been used. Otherwise it recirculates back into the system, and we don’t want this used up oestrogen accumulating. It often gets stored away in belly fat, leading to that classic menopause middle. And can actually make you oestrogen dominant (in relation to the amount of progesterone you have) which can worsen hot flushes.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO TO COOL THE HEAT???
1. The number one thing you can do (if you do nothing else) is balance your blood sugar levels.
This is a whole topic in itself and we’ll go into it more fully in another blog post, but essentially you need to eat complex carbohydrate and protein at every meal.
Complex carbohydrates are high in fibre and will release more slowly into the body than refined carbs. Examples: Vegetables, fruits especially apples, pears, berries; whole grains - brown sourdough bread, brown rice, whole wheat noodles; porridge, oatcakes, pulses, sweet potatoes.
Protein is hard for our bodies to digest, slows down the release of the carbohydrate, keeping you going for longer and maintaining that blood sugar balance. Examples: Lentils, chickpeas, hummus, beans, soya, kefir (fermented milk or yoghurt), quinoa, nuts and seeds, unsweetened nut butter, organic meat or fish if not plant based.
At the same time, try to avoid sugary foods and refined carbohydrates, such as cakes, cookies and sweets.
2. Get your phytoestrogens
These are plant compounds that bind to oestrogen receptors in the body, which may help address the hormone imbalance and lower hot flushes.
Lignans are our main source of phytoestrogens, and are found in flaxseed, sesame seeds, broccoli, fennel, and pulses, such as lentils, chickpeas and beans.
Isoflavones are another source of phytoestrogens, found in soya products like miso, tempeh, matto or tofu, but eating the whole bean, such as edamame is the most effective way of getting your isoflavones.
3. Fibre
Fibre is one of the things that helps the liver (as mentioned above) detox our bodies and keep our hormones stable, and eliminate old hormones from our gut. To keep your fibre intake up, make sure you’re eating at least 5 portions of vegetables every day (1/2 raw, 1/2 cooked), and including some whole grains like whole wheat sourdough bread, brown rice, brown pasta and oats.
4. Herbs
Rhubarb extract has been used for decades to treat menopausal symptoms including hot flushes. One study suggests it dramatically lowered the incidence of hot flushes and other symptoms with a daily 4mg dose.
Maca is a root vegetable native to Peru. It has been found to restore balance to your body, and alleviate menopause symptoms. One study suggests it may relieve anxiety and depression, and raise libido. Another study found it lowered blood pressure in menopausal women, which could also help to lower hot flushes.
Add a scoop to a green smoothie in the morning to give it a try...
Chasteberry (agnus castus), black cohosh, red clover or liquorice root may also relieve symptoms.
5. Learn your hot flush triggers
We need to be our own health detectives and pay attention to when hot flushes come on... do you react to alcohol, hot drinks, spicy food, caffeine, stress?
Everyone has different triggers, so start noticing what you’ve been doing/eating/ drinking/how you were feeling when a hot flush comes on. Once you identify your triggers, you can then adapt to avoid or reduce those triggers.
6. Regular exercise!
Yes, we all know we need to exercise but just to reiterate, many studies have found a correlation between regular exercise and reduced menopausal symptoms including less hot flushes. So keep up the great work with your workouts. Include things like cardio, body weight, weight training, brisk walking, swimming 3 to 5 times a week.
7. De-stress
Yes, we all know this too! But again, just to bring it home a bit more, stress and anxiety significantly increase instances of hot flushes. One study found the women who reported having moderate anxiety had 3 times more hot flushes than those with no anxiety, and women who reported high anxiety had 6 times as many hot flushes than lower anxiety women.
So, keep practicing meditation, it’s a great way to lower your stress and anxiety levels, factor in ‘me-time’, don’t say yes to everything and don’t overfill your diary. Actually schedule in your diary some time for you to relax and restore your body and mind.
8. Sleep
Get as much as you can! Keep your bedroom temperature around 18 degrees; have layers of bedding on your bed instead of one duvet, so you can throw layers off; invest in menopause friendly nightwear which absorb moisture and odours.
9. Carry a fan!
You can get tiny ones that plug into your phone so you can cool down wherever you are.
10. Therapies
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been shown to help reduce the severity of hot flushes and other symptoms. One study interestingly found that although physiologically nothing actually changed, the women who had the CBT found their symptoms much less bothersome. This just goes to show the power over the mind over how we feel, and how much we perceive things are affecting us.
Acupuncture and reflexology may also help relieve symptoms, but there is no clear evidence whether these actually do anything, or whether they produce a placebo effect, where the participant just ‘feels’ like it’s doing something. Whichever, they are both very stress relieving too, so can’t hurt to give them a go if you’re suffering with symptoms.
That about wraps up this little jaunt into the world of hot flushes.
One big thing to remember is that a huge number of women going through the menopause experience hot flushes and night sweats, so you are not alone and as you can see above, there are lots of ways to start relieving them. We hope the info above is useful, and see you in the next post!
Remember if you need extra support and guidance through the menopause sign up to our mailing list and …
Please don't suffer through the menopause alone. Millions of women are feeling the same way.
Dr. Clare & Sara x